Friday, May 30, 2008

Bile and the City



I hope Sex and the City makes ten times the box office of Indiana Jones. I hope it crushes Moviefone and the multiplexes like a 50-foot Carrie Bradshaw trampling Manhattan in her Manolos. Don't get me wrong, the movie can't possibly be that good, it's just that the media onslaught has brought out a dark side of American pop culture. Darker than usual I mean.

There are just too many bitter heterosexual men pretending their girlfriends forced it upon them, even though we know they tuned in for the nudity like we all did. Also too many women making sweeping observations about the desecration of their gender having to culminate with the release of a TV spinoff. Imagine all large suburban families in split-level homes getting this pissed over misrepresentation when The Brady Bunch took to the big screen... So what is it about this fabulous TV foursome that is so threatening?

When the show started I couldn't imagine anyone taking issue with a well written show about women finding love, and yes, sometimes finding orgasm. Now it's viewed as the show about four over-the-hill slutty gay men trying to destroy monogamy with their materialism. Backlash or blacklist? Are these four sexy singles really communists? When a backlash is this specified, we're tapping into something ripe and repugnant within our culture.

I raise my cosmopolitan to you cinema gods. Let the skies rain Fendi bags and contraceptives all box-office weekend!

2 comments:

Glenn Dunks said...

Can't agree more.

It's actually quite repulsive watching men not only restate their heterosexuality time and time again but to then turn around and say they'd rather be castrated than have to sit through this movie.

It's repugnent and vile.

S&tC is a fantasy. The girls indulge in sex, fashion and life. Iron Man is a fantasy, Indiana Jones is a fantasy, The Dark Knight is a fantasy, etc... but, because they're male oriented titles it means it's alright to want to see them. Even if they're bad. If you show enthusiasm for S&tC you're practically supporting Hitler's nazi regime.

Adam said...

Granted, now that I've seen the movie, I'm less ecstatic about it taking the box-office by storm, but my point remains. It really does stir up questions about misogyny, masculinity and homophobia, even if the film itself has less on its mind.