Why Carrie Bradshaw and I could never be friends

Image: @roybitchenstein

Whilst I acknowledge that Sex and the City has quite frankly been around for donkey's years now, I believe there is still much to discuss, dissect and dispute. Back in 1998 when the show first burst onto our screens it promised us ground-breaking, never before seen views on sex, feminism, fashion, men etc. Fabulous, right? But the question on my lips as a modern viewer is… who cares? And, why oh why would anyone ever want Carrie Bradshaw as their friend?

Carrie is the self-proclaimed ‘it girl’, accomplished columnist and potentially Manhattan’s biggest egotist. I struggle to find one redeeming quality about this woman; she is a conceited, egocentric, selfish, vain, narcissist - to put it nicely. Her apparent sole (haha) position within this world is based on a one-woman mission desperate to obtain an abundance of Manolo Blahnik stilettos, and I truly believe that is it.  

Despite six seasons and two movies Carrie is yet to offer any kind of intelligent insight into the world of men and relationships, a field in which she is allegedly an “expert”. And I'm not particularly sure I want her to, to be honest. As a woman, I am deeply disappointed by this portrayal, the life she perpetuates is not even unattainable, it is damn near impossible!

I couldn’t help but wonder… are there people who write trashy, 200-word, garbage columns for questionable looking tabloid newspapers that have enough money to shop semi-frequently at H&M let alone live Carrie’s lavish lifestyle involving $400 shoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner? What do you think, reader?

A part of me dies every time I watch the episode in season 4 where Carrie has spent “$400,000 on shoes but has nowhere to live” - and is completely oblivious to it - like how are you even a successful human being girl?! I for one would love to see the unaired episode where Carrie robs a bank because there’s no other way she would have accumulated a sum of money big enough to spend on shoes or her incredibly frivolous lifestyle!

To a modern audience the concept of ‘Carrie’ is quite honestly terrifying. If she was to exist within the modern world (and no Darren Star, that isn’t a hint for you to do a reboot), she’d be completely buggered. She’d also be penniless due to her pursuit of material possessions - she’d definitely be stunting on The Gram left, right and centre (most probably with rentals). The woman doesn’t even know how to back up her work so her journalistic career would be down the toilet and to top it off, she wouldn’t even have anyone to share her faux glamorous life with because none of her friends would tolerate her insufferable personality and downright inability to ever ask them how they are for once. I personally couldn’t do it, I would have had to have given her a reality check long ago. Sorry to anyone that has ever watched the show and refers to themselves as ‘the Carrie of their friendship group’ I suggest a good, long look in the mirror and then perhaps a bath?

For the longest time I have been asking myself is this really what people think women do? Sit around day in day out talking about shoes and purses and all the sex they have and all the men we have it with? Goodness me. For a show so highly rated in pop culture, you’d expect something revolutionary. The characters are completely hollow and unrelatable caricatures of women. You have Samantha, the sexual and noncommittal one; Charlotte, the exact opposite of Samantha, who seeks to find love in every single man in New York City; Miranda, the hyper cynical one, who surprises us all by having a child and stable husband; and Carrie, who is somehow supposed to be, what exactly? Endearing? Cute? Intelligent? Erm… funny….? Heavens no! She is the most insufferable, obnoxious, self-righteous and self-important character ever. I still don't understand what the writers were trying to achieve with the character of Carrie.

Her treatment of literally every one of the guys she's dated as well as her friends was utterly disgusting. (Aiden, Poor Aiden!) Imagine thinking the world revolves around you like Carrie Bradshaw does? The worst part is every single person in her life makes these allowances for her and constantly enables her to behave in these hideous ways. Maybe they’ll think she’ll share her shoe collection? As a character, Carrie doesn’t grow as a person at all, She’s never made to face the consequences of her actions (though she never seems to produce any prize-winning journalism – karma perhaps?). Every single character has a journey of personal growth and comes to the realisation that real love is possible if they put their own preconceptions aside, on a man’s age, job, finances, erm baldness?? Etc.

Then there's Carrie, who remains exactly the same from start to finish. Just plain blegh. Unenlightened and constantly pointing the finger at everyone else for her own downfall and lack of love. If I was to rewrite it, Carrie would have to go on a serious inward journey of self-discovery and then would have ultimately taken a vow of silence for the good of all mankind.

Words by Shen Djafer