SATC: Why We Love it & What Did it Change

May 26, 2010 by Shophaven

SATC II mania is all around us. I’m seeing it in ads, stores, magazines, bus stops, and just everywhere. A few days ago I found myself shopping at Swarovski for a birthday present, and saw an entire case filled with products designed and marketed solely under the SATC banner. Shiny crystal-studded clutches, funky key chains, cocktail glasses, and the like.

I firmly believe the movies – as a story extension- are nothing more than marketing endeavors to sell a large chunk of luxury products in a rather difficult economy. The marketer in me understands the reasons and admires the amount of effort going into this non-stop “buy buy buy” campaign. But the romantic in me also realizes why the show and the subsequent movies are as successful as can be. And those elements have very little to do with dollar value, and plenty of reason to do with character and society’s inner-workings.

Fashion, for example, is a fundamental pillar of the series and the movie produced later. Yes, Carrie could still have been a great writer toiling away at her columns, but her love for beautiful couture practically added another character to the set. Patricia Fields’ insane imagination provided us with endless ideas for outfits and combinations and showed us the close relationship between who we are and what we wear. Yes, you wear the clothes. But there is wearing, and then there is being.

The writing was another reason why audiences worldwide fell in love with the series and the movie. The incredible bluntness of the characters, the carefully orchestrated emotional quotes and the clever puns were all part of the charm for Carrie & Co. I can’t imagine the success of any of the show’s characters had the writers used language similar to that of Friends. To perceive the women as smart and funny beings, the lines uttered had to be on-spot 100% of the time. I think we can all agree the writers delivered thought-provoking material using razor-sharp humour and well-timed statements. We are all in the habit of patting ourselves on the back when producing quality zings, and on occasion we see ourselves as these characters that are very capable of verbal comedy at any time in any place.

The “relate-ability” of the characters is likely the key reason why SATC is the generational hit it is. Each woman on every block will see herself in Samantha, Miranda, Carrie or Charlotte. We all did the Facebook tests of “which SATC character are you”, and we all – at some point- modeled some of our behaviour after one of these strong role-models. The assertive ladies amongst us see a little of Miranda in themselves, the free-love types associate themselves with Samantha, the over-analyzing creative types go for Carrie, and the globally-adored domestic and soft lot strongly relate to Charlotte.
And where most television characters remained, well, characters, these ladies leapt off the pages of the book onto our screens and into our hearts.

The series – and movie – additionally contributed to some of our social behaviour, or more accurately, the change in the we now perceive certain things. For example, the show placed more sexual power in the hands of these 4 women without resorting to any difficult political arguments about feminist rights and movements. Sex talk became regular talk at coffee shops, yoga studios and family get togethers. These women – even if only for entertainment purposes – have managed to move us from closeted deviant enquirers to open and experimental beings that don’t flinch upon hearing “female orgasm”, “oral” or the “V” word.
I’ll also give them credit for turning the image of a spinster upside down on its head. I didn’t once feel sorry for any of the single, 40+ ladies, did you?

These are some of my thoughts with regards to the reason why SATC as a show played a key role in multi-generational developments. Whether or not the aftereffects were intended, one cannot simple disregard the contributions these fictitious characters with their extravagant lifestyle made to our society and global culture as a whole.