Gen Z Thinks "Sex And The City" Is Cringey And Harmful
A Gen-Z writer for The Guardian shared her thoughts on Sex and The City in a recent article, and she was not impressed. "My problem isn’t that the show is outdated," wrote 22-year-old Brittany Miller. "It’s that it’s almost unbearably cringey and centers around characters who are, quite frankly, awful people–and awful friends." Many other women agreed.
This isn't the first time in recent years that "Sex and The City" has resurfaced among young women. The show made internet waves when the series creator, Candace Bushnell, revealed that she was lonely in her sixties after living out her own version of SATC.
Bushnell told the Sunday Times that, following her divorce, she “started to see the impact of not having children and of truly being alone.” She went on to say that “people with children have an anchor in a way that people who have no kids don’t.”
She admits to not considering this while in her 30s and 40s because she was living the feminist dream with a successful career in an exciting city. She shared her regrets and what she terms “middle-aged sadness” in her book, Is There Still Sex in the City?
In 2021, she changed her mind yet again, deciding to "celebrate" her childlessness.
Now, the show is back in the spotlight again, with Gen-Z deeming it "cringe" and "unbearable."
"Like Carrie Bradshaw, I’m a writer living in New York City," writes Miller for The Independent, explaining her interest in watching SATC for the first time. "But that’s where the similarities end."
Her article goes on to explain all the reasons why she found the show cringe, many of which are related to Gen-Z's obsession with gender-bending and tortured, politically correct speech (which isn't entirely their fault, the propaganda has been pushed on them literally since they were born) but then her analysis gets more interesting when she delves into the characters themselves.
"Carrie creates needless drama for herself, blames other people, then asks her friends for support and never seems to evolve beyond this toxic pattern," Miller writes. "After just a few episodes, I found myself resenting the show for asking me to sympathize with her perspective."
"Samantha is obnoxious and comes across as having few morals. She says her life goal is to “have sex like a man” but that doesn’t excuse some of her predatory actions."
"Miranda seems compelled to find the negative in everything. She can’t let anyone, including her friends, be happy with their choices. Sometimes it’s warranted (her advice to Carrie not to let Mr Big back into her life is spot-on) but I found the constant negativity draining to watch.
"Charlotte is selfish, superficial, and overall a terrible character. Over the six seasons, she did very little maturing. Instead of learning from her experiences, she whined, repeatedly made the same mistake of setting unrealistic expectations for the men she was dating, and then somehow found they were in the wrong when they didn’t morph into her dream man."
Basically what Miller realized is that women who style themselves like selfish, fickle, pleasure-seeking men are as cringe as the men they're emulating. And the arc of their character development is unfulfilling. That's because characters with no real virtue are only superficially entertaining, but not inspiring.
She says as much in this line: " The bottom line is I can’t enjoy a show that’s supposed to be about female friendships when I have zero sympathy for characters who aren’t just terrible friends, but terrible people."
Others on X agreed with her sentiment.
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