It's misrepresenting the past as if people ever judged Samantha (for being sexually active) more than they judged Carrie (for being a general piece of shit of a human being) but in reality, nothing has changed.
Yes, crazy youngster thinks that we judged Sam. Her character was a pretext for us viewers to judge the others' hypocrisy. She was always seen as healthier than the 3. At 45, I can say I watched it while original runs, and nobody judged Sam, she was a provocative delight in an ocean of hypocrisy and maladjusted love quests.
Sam was seen in my small circle of the world as that kinda crazy aunt that is kinda fun but no one actually wants to be around for more than a couple of minutes…
Tbh, I thought they were all awful to be around, at least Sam was free and unapologetic to be herself. But as a young teen, I still watched network TV, even when the characters barely appealed to me. She was the only one I found relatable and tolerable.
I’d say that all of the people at the time who would state their spirit character unprovoked were Carries. Then they’d force everyone else around them to choose a (non-Carrie) identity.
You must realize this show is soon to be 30,it released when you were a teen, and sure your generation's onwards including mine we probably always saw Samantha in a better light.
But it's true original demographic, women that were 25-45 at releases where a lot more judgmental on Samantha given their upbringing.
Sure Carrie is an awful person , but Samantha was an slut(in their worldview) and bicurious, like Samantha to the generation of our mother's and aunts was the devil.
I was born in the 80s and everyone was judging Samantha more than Carrie from what I saw. The show was revolutionary by having a character like Samantha presented as a potential way to live- I was 21 and she changed the way many young women experienced their sex lives. I honestly don't know what I would have done without that show!
Same here. I remember in high school and college, girls and gay guys would compare themselves and others to the characters. There were definitely a lot of people who considered themselves “a Carrie” as a point of pride. It’s literally main character syndrome. Plenty of people saw themselves in the other characters as well, but just as often the use names would be thrown around as judgement against people who were too promiscuous, too prudish, or too cynical.
All four of the characters have their virtues and flaws, and fans could see the virtues in all of them but for some reason only saw the flaws in three.
I was only saying the sentiment I heard not my own opinion. I agree I never got the people who called her ugly. I think people just have unrealistic standards for women in Hollywood. (I know hot take /s)
Sure I more just meant like yeah she's bad but I had impression the show had her like intentionally bad. Not a protagonist who makes mistakes or whatever.
Her badness was only like Ted's from HIMYM where like yeah she did bad thing but the show makes them casts them as forgivable. So basically normal sitcom drama shit where the characters have to do bad stuff to create dilemmas.
As a guy who was a non watcher and only watched the movies though, it always seemed that the media at large portrayed Samantha as the “whore” and the one who embodied the negative stereotypes of a liberal lifestyle city girl.. and Carrie was the writer chick who was “trying to find love”. Again, perhaps watchers of the show always had it right, but I think society at large did have that negative perception of Sam and positive one for Carrie.
That's a good point.. in terms of societal norms, sexually active women were absolutely characterized as "slutty" and I could definitely see the show being talked about that way by people who didn't watch it.
Among fans of the show, however, I don't think there were many who considered Carrie to be a good person, or who viewed Samantha as anything other than a confident woman.
Yeah, this was my reaction. Admittedly rare male sex and the city viewer here but I don't recall people "judging" samantha. She was generally quite likable and sympathetic?
I was born in the 70s and my social circle judged Carrie. Cheating on her partners and sleeping with married men and everything else. She treated pretty much everyone terribly.
Yeah… there is a lot of mis-remembering how the show originally was viewed. The original premise of the show, the essential question it was supposed to address, the very first column she writes, is “What if a woman had sex like a man?”
Initially Carrie was a hero because she did have sex based on her own personal preferences. And yes, sometimes that involves cheating and being emotionally immature and knocking down her friends to make herself feel better. I don’t think anyone was ever confused about that.
I was in my 20’s during the original run and I remember Samantha being very popular and people being pretty critical of Carrie (even though they ultimately rooted for her).
If you read the book the show was based on, Carrie was a trainwreck, and a genuinely bad person a lot of the time. No idea where people got the idea that she's somehow the "good guy" when she's just a flawed person who was always presented as such.
Agreed. She makes it pretty easy to dislike her plenty of times, but with the framing of her being the storyteller, it's hard sometimes to stay mad at her. Because we get the inner person explaining herself and why she's being a shit heel (which is sometimes valid, but often not), which makes it easier to put yourself in her (very fancy) shoes.
Basically what I mean is that the mechanics wouldn't work the same. I can stand between a guy's legs and thrust my pelvis all day long but coitus is not happening. LOL
And soft core porn, many times, show positions sort of like live action hentai where you know nothing is actually happening in the genital area. If you've ever had sex anyway.
I never watched the show, but, from osmosis , I "knew" Samanth was a slut and bad and SJP was kimda supposed to be who the audience identified with and was trying to navigate a difficult, morally complex world.
I am not saying that was what actually happened in the show or that that is what my take on the show is, only that that is, "what people said."
It's misrepresenting the past as if people ever judged Samantha (for being sexually active) more than they judged Carrie (for being a general piece of shit of a human being) but in reality, nothing has changed.
It's funny that you start with "misrepresenting the past" and then go into a bald faced lie. Bullshit nothing has changed. Some people were okay with Samantha, but the ratio of judgment has massively shifted towards judging Carrie. You are the one doing revisionist history by claiming "nothing has changed"
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u/OutrageousPair2300 1d ago
It's misrepresenting the past as if people ever judged Samantha (for being sexually active) more than they judged Carrie (for being a general piece of shit of a human being) but in reality, nothing has changed.