FINAL INDP STUDY

Jaspreet Dhillon
“You know me I don’t really believe in marriage; now botox on the other hand works everytime”[1]Do representations of females in Sex and the City: The Movie differ from representations of females in previous media texts? If so, how? And why?In past media texts women have been portrayed as passive and their sole purpose on screen is for the male audience’s sexual excitement. Following the hit series ‘Sex and the City’, HBO has also brought us Sex and the City: The Movie. The characters Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda have ‘sexual freedom, opportunity and the ability to be successful’[2]. So how does ‘Sex and the City’s’ representation of women differ to women that were once represented as inferior to men, naive and ‘symbolically annihilated’[3] from the media? Due to the Second Word War, feminism, the arrival of the contraceptive pill and many acts such as 1969 Divorce Act, women’s role in society has changed drastically. As a result the representation of women in media texts has also changed.

The character of Carrie carries the narration throughout the movie, this subverts the Mulveyian view of audiences being “encouraged to identify with the protagonist of the film who tended to be a man”[4], as audiences here are forced to relate with a female. This results in Carrie being represented as more dominant and female audiences will therefore want to identify with her. This differs from Bond films in which the “Bond girls” are either “mere eye candy”[5] or a “damsel in distress”[6] and have “no direct involvement in Bond’s mission”[7]. The women are represented as weak whereas the opening female narration instantly gives an authoritative representation of females in Sex and the City. ‘The role of women in a film almost always revolves around her physical appearance’[8]

The 1960’s arrival of the contraceptive pill allowed society’s women to have “unprecedented control over their fertility.”[9] This resulted in women freely having sex which had a serious impact on traditional gender roles as “women did not have to choose between a relationship and a career”.[10] The character of Samantha is represented as a stereotypical “blonde bimbo” with an extremely high sex drive. “Samantha loves sex, lots of sex”[11]. This portrayal has been possible due to “the pill”. Historically, for a women to speak freely about sex was frowned upon and seen as a taboo however the characters of ‘Sex and the City’ subvert this and happily “discuss every kind of sex, masturbation, dildos, telephone sex and blowjobs”[12] whilst having lunch. Samantha says “I met a guy with the funkiest tasting spunk”[13] and also lies naked on the kitchen table with sushi over her body waiting for her boyfriend to come home. In the past women would have been punished for expressing such sexual views whereas men would be praised however these gender roles have been reversed in ‘Sex and the City’.

As well as being sexually active Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are all represented as incredibly independent career focused females. With Miranda being a lawyer, Samantha a manager and Carrie as a writer. A women’s role is historically seen as a housewife whilst they depend on their husbands the breadwinners. However this began to change during the Second World War where “men were called up to serve in the forces, women took over the jobs traditionally done by men.”[14] Following this the men reclaimed their jobs when the war was over however this resulted in women having to become housewives again. This is when the 1970’s Second wave of Feminism occurred where women began to rebel and demanded for equal rights within education and the workforce as they had proved they were able to do the same jobs as men. Other texts such as ‘Charlie’s Angels’ (1976) also represent females as powerful and fending for themselves on the other hand still subordinate to men as they work for a man and take instructions from ‘Charlie’ as he says at the beginning, “Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy, but I took them all away and now they work for me. My name is Charlie”.[15] Radical feminists could suggest the ‘Angels’ are almost seen as slaves to ‘Charlie’. This reinforces patriarchal ideologies as although it may seem they are fighting criminals and becoming superior to men they are actually still below them. ‘Sex and the City’ completely contradicts this portrayal as all four characters are in successful jobs and are able to live the “American Dream of success, fame and wealth through thrift and hard work.”[16] “Women with money and women in power are two uncomfortable ideas in our society”[17] as these were unheard of in the past, therefore ‘Sex and the City’s’ representation of independent women attempts to relieve this uncomfortable ideology from society.

The way in which the four female characters of ‘Sex and the City’ have been represented can be seen as an overtly feminist approach however it can also be argued that it is betraying the idea of feminism altogether. Although “the women live sexually liberated lives, they’re nevertheless forever in search of the perfect man to fulfil their emotional needs.”[18] The movie “displays a singular obsession for men”[19] which can show their weakness as they are in need of a man in their lives for happiness. This reinforces the historical representation of women who were once dependant on men for money and happiness. On the other hand the girls are shown to be ‘checking out’ younger men as they walk down the street together even though they are all in relationships, which can show that they possess male traits which shows gender division is increasingly egalitarian.

Mulvey says that female characters hold an "appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact"[20] to attract male audiences, this is known as the ‘male gaze’ and Jonathon Schroeder also notes that “film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view”[21]. The male gaze is evident in films such as ‘Die Another Day’ (2002), ‘Tomb Raider’ (2001) and more historical texts such as ‘Some Like It Hot’ (1959) in which the women are merely possessing “to-be-looked-at”[22]. ‘Tomb Raider’ starring Angelina Jolie represents an incredibly dominating female character however it can be argued that she is being represented as a sexual object carrying a phallic symbol rather than a powerful women carrying a firearm. Similarly ‘Die Another Day’ has a slow motion scene of Halle Barry coming out of the sea in an orange bikini, it is evident that this was not a part of the narrative however was still used.

The ‘gals’ of ‘Sex and the City’ aren’t seen as objects of the male gaze. “The cinematic apparatus legitimates and perpetuates a patriarchal order in which the object of the look is female and the subject of the look is male.”[23] however this ideology is subverted as there are many scenes throughout the film where the male characters takes on the passive role of being looked at while the women do the ‘looking’. The ‘female gaze’ is particularly applied to a scene where Samantha is sitting on her balcony staring at the man next door, the audience are also put in her position so they are able to receive the sexual pleasure she is receiving. Samantha later goes on to say “What’s the point in having a hot guy next door if you cant have sex with him”[24] which isn’t a way in which women have been previously represented. Although the male gaze is not applied in the film itself, the issue of its existence is brought to attention threw Miranda and Carrie going shopping for a costume and Miranda saying “the only two choices for women, witch or sexy kitten” and Carrie replying “you just said a mouth full there sister”[25].

Historically, “within certain limits, aggressive male behaviour is accepted as a normal part of everyday life.”[26] For many years this was the only representation of men reflected in the media for example in texts such as ‘The Firm’ (1988). As a result of this representation of men, women would always be shown as feeble, naïve and uneducated. More recently there has been the arrival of the ‘New Man’. This is because of the rise in feminism in society, males are unable to escape from constant female traits therefore they adopt them instead. The New Man is a male character who has adopted female characteristics and is seen to be very metro sexual. The male characters in ‘Sex and the City’ have all been portrayed as the new man as they are all emotional and care very much about their appearance, this results in the female characters of ‘Sex and the City’ automatically being represented as more powerful and dominating as the male characters are seen as a lot less aggressive. There has almost completely been a reverse in gender roles. Although the male protagonist reflects the new man, there has still been some authority left in him as he is called “Mr BIG”. This could suggest the size of his penis or his importance in general throughout the film.

The character of “Charlotte, [is] in her comfortable domestic mothering role [and] finds herself pregnant and gives birth”[27]. Charlotte conforms most to the stereotypical passive housewife. Like men, most “women too were focused more on goals like college degrees, entrepreneurship and home ownership than on matrimony”[28]. However marriage and creating a family and becoming a mother of a child is the most important for Charlotte. Carrying out a ‘dual shift’ is almost seen as a norm. Thus resulting in ‘Sex and the City’ creating a very traditional anti feminist representation of one of the female protagonists in the film. This suggests that traditional representations of women have not been entirely abolished as she is being represented as the “Madonna”. The representation of Charlotte being a housewife follows on from previous texts such as ‘Godfather’ (1972) and ‘Goodfellas’ (1990) in which the female characters simply played housewife roles by cooking, cleaning and taking orders and had no huge importance in either of the narratives.

Samantha is a 47 year old woman represented as an anti marriage woman who does not want any emotional commitment, her only aim it to satisfy her sexual desires. “I’m not the kind of women that sits at home all day waiting for a man”[29], “I can’t believe I’ve let my life revolve around a man, on what planet did I let that happen”[30], “You know me I don’t really believe in marriage now botox on the other hand works every time.”[31] In the past women have lived to get married and have a family however Samantha’s character has rebelled against these traditions as she only cares about herself, her career and her sex life. The 1969 Divorce Act widened reasons for women to get divorced from their husbands resulting in a phenomenal increase in divorce rates and as an outcome an increase in single independent mothers. At the end of the film she says to her boyfriend “I love you but I love me more”[32] showing the audience that a women can be old, unmarried and enjoy sex without being seen as a disgrace. Samantha is represented as the “whore”. “I don’t think there’s ever been a women who has expressed so much sexual joy without her getting punished”[33], this is said by Kim Cattrall who plays the character of Samantha. It can be argued that the representation of Samantha conforms to the idea of the femme fatale in which the female is seen as career driven, independent and attractive however they can also be seen as selfish and sly towards men, this is seen through Samantha as she breaks her boyfriend’s heart to be able to live her own life. The idea of the femme fatale originated in film noir as a result of the backlash of men against women after the 1940’s when they were feeling anxious about women becoming more equal to men.

Miranda is represented as strong as she leaves her husband after finding out he was unfaithful however “the fact that he had an affair was almost accepted of him because he is a man. People told Miranda she made a huge mistake by leaving Steve, completely ignoring the fact that he was unfaithful ”[34] this then weakened Miranda and conveyed her as less able to live without him resulting in her eventually forgiving him. This shows her as feeble and represents Steve as more potent.

After ten years Carrie decides to get married to Big, the fact that she decided to get married after ten years shows that getting married was not one of her priorities in life as it would have been for a women in the past. When Big did not turn up on the wedding day Carrie is shown as heart broken and upset, she was now nothing without a male figure in her life, her representation of being independent was now meaningless as her life had fallen apart due to a man. Big is represented as powerful as he had the strength to destroy such a strong headed woman. Carrie is not represented as traditional housewife, this is apparent as she says “he also says the kitchen needs doing, of course I don’t know that because I keep sweaters on my stove”.[35]

In the late 1990’s The Spice Girls introduced the idea of ‘Girl Power’ which resulted in the unity of girls and female friendships. Historically women were only given time to be involved with their husband and children who were their priorities, they were unable to socialize with friends. As an outcome of The Spice Girls, women in today’s society make time for one another and this is clearly reflected in the film. The film “doesn't revolve around men so much as female friendship. Crises over men come and go, along with the ups and downs of life, but their four-way friendship remains.”[36] The women are represented as sensitive and caring between one another, friendship is an extremely important factor in their lives and nothing can come between it. This has not been shown in many previous media texts as women were never given the chance to bond with each other.
“Almost every girl has someone whom she admires and idolizes, whether it’s a family member, a fictional character, or a celebrity.”[37] The characters of ‘Sex and the City’ give every woman someone to identify with or aspire to be like. The Uses and Gratification theory (Blumler and Katz)[38] suggests that the audience will use the film as a form of escapism as well as personal identification as they are able to relate to the characters and put there selves in the position of the characters .The ‘Sex and the City’ girls are represented as goddesses to their female audiences through there designer labels and sexual attractiveness. As a result the film has become “more powerful then any fashion magazine or nightlife guide”[39]. The hypodermic syringe model[40] suggests that “based on the assumed ‘passive’ nature of a mass audience, the theory argues that consumption of media texts is like the injection of a drug and that the audience’s behaviour and opinions are therefore directly affected”[41]. The film conforms to this model as it injects the idea that women need to act a certain way, have a particular physique and carry designer labels in order to be successful in life. The ‘gals’ have a “fascination with consumer objects; because of their power to signify as sign of luxury, social power and sexual attractiveness”[42]

Women were once represented as passive, well mannered and polite for example in ‘The Colour Purple’ (1985). This has been subverted in ‘Sex and the City’ as the ‘gals’ will resort to abusive and vulgar language. Women were never shown to disrespect or speak rudely to men however when Samantha needs to get a point across she will say things such as “fifty fucking thousand” and “hey dikwod I’m fucking speaking”[43]. Throughout the film the female characters use offensive language but the male characters are represented as civil and courteous.

More recent films such as ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ (2005) are portraying men and women as entirely equal when it comes to representing them as part of a work force. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are both up against each other as they both are deviously working as secret agents. However their stereotypes within the films are still highlighted as Angelina Jolie would say things such as “honey what would you like for dinner”[44] and she would hide her weapons in the oven where as Brad Pitt would hide his weapons in the garage.


So, how do the representations of women in ‘Sex and the City’: The movie, differ from previous representations of women and why have these changes occurred?
The changes in the media reflect the zeitgeist therefore the changes between previous media texts and ‘Sex and the City’ had occurred due to changes in society. “Film reflects society and vice versa and in doing so reflects the ideological and social construction of women who are either to be revered (as the virgin) or reviled (as the whore).”[45] The four female characters are represented as strong independent women that can fend for themselves and treat themselves to designer labels and vacations. Although they are shown to have high ranking jobs this is an unrealistic representation of women in society as men still succeed more than women in the job market. As “a survey today showed that women score better than men in school and college exams, yet men still get the best jobs”[46]. However it is clear that the representation of independent women in ‘Sex and the City’ today differs greatly to women that were once simply represented as housewives and caring mothers.

Furthermore, the women of ‘Sex and the City’ are extremely sexually active, these representations have occurred due to the arrival of the contraceptive pill as women could enjoy sex as regularly as men without worrying about getting pregnant. The representation in ‘Sex in the City’ of sex obsessed women differs greatly from previously represented women as they were once only on screen for simply the sexual pleasures of men however they are now on screen expressing their own sexual desires. It was once forbidden for a woman to sexually express themselves as the characters of ‘Sex and the City’ do however it is now accepted and also admired by many female audiences. This has been possible as it is a direct outcome of the 1960’s Sexual Revolution in which there was an “increased commercialisation and comodification of sexuality through pornography and the mass media”[47]. Women were able to be sexually liberated due to contraception, the pill, experimenting sex in and out of the marriage, abortions and women rights. Women enjoyed being promiscuous without being punished.

Previously women were represented as either an object of the male gaze or a passive housewife, prior to that women on the whole were completely rejected from the media. In films such as ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly’ (1966) there was no sign of any female characters only aggressive male protagonist, from this it is evident that representations have drastically changed as ‘Sex and the City’ is now a film which consists of four female protagonists and it is “unusual to see a film that features women as the leading characters of their own lives.”

Although it is clear that representations of women have been progressing over the years, from women being once “symbolically annihilated”[48] and marginalized from the media, then being conveyed as housewife, which then lead to women being represented as an object of the male gaze which reinforced the “degrading and trivialising views of women”[49], it was then followed by similar representations to women in ‘Sex and the City’ where women are independent and sexually active, it can also still be seen that the women still rely vastly on love from men and also crave attention from males which suggests that even films such as ‘Sex and the City’ withhold traditional representations of women which is particularly shown threw the character of Charlotte as well as Miranda and Carrie who end up "happily paired up" with a man. The only character who consistently subverts traditional representations is the character of Samantha who leaves her boyfriend at the end of the film as she feels she loves herself more than anyone else. Overall, the representations of women in ‘Sex and the City’ differ hugely from past representations, however it is apparent that traditional values and ideologies still pay a substantial role.

Word Count: 3229
[1] Sex and the City: The movie.
[2] Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell: Sohn,Amy (2002) Pg 24
[3] Tuchman, Gaye (1978) ‘The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media’ p10
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Mulvey
5 ibid
6 ibid
7 ibid

[8] Gauntlett, David (2002) “ Media, Gender and Identity” p48
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_contraceptive#Effects_on_sexuality
9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_contraceptive#Effects_on_sexuality
10 Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)11 Gauntlett, David. Representations of Gender Today: p60
12 Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)
13 http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/home_front.htm#Women




[15] http://www.tv.com/charlie-s-angels/show/559/summary.html
15http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/American_Dream.htm
16 http://www.feministing.com/archives/004026.html
17 http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2008/06/sex-and-city-movie.html
18 Thomas, Sarah. 15-06-08 ‘The Guardian Newspaper’




[20] Mulvey,Laura (1975) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ p10
21 Schroeder , Jonathon (1998) p208
22 Mulvey,Laura (1975) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ p16
23 Kellner, Douglas (2001) ‘Media and Cultural Studies’ p387
24 Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)



25 Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)
26 Lewis G (1983) p11
27http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2008/06/sex-and-city-movie.html
28 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,997804-4,00.html





[29] Sex and the City: The movie (2008)
[30] ibid
[31] ibid

34http://community.feministing.com/2008/08/my_problem_with_sex_and_the_ci.html


[35] Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)
[36] http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/04/17/satc/
[37] http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6611/madonnas_impact_on_society.html
[38] Uses and Gratifications Theory
[39] Sex and the city: Kiss and Tell: Sohn, Amy (2002) p158
[40] The Hypodermic Syringe Model.
[41] Allan , Philip Essential Word Dictionary p77
[42] Bignell, Jonathon (2004) p216
[43] Sex and the City: The movie (2008)
[44] Mr and Mrs Smith’ (2005)
[45] Hayward, Susan ‘Cinema Studies-The Key Concepts’ p 114
[46] http://www.pkellypr.com/blog/2006/0308/do-women-need-to-see-the-funny-side-of-things-in-order- to-get-promoted/

[47] http://www.isis.aust.com/stephan/writings/sexuality/revo.htm
[48] Tuchman, Gaye (1978) ‘The Symbolic Annihilation of Women by the Mass Media’ p10
[49] Dyer , Gillian (1987) p7