It's not just constant re-runs of Friends that Comedy Central show, it's also Sex and the City. Although I've already seen every episode (and the two somewhat misguided films) a few years back, I've found myself re-watching it at lunch time on my days off recently. In that time I've discovered something which did not occur to me before.
Carrie Bradshaw is a terrible person.
Carrie Bradshaw is a terrible person.
This is fine, she's a flawed character and I can appreciate that as it makes her more human. What annoys me though is the insistence that she's a good friend to her fellow Manhattan-ites Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. She really isn't, she's actually the worst and the whole "which SATC character are you" (and all the people insisting "I'm a Carrie") discourse that's out there is largely dominated by girls that look to her as an icon- both for fashion and lifestyle. Lads, no. She's awful.
Observe:
That time she made Samantha attend her book launch party even though she had a disastrous face peel and didn't want to leave the house. She then made her go home early because her face was putting people off their canapés. Cheers.
The time she makes Aidan forgive her for the fact she cheated on him with Big by repeatedly wailing "YOU HAVE TO FORGIVE ME" in his face. Grant me strength.
The time she couldn't afford to buy her apartment because she bankrupted herself by buying very expensive shoes and then guilt-tripped Charlotte into giving her her engagement ring for the money.
The time she sent Aidan to help poor naked Miranda with her neck injury.
When she tells Stanley that he finally did it (developed a successful relationship with Marcus), he reveals that it's a sham and they're falling apart and she replies "thank god!", she's RELIEVED HER FRIEND IS MISERABLE.
Delighted with herself. Wagon.
She rings Miranda to rant about someone making a face at her in a bathroom and doesn't even ask her how she is or if she needs help while she struggles with her newborn baby on her own.
Not interested.
The time she arrived late to Charlotte's wedding because she chose that moment to tell Aidan she'd cheated on him. She was a bridesmaid by the way.
Charlotte tells her "there's some things people don't like to say because of how it sounds, like….(big gulp) I'm getting a divorce". Carrie ignores this and blurts out "I'm lonely!"
And lastly, possibly also the worst: she forces Big's ex wife to see her by showing up unexpectedly on HER DATE to berate her into forgiving her for having an affair with her husband even though she's made it really clear she doesn't want to see her.
See? The worst. Thing is, I quite like Carrie (although I always preferred Samantha if truth be told). She's not perfect and no one is in reality so that's fine. It's all the people saying "life goals" in relation to her that bothers me.
If you can watch the show for what it is, then grand. It's just the romanticising of her character that annoys me I guess.
Am I alone in that? Does anyone else think that Carrie is the absolute worst?
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Carrie is Deffo not my fav!! She's so self absorbed! I'm a Samantha / Charlotte fan!
ReplyDeleteThe rest of them are grand, for some reason they just had her character act like that all the time and didn't really even acknowledge it!
DeleteI can't stand the Carrie Character. I just can't. I don't like her dress/fashion sense. I don't like the way she talks and I never liked her shoes. #sorrynotsorry You are right. She is a bit of a blindly selfish numpty. I'll be honest and say I stopped watching after Samantha got sick, she was my favourite and I was worried they would kill of her character, so I just left it there....
ReplyDeleteI love Samantha too. You'll be pleased to know they did not kill her off, she's still as awesome as ever! :)
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ReplyDeleteOh yeah, Carrie is the worst. I remember studying Sex & the City in college and having my eyes opened to what a horrible character she is. Tremendously needy, falls apart without a man, not self aware. I kind of cringe when she's called a feminist character.
ReplyDeleteOh god, is she called a feminist character?! Didn't realise that. No, definitely not!
DeleteCan't stand her!!! She is completely self-obsessed and just a horrible, horrible whiney person. I would find nothing comforting in being told I'm a Carrie!! The worst one for me was in that horror of a movie where she blamed Miranda for Big leaving her at the altar - if she had remembered where her bloody phone was, that never would have happened, I thought she was terrible for letting Miranda shoulder all the blame for that! I always liked Charlotte best. Carrie is a pain in the arse.
ReplyDeleteYeah I'd forgotten about that one too!! What a wagon!
DeleteNever liked her! I love the rest of the girls though - Charlotte is my favorite, mainly because she is basically me :)).
ReplyDeleteHa ha! Yeah, Charlotte is very likeable. Always liked her style as well.
Deletei never liked SATC and don't like any of the characters, but I definitely agree with you about carrie! also i always thought her style was never that great!
ReplyDeleteAgreed! :)
DeleteHahahaha actually love this post! I agree always thought she was a bit self centered but sure she has a great wardrobe!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ciara! She had a few clangers too to be fair! Although there's a particular pair of pink frilled shoes she wore at one stage that I still wish I owned..
DeleteI started re watching recently and actually struggled with it as didn't like Carrie much at all! The whole Natasha thing , Carrie was a bitch! And poor Aidan! Sex and the city boxset got me through my final college exams and research project writing so maybe it's just Ive grown up a lot in the 10 years since then and just doesn't appeal as much!
ReplyDeleteThe Natasha thing was just so awful, I can't actually imagine anyone doing that in real life. Most people would be too ashamed.
DeleteCarrie really was a terrible friend. When Miranda's mother died and she wouldn't stop going on about her pissing laptop, I just wanted to slap her across the face. The same when she threw the fact that Charlotte was practically having a breakdown over her kids back in her face... Don't get me wrong I love SATC, Samantha & Charlotte are my faves, but when it comes down to your best friend bragging about her fella giving her his alarm code while you're waiting for your CANCER DIAGNOSIS it's time to diss and dismiss....
ReplyDeleteOh my god, I had forgotten about those ones! You're so right!!
DeleteYa, Carrie is horrible, I think a lot of the 'main' characters in shows aren't the best and the support characters are much more interesting
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point actually, now that I think of it there are loads of shows like that!
DeleteIt's good for a bit of light viewing but watch it too long and you notice all the things that are wrong with it!
ReplyDeleteok I'm just seeing this post right now and have to tell you it's making me smile. I have a few of my own to add, now that i have the perspective of a 43 year old woman vs the 26 year old who watched these the first time:
ReplyDelete1) Telling Petrovsky he's "hurtful" for trying to tell her about his friend Sophia who died of breast cancer!!! HUH!?
2) This one is a VERY small one but it just about killed me: In the episode where Samantha goes to Miranda's apartment to surprise her with suddenly becoming "Mary Fu&*ing Poppins"...at the beginning, when Miranda is barely surviving sitting there with them in the coffee shop telling them about Brady and what a hard time she's having with him, Carrie suddenly loses interest in what miranda is saying, turns to a waiter off screen and motions the words while she pretends to draw in the air as if she were writing, "can we get the check?" AGHHHHHH!!!!!
3) there were many times she treats people badly, but one of the worst, i think, is the scene from "The Good Fight" episode...when she tells Aiden not to "mock the clothes??" Just because the dude wants a little room in her apartment WHICH HE IS BUYING FOR HER???? For some reason, that entire exchange between them is absolutely appalling. In that same scene, she screeches orders at him as to how to place the shoes on the towels in the bathroom???? Any man in his right mind would have dropped all the shoes on top of her feet right there and walked out forever. And he'd have been SMART to do it.
4) Another episode....I think the Change of a Dress episode...."Stop! Aiden Stop!!! I'm having a really strong reaction to all this change!" Come on. Is she seriously saying Oh no i'm so fragile! How dare you try to MOVE IN ON ME by paying for my apartment and buying the one next door and renovating it yourself with no help from me because I don't DO THOSE THINGS (ALL while you have a full time job!) ????? At least he left her after that. haha.
I couldn’t agree with you more. The whole Aiden thing pissed me off beyond belief. He was a wonderful perfect man she was such a stuck up snobby, shallow, materialistic, childish, self-centered bitch. She had absolutely no idea how to be an adult relationship or be a remotely good partner yet constantly complained about how all the men treated her . Aiden takes her an hour outside of the city to the beautiful countryside where he owns a cabin that he’s fixing up on his own he clearly super cares about and she acts like a spoiled diva Princess the entire time and actually hates it there and all I can think is how amazing it is and how proud I would be of the man I loved in that situation. Not to mention the cheating on him which she should’ve been kissing his ass every single day that he even ever talk to her again after... I wanted him to dump her constantly. She did him wrong so many times . He was a saint. She never really loved him or any one else but herself. She loved the fairy tale teenager idea of love but she had absolutely no idea on earth what real love actually is or what it means. She is just the absolute worst. Her and Mr. Big totally deserve each other. Theyre both terrible people.
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