Sex and the city is more than just a cult series of the 1990s. It has been a real revolution on television. The proof is in these 5 life lessons we learned from Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha.
On sex
Sex and the City’s uninhibited sense of humor made it one of the most revolutionary series of the 1990s, cementing its cult status. Its four main characters talked openly, and without euphemism, about their experiences with men, both good and bad, proving that women have sex lives too and that they don’t mind shouting about it. From threesomes to orgasms and vibrators, nothing was off-limits, earning Sex and the City its status as a veritable sex manual for several generations in only a few years.
The highlight? When Samantha tries to buy a vibrator from an appliance store.
On fashion
Carrie Bradshaw, the heroine living out her unconditional love affair with fashion, is the heart and soul of Sex and the City, after inspiring thousands of fans around the world for 20 years with her unique style, mixing vintage with designer pieces. The New Yorker even managed to bring back long lost trends, from Ray-Ban Wayfarers to the iconic 1990s Gucci belt bag, and even transparent shoes in season one, which incidentally were spotted again on runways in 2018 (Off-White comes to mind).
The highlight? When Carrie Bradshaw gets a peek inside Vogue US’ huge closet
On friendship
Before Sex and the City, we had never seen a group of friends as eclectic as Carrie Bradshaw’s onscreen: Carrie, a sex columnist, Charlotte York, a naïve gallery owner in search of love, Miranda Hobbes, an independently minded and cynical lawyer, and Samantha Jones, a man-eating PR executive. In Sex and the City, life revolves around eating in restaurants, drinking Cosmopolitans, shopping, and discussing the latest mystery about the male species. Who needs “the one” when you can have four great friends instead? As Charlotte says in season six “maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates and guys are just people to have fun with.”
The highlight? When Carrie is about to move to Paris and she meets her friends in a restaurant for the last goodbye, over a Cosmopolitan of course.
On romantic relationships
Sex and City is also a love story, a love story between Carrie and Mr. Big. From the first to the last season, their romantic idyll becomes the central subject of the New Yorker’s column and books as their tumultuous love story brings up questions on every possible theme surrounding relationships, from love at first sight to cheating, sex, commitment problems, marriage and divorce. At the end of the series, the four friends learn that love can be found on a street corner, when you least expect it, that it is much stronger than the ideal image they have in their heads, and that sex has no age limit. But the most important thing that we learned about love was that it doesn’t matter if you’re 20, 30 or 40, whether you’re in a couple or single, as long as you love yourself.
The highlight? Carrie and Mr. Big’s chic and low-key wedding
On feminism
In 1998, HBO released a new show about a group of hilarious friends who talked openly about sex. Nothing unusual here, except that this group of hilarious friends were all female, making Sex and the City now one of the most revolutionary shows of the 1990s. The working woman, a character that hadn’t been delved into before, was put front and center, a bold move for time. A follow-on from the 1980s female executives, the four main characters are all working girls, with high-flying jobs: Carrie is a journalist, Miranda is a lawyer, Samantha works in PR and Charlotte owns an art gallery. Forward-thinking for a show made in the 1990s.
The highlight? When Miranda buys a new apartment and the landlady can't understand how she could afford an apartment as a single woman.
Translated by Lily Kinnear Griffiths & Abdel Benakki
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