Sex and the City 2: review

My friend came over last night for drinks and take away. It was really nice, we chatted and caught up on things that had been going on. We were going to play Dream Date (a retro board game a bit like cluedo) but my other friend bailed. It upsets me when people bail on plans last minute, it's such a let down. I'd rather they just said no when I asked them!

Anyway, we were talking and TV was on in the background. Sex and the City came on and we were talking about the different films. I have a lot of love for Sex and the City: it's thoughtful (some of the time anyway), it makes women the main characters, it's about being liberated and free and it presents different stages in life that people go through: dating, marriage, children, being single and break-ups. However, it was when the second film came out that the writers got it wrong. So I know this film is years old, but I felt compelled to document for all to see why I HATE the second Sex and the City film.

The characters changed

Samantha was always a strong, independent woman who enjoyed being free and being liberated. However, although she was slightly crude, she didn't cross the line to pathetic and offensive. In the second film Samantha has sex in public in a culture where covering up is respectable and mouths off about it in an extremely uncivilised way. The character became of a characature of itself in this film and Samantha is no longer the woman we grew to love. Before this film a lot of time had been spent developing her character, through overcoming cancer and becoming close to a younger man, and all this was undone by making her one dimentional.

  It was ignorant and offensive

I'm not pretending to know a lot about middle Eastern cultures, but I'm fairly sure implying that all the women who cover up in burkas are doing it because they are being forced to, and secretly wanting to dress like American women in tacky designer clothes is inaccurate. I can't believe the writers didn't read through their ideas and think, that could be seen as slightly offensive. Suggesting a whole country of women secretly wish they were American and are being forced into their traditional roles is an ignorant Westernised way of viewing things. At one point Carrie starts screaming in disbelief that a woman is eating chips and wearing a burka. If treating people like they are in a zoo because they dress differently isn't offensive, I don't know what is.

It's upsetting

Putting the highly offensive content aside, they film is still poor in comparison to the series. All the series have had a huge build up to Carrie and Big getting together, and now they are finally living the fairy tale, and, they're miserable. Ok, you can argue that this is realistic for many people, but she almost cheats on him with her ex and seems unfullfilled with her current life. The film just makes me sad. Considering it was designed to be an uplifting girly movie, it sure makes me worry about my future relationships. 

Have you seen the Sex and the City films? What did you think of them?