Sex and the City, fantasy film
Table of Contents
As Mark took a photo of a group of women dressed up for the midnight opening of Sex and The City, realized that SATC is the adult female Star Wars, or LOTR, or Harry Potter. It’s not just the fan community; the film itself has many parallels:
Gender privilege: Both openings attracted an audience of mostly one gender, who were there to turn the film into a communal experience based around experiences that they consider unique.
Costuming: And that gender dressed as the characters they loved: Star Wars Jedi and Sith waited in those lines, and women in their best fake labels stood anxiously in the SATC line.
Other universe-ness: Is there a better term for this? Anyway, like all fantasy films, SATC creates its own universe (like the galaxy far away, Middle Earth, Hogwarts). What’s unique about SATC is that it creates a far away universe that is essentially Manhattan, though, a Manhattan that is just as out of reach as Middle Earth.
Apprentice and master: Jennifer Hudson plays Sarah Jessica Parker’s assistant in the movie. She’s young and new in the city, and carries a expensive bag she ‘rents’ from Bag, Borrow or Steal. SPJ gives Hudson a real Louis Vuitton bag of her own for Christmas. This, I think, represents the object of power that happens in nearly every fantasy movie. Star Wars is again the best parallel, not only does it has an object of power (lightsaber), but it’s also passed from master to apprentice. In SATC the movie, the new handbag is the object that means Hudson is a New Yorker (she says she can’t wait to show it off to her friends in her hometown). Being a ‘New Yorker’ (specifically, one that lives in Manhattan) is the highest achievement in the SATC universe.
