Sex and the City is one of my favorite shows even though it has not aged well in terms of race and LBT characters, it gets a soft okay G for Stanford and Anthony, but even they lean heavily on farce at times. The whiteness of Sex and the City is something it has been criticized about for years. One could argue that it makes sense for the Upper East Side life that the girls lead but, and I know this might come as a shock, there are some well-off non-white people.
In a recent interview, Carrie Bradshaw herself, Sarah Jessica Parker at the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival in Manhattan on Thursday she said: “There were no women of colour . . . and there was no substantial conversation about the LGBTQ community […] You know, this city has changed – that was 20 years ago this June – this city has changed an enormous amount politically and economically and socially and I think it would be a different show, honestly.”
That goes without saying, mostly, although it’s interesting that she says that “this city has changed,” as if New York hasn’t always been the most diverse city in the world. Also, it’s not as if all shows that have come out more recently are always on point. It wasn’t very long ago we were having a conversation about Girls. But in this Broad City, Insecure, Atlanta world what would the women of Sex and the City look like if they were written today? Well, I’ve given this some thought. Maybe even too much. While I do think the original cast is perfect, if we were looking for diversity here’s what I think it’d be like:
Carrie Bradshaw
I still envision a modern-day Carrie Bradshaw to be mixed-race (I’m seeing a white father and a WOC mom) and straight, but I think she wouldn’t have the same fear around bisexuality she portrayed in “Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl…” She may have had a girlfriend at some point, but realized that she had more a platonic connection than a romantic one. Carrie actually reminds me a lot of Nola Darling from She’s Gotta Have It or Sam from Dear White People in terms of how they use their artistic process to work through their emotions, and their self-centeredness when it comes to being a good friend and partner. In fact, it’s because of those characters, I think Carrie could work as a non-white character. Her writing would probably resemble Rupi Kaur, and I see her as the kind of New York woman who is very into crystals.
Love interests: Mr. Big (East Asian), Aiden (Dominican), Berger (white), Aleksandr (white)
Miranda Hobbes
If I were to picture a modern-day Miranda Hobbs, I see her as Southeast Asian. The no-nonsense attitude, being lawyer, being career driven, but also a sexual person in a power suit. Yep, I can see her being played by Archie Panjabi so clear in my mind it’s surreal. Miranda is still straight, but her conflict is coming from a Muslim background and Steve being a good ol’ Catholic boy and conversations about converting, how to raise baby Brady. It would also just be great to see a Muslim-Asian woman as a fully sexual being, not concerned with respectability and learning to balance being a mom and bad-ass lawyer.
Love interest: Steve (White)
Charlotte York
Charlotte is a black lesbian. She comes from a talented tenth family, went to Spelman, her parents sent her to Jack and Jill growing up and is obsessed with recreating her parents 50-year marriage. Why do I think the most WASP-y character is a black woman? Because black women can be boujee too. There is a whole culture of black elites that rarely gets to be shown on television and I honestly think it would be fun to explore that kind of elitism. We have yet to get a black or non-white version of Gilmore Girls (writing that pilot right now) but I think a black version of Charlotte would be amazing. Plus, as I’ve said before, seeing black women as romantic and vulnerable is important to me so getting a black gay Charlotte would be amazing. Also, it’s been my headcanon since “The Cheating Curve” that Charlotte would totally be a lesbian in a modern version of the show.
Love interests: Trey/Tyra (black), Harry/Helen (black)
Samantha Jones
Samantha would be pansexual for sure and no, not because she loves to have sex, but because she was one of the few characters to understand that labels weren’t as important as sexual expression. Samantha’s “dabble with being a lesbian” was one of the more disappointing gay storylines on the show (in fact 2/3rds of them are Samantha stories). It took something that could have been a really meaningful story about sexual fluidity and turned into “lesbians fuck with their emotions” stuff that was very reductive. In a modern version of Sex and the City, Samantha would be more like Ilana in early Broad City, more into hot bodies and experiences than gender or sexuality. I still see her as the iconic older-blonde bombshell of the group.
Love interests: Richard (white), Smith (Latino).
What do you think? What would 2018 Sex and the City look like?
Also, shout out to Living Single which is basically S&TC/Friends combined, but came out first.
image: Warner Bros. TV
(via Metro UK, image: HBO)
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