I must admit before I go any further that I watched the television show. How could I not? The
year was 1998, and I had been
blogging for about a year. Except it wasn't called blogging back then. I think I referred to it as "
this little website where I write weekly essays about my life and relationships and stuff" and when people looked at me in horror, I'd run off to the bathroom to hide. I hadn't managed that whole social thing yet.
So every Sunday I'd tune my set to HBO, where I hoped to discover how a woman who wrote weekly columns about her
life and relationships and sex and stuff balanced that with her actual life.
And I learned nothing of the sort. I did learn things, though, such as the following lessons from Carrie:
1. Cheating on your intended is okay if you feel really bad about it.
2. Shoes are more important than retirement. 3. Garanimals should be made for adults.4. You can write whatever you want in your column, it'll never come back to haunt you.
5. Even hateful, un-self-aware people have friends.
Of course,
Cosmo disagrees with me, but I chalk that up to a good thing.
I'm all for mindless entertainment. (I'm Tivo'ing
Living Lohan, people!) But Carrie and friends were the beginnings of my first
hatecrush. While the first few seasons enjoyed a sort of (wo)man on the street vibe, the series (for me, at least) devolved into a bunch of women that I didn't like, that I didn't relate to, and that I thought deserved every single heartbreak that came their way.
Still, I watched every episode. Every so often I'd have a glimmer of hope when I saw a morsel of humanity sneaking out - when Carrie discovered Big had gotten married, when Samantha worried over the results of her STD test - but these were quickly quashed. But I didn't think it was a poorly-written show. I was just laughing
at them rather than
with them.
According to
Engage.com, the show did affect the way that women looked at dating and relationships. That the show made them feel like it was
okay to be single, okay to just date for dating's sake, okay to not want to commit. Because, y'know, before Sex and the City, to admit such things was
weird.
Different.
Outside of the norm.
My guess - and it's a guess, but my fabulous NerdFriends, please sound off in the comments - is that NerdGirls didn't find the show revolutionary, because we're used to being
weird. Different. Outside of the norm.
And that is why I'll wait 'til the Sex & the City movie hits cable.
In the meantime, you'll have to excuse me. I'm browsing
Zappos for shoes I cannot afford, working on a potential blogger meetup at a fabulous bar, putting together ideas for Antisocial Networking's live video chat, and inviting you to check out and/or join the
Slackmistress Appreciation Society. Ciao!
Also see from chud.com:Sex & the City: A Nerd's-Eye View.Later:The 5s!The Winner of "Coming Out Geek!"
However, I don't know what you mean by "different" so perhaps you'd care to elaborate.