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http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/i_cite/2010/05/why-i-liked-sex-in-the-city-2.html Why I liked Sex and the City 2 Already the Guardian is saying that Sex and the City 2 is on its way to becoming one of the most critically derided films of all time. Here are a few examples: New York Post: The transformation of the girls from winsome wisecrackers into whiny bling-obsessed chuckleheads is complete. New York Times: But the ugly smell of unexamined privilege hangs over this film like the smoke from cheap incense. Over cosmos in their private bar, Charlotte and Miranda commiserate about the hardships of motherhood and then raise their glasses to moms who “don’t have help,” by which they mean paid servants. The Guardian: Not since 1942's Arabian Nights has orientalism been portrayed so unironically. All Middle Eastern men are shot in a sparkly light with jingly jangly music just in case you didn't get that these dusky people are exotic and different. Even leaving aside the question of why anyone would go on holiday to Abu Dhabi, everyone who has ever watched a TV show knows that the first rule is: don't take characters out of their usual environment. Last night, two friends and I went to see it. We saw it in the Geneva, NY movieplex. It wasn't sold out, but it was full and, yes, women outnumbered the men by at least 12:1. The crowd was appreciative and enthusiastic. Both my friends liked it--and one had hated SATC 1. A bit more background--all 3 of us are over 40, have been married, have had kids. From here on in, there will be a lot of spoilers, so if you want surprises and plan on seeing the movie, stop reading now. The movie explores fantasy and disappointment (I wonder if the critics saw the movie or even recognize the fantasy components; my god, one of the framing devices is old black and white movies, the first with Clark Gable--It Happened One Night--and the second with Cary Grant--I didn't recognize it; if those don't signal Depression-era escapism, what does?). The television series always had a fantastic element--fantasies of great clothes and apartments on a writer's income, of fulfilling careers, of complete sexual enjoyment. So not only did the series actively invite women to imagine themselves as one of the 4 characters, but it also staged fantasies of fashion, success, romance, and sex. The best episodes pressed the limits of fantasy. Particularly after 9/11 there was increasing pressure to wake up from the dream. One could almost say that the failure of the first film was its inability to resolve or represent the tension between the fantasy of the wedding and the reality of the end of Carrie's life as a single woman. (clip) --- http://culpa.diaryland.com/100603_32.html I just saw Sex and the City 2 (the new movie), and I really liked it. There are things about it that I would do differently, and of course there are plenty of places it goes where I wouldn’t go (it was ever thus with this crew), but I deeply appreciated some of its storylines. The first question that will arise here is, well, what do you have to say about all those bad reviews? Those reviews! They are so rabid and cruel! How could they exist alongside what you are calling a good movie?, you ask. Well, I’ll let Jodi Dean speak to that, because I think she did it very well, and she covers many of the bases. But I’m going to move on to what I liked, to save myself from ressentiment. (Jodi escapes that trap by telling the story as she does… but when I tried to write my own response to the critics, it quickly began to be a kind of writing I just don’t do. And so, moving on….) I like the way the movie dealt with the current version of what the show was always about: how these women rely on their friendships to get them through what is rough about the rest of life. Miranda is being treated badly by a misogynist boss, and her job is leaving her very little time for her family. Charlotte is feeling the heavy pressure of motherhood and guilt about feeling it as pressure. Samantha is entering menopause and trying to hold on to the libido that has been so central to her life. And Carrie is trying to figure out what it means to be married and happy without children. These are all real problems that real women might face, and the film deals with them squarely and for the most part well. (clip) ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
