Sex and the City celebrates its 25 years: has the revolutionary series become cheesy?

“Can women have sex like men? »this is the question that Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker), author of a chronicle on sexuality in New York and protagonist of Sex and the city.

It was June 1998 a the pilot episode from the series adapted by Darren Star (Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, Emily in Paris) from the Candace Bushnell novel of the same name. The public has discovered her universe of her and that of her best friends Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall). The heroines, all of them single at the beginning of the plot, juggle their careers, their existential questions and their sexual and romantic relationships who talk about themselves dressed in haute couture around a Cosmopolitan in the trendy bars of New York.

Influence on pop culture

“It was revolutionary”says Anne Sweet, a doctor at Sorbonne Nouvelle University who specializes in media sociology. ” Four vulgar women, in their thirties, unmarried…» according to her, the HBO cable channel, of which this was the first successful series, has offered a favorable space for more than freedom :

Since the content was reserved for subscribers, it could be dared more easily than public channels.

Indeed of from abortion to menopause through sexually transmitted infections, the six seasons of Sex and the city staged taboo and very underrepresented topics on TV first.

“It had a pop culture influence, many series came out of it, the most noticeable is Girls”says Anaïs Bordages, a freelance journalist who participates in the podcast Flagship TV dedicated to the series. She explains:

Sex and the City has allowed women to talk about desire and masturbation unashamedly and in a playful way. I personally discovered the series before discovering sexuality and it was very formative to see a character like Samantha claiming the right to sleep without feelings; as women we are enjoined to do just the opposite.

The Flop That’s right

However, 25 years later, the situation has changed. The original series has become two heavier movie which have not been unanimous with both fans and critics. AND That’s itthe reboot whose first season aired on HBO max, didn’t help matters.

After recording the best audience for a first episode, it has lost its audience. Broadcast in the latter part of the evening in January 2023 on TF1, the episodes did not find their audience so well that the channel changed its airtime to cushion the damage.

“If I think back to certain episodes today it disgusts me“

This discrepancy with public expectations also affects the initial release, which it may seem obsolete or even completely out of place on some aspects: no reference to sexual violence, almost exclusively white cast in a cosmopolitan city like New York. Not to mention the cartoon treatment sexual orientation issues. If she recognizes that certain moments, even certain episodes, such as the one in which Carrie is having an affair with a bisexual man, can be offensive, Anaïs Bordages asks for clemency.

He broke down so many doors. Even today certain episodes are extraordinarily topical on the issue of friendship between women, for example. This is an imperfect representation and it should be borne in mind that programs aimed at women tend to be looked down upon more easily..

For Anne Sweet, the results are much more mixed: “If I think back to certain episodes today it disgusts me“she says.

Between big-brand ads and promoting Carrie’s relationship with Big (played by Chris Noth who was the subject, in 2021, allegations of sexual assault by five women) whoever treats her badly is a capitalist feminism that doesn’t speak to me“, slices the former amateur of the program. However, she acknowledges that her cultural impact continues: “Sex and the city is an indispensable reference, an important piece in the history of television”.

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