Gender Issues and Cultural Constructs in Sex and the City - Essay Example

?Gender Issues and Cultural Constructs in Sex and the Introduction The movies Sex and the and Sex and the 2 are defined by the concepts put forth by Simone de Beauvoir, in her book Second Sex (1973). She stated that the term “woman” is a term that is defined by culture. Moreover, according to Butler (1996), the culture in which a woman is defined is, typically, a patriarchal culture, so the term “woman” is at least, in part, dependent upon how men view the female sex. This is also true of men, according to Connell (1992). Just like women are defined by patriarchal culture, men are also defined by culture, and this culture is also patriarchal. Because of this, there is inevitably a dichotomy between the terms “female,” which is biological, and “woman,” which is cultural. Similarly, there is a difference between “male,” which is biological, and “man,” which is cultural (Bartky, 2003). Both of the movies Sex and the City and Sex and the City 2 demonstrate how this is true. That said, each of the movies actually turn the traditional cultural definitions of men and women on their head, for the most part, in that the women in these movies are independent and assume the masculine role in different ways. Meanwhile, the men, who definitely take a backseat in these movies, much as they do in the television series, often take the traditional female role in many ways. This is not to say that the portrayals of the men and women are not culturally driven, as women in modern culture often do take on masculine qualities and men take on feminine qualities. Nonetheless, in the Sex and the City world, with the one notable exception, turns traditional culture, as opposed to modern culture, on its head. Analysis of the movies The best way to explain how these movies turn traditional culture on their head would be easiest if one examines the different couples who are in these shows. Carrie Bradshaw is the focus of both of these movies, as she is in the actual television series upon which these movies are based. Bradshaw is a blend of masculine and feminine qualities, although the masculine qualities in Bradshaw outweigh the feminine qualities, as dictated by culture. Carrie is a writer, and is successful, having published several books. This would be a typical masculine characteristic – Carrie is a breadwinner, and she has zero interest in anything domesticated. She doesn't cook, she is never seen cleaning, and she has no interest in having children. On the other hand, Carrie's boyfriend, turned husband, Mr. Big, takes on some of the more traditionally feminine characteristics, at least in the second film. Mr. Big does cook, as he is seen cooking in the first film, and makes an anniversary dinner for himself and Carrie in the second film. Mr. Big also likes old-fashioned movies, especially It Happened One Night, which is a classic romantic comedy. In the first film, Mr. Big takes on more traditional masculinity however, than in the second film. This is because Mr. Big is seen as Carrie's caretaker, more than in the first movie. He literally buys her a super-expensive penthouse apartment, and constructs her dream closet. He is also responsible, in the first film, for the dramatic tension in the film, as he stands Carrie up at the altar (they later marry). This feeds into the stereotypical male who is afraid of commitment. He dictates how the two will be married – he wants a low-key ceremony, she wants an over-the-top ceremony, and the two end up getting married according to what he wants. Therefore, Mr. Big is a protector of Carrie, is a provider for Carrie, and dominates Carrie with his wishes in the first film. He more of a traditional male in this way. By the second film, however, Mr. Big is neutered and takes on more of a feminine image. This is the film where he forces Carrie to watch the female-centric film, It Happened One Night, and Mr. Big is shown as somebody who is more of a homebody. He is also shown as a bit of a lovelorn pushover type – he gets concerned when Carrie wants to go to her old apartment for a few days to write and think. Carrie has a brief episode of infidelity with her former boyfriend, and Mr. Big not only doesn't get angry about this, he buys her a high-dollar diamond ring. Mr. Big is sensitive and emotional in this film, and shows a great deal of understanding for Carrie's peccadilloes. He is also very domesticated. In short, Mr. Big assumes the female role in this film, while Carrie's role is more of the male role – she remains independent, does not want to be called by her married name, does not wear a ring, and does not want to stay home. Carrie has no desire to display her marital status to the world, and, in her head, she is still a single girl. She wants to party every night, and does not seem overly concerned about Mr. Big's needs. Mr. Big, however, has a more traditional view of marriage – he wants to stay in, and he insists that Carrie, in the end, wear a wedding ring that reminds her that she is married. The same dichotomy exists with two other couples in the first film. Miranda and Steve are prototypical of two people who completely turn traditional gender norms on their heads. Miranda is a high-powered attorney. Steve is her gentle partner, and is apparently a stay-at-home father. In the first film, Miranda shows more masculine characteristics then in the second film, however. In the first film, Miranda hides her emotions, and has a very hard edge. This is because Steve admitted to infidelity, and Miranda kicks him out. However, even before this incident, the gender roles are reversed and Miranda was cynical and hard. In the second film, the two are back together, and Miranda is definitely a happier, and softer, character. That said, there is talk that family life is different for Miranda then for Steve. Steve is the one who helps their child, Brady, with school projects. Steve is one who apparently attends school plays. Miranda does not, because she is always working. This situation, stereotypically, is usually the opposite – the father is the one missing school plays, and not helping the children with homework, because the father is the one who is always working. By the end of the film, however, Miranda resolves this problem, finding a job where she does not have to work so many hours, therefore she has more time for family life. Samantha and Smith were a couple in the first film, and not a couple in the second film. They, too, have reversed gender roles. Samantha is literally Smith's manager. Smith is similar to Steve, although Smith has a good career as an actor. This is because Smith is sweet, romantic and does not really stand up for himself. Samantha dominates him sexually, and dominates him in the workplace, because she is his manager and she pushes him. While Carrie is typically masculine, because she is independent, non-domesticated and secretly wants to stay single, and Miranda and Samantha are both masculine in that they are dominating in work and family life, there is one character who is more of a culturally traditional woman – Charlotte. Charlotte is the one character who is feminine, at least traditionally feminine, in every way. Charlotte is a stay at home mother, is very demure and very submissive. In the second film, she is shown baking cookies. She has always been the romantic of the group, and has admitted that women, at their core, want to be taken care of. She is very much taken care of by her husband, Harry, who is a high-powered divorce attorney. Harry is more masculine than either Steve or Smith, simply because he has a high-powered job that is in a traditionally masculine field, law, and he takes care of Charlotte and his children. While the characters show that masculinity and femininity are culturally-driven, demonstrating this truism by showing how the characters, with the exception of Charlotte and Harry, are anti-traditional, the second film emphasizes this point by contrasting the modern view of masculinity and femininity with a society that has a hyper-masculine view of men and a hyper-feminine view of women – Abu Dabi. The girls are free, liberated and sexual. They are independent and are not ruled by their men. Samantha especially is not ruled by any man, because she is single in this film. They descend on a city that is so traditionally male that the girls have all sorts of problems. Abu Dabi is shown to be a very patriarchal society. The women are required to cover up, completely, even wearing swimsuits that cover their entire bodies down to their ankles and cover their faces. Meanwhile, the men are shown going to the pool in tiny swimsuits and bare chests. Samantha constantly has to be reminded to cover up, and she is always chafing against these restrictions. Samantha, especially, has problems with the rules and restrictions of the country, because she has the sex drive of the stereotypical male. There is also a motif that runs throughout the film that show that women are still, by and large, the victims of a patriarchal society. This is true even in America, where women ostensibly are equal, and it is especially true in Abu Dabi. This motif is that men really want women to be silent. They want women to not have a voice. This is shown by the fact that Miranda, early on in the film, is literally silenced by her managing law partner. When she tries to speak in a board meeting, the managing partner puts his hand up to her so that she cannot speak. He is also shown to be patriarchal in that he obviously favors the male lawyers over Miranda, talking to a male lawyer about Miranda's case, instead of speaking to Miranda herself. Carrie also experiences the phenomenon of a male trying to silence her, as a critic who reviewed her latest book stated that she should have taken a vow of silence, in that she, in his view, has nothing of worth to say about relationships and marriage. The silence theme comes up with the images of the women in burkas in Abu Dabi. Carrie notes that the women who have the veil over their mouths seems like the men in that society want to silence these women. Indeed, towards to end of the film, the audience gets to see that the Abu Dabi women, in secret, are just like the Western women. They are dismissive of the men, are reading the latest book by Suzanne Somers, and, under their burkas, are wearing haute couture. This shows that these women are being silenced – they do not approve of how they are treated in society, and are only submissive because they are forced to. This is in contrast to the usual image of women in the Middle East - they are typically shown as being accepting of their place in society. This is not the case, at least according to the second Sex and the City movie. There is also a very subtle homage, in the second film, to an era where, culturally, men and women were defined very differently – the early 1960s and late 1950s. This was before the woman's movement. There are subtle touches that hearken back to this era. For instance, the gay best friends of Carrie and Charlotte are getting married. Liza Minnelli, the gay icon who was arguably most famous in the 1960s, officiated the ceremony. Carrie buys Mr. Big an anniversary gift which was a vintage Rolex watch the early 1960s. Carrie pours Mr. Big a cocktail out of a decanter. Charlotte is shown baking cookies, wearing a dress and an apron. The subliminal message of these images and scenes is that, in many ways, the gender roles have not really changed that much. Women are still oppressed, both in America, and, especially, in the Middle East. They might not be as oppressed as they arguably were in the 1950s, but they are still oppressed, nonetheless. The quandaries and contradictions that the girls find themselves in are emphasized in the films by the music that plays. For instance, in the first film, the theme song, performed by Fergie, explains perfectly Carrie's view of love. The song talks about preferring labels over love, because labels never let you down. This is always how Carrie viewed life, at least in the series, less so in the movies – she was, through most of the series, a loser in love. But the labels were always there. This presents a stereotype of a woman, much more than a man. Women are the ones who are known for going for “retail therapy” when things go wrong, and women are known, more than men, for being materialistic for designers. So this is a way of highlighting the contrasts between men and women. Moreover, in the second film, there are at least two songs which are more “in your face” as far as explaining women's issues. One is Liza Minnelli singing Single Ladies by Beyonce. This is a celebration of the independent woman – the single lady. Although three of the girls, by this point, were not “single ladies,” in their hearts, they yearn to be free, at least to a certain point. Charlotte admits to wanting to run away from her family, at least for a few days at a time; Carrie blatantly acts single, as she doesn't wear a ring, doesn't really seem concerned about Mr. Big the whole time she is on vacation, uses her maiden nam, and kisses Aidan; and Samantha is literally a single woman. Miranda also doesn't desire to keep in contact with Steve and Brady while she is on vacation, and, in this way, Miranda also acts single. The other song which is more direct in explaining the girls' feelings is their singing I Am Woman onstage. This song, of course, if a feminist screed that tells the world that women are equal to men, and that you can never keep a woman down. This is how these women feel, with the possible exception of Charlotte. They are all independent in their way, either sexually, professionally or both, with the exception of Charlotte. Therefore, this song states their positions in a nutshell – they are not a slave to any man, and they will make their way in the world, with or without a man. Conclusion If femininity and masculinity are cultural constructs, in that culture dictates what it is to be feminine or masculine, the two Sex and the City films deliberately turns this on its head. If Marilyn Monroe- breathy, busty, girlish and seemingly helpless – is the epitome of femininity, and Don Draper – tall, handsome, powerful, skirt chasing, and domineering – is the epitome of masculinity, then the men and women in Sex and the City are definitively anti-cultural. They defy cultural constructs. The women in these shows, with the exception of the Charlotte character, are domineering, achieving, independent and highly sexual (at least Samantha is). The men in these shows are more submissive, romantic, and domesticated. Smith and Steve, both, were dependent upon their women. Mr. Big, not Carrie, cooks, gets whiny when she isn't around, and wants to stay home all the time. Steve helps Brady with his homework, and attends school functions in Miranda's stead. While the girls are living in a modern society, for the most party, with the exception of some instances of patriarchy against Carrie, Samantha and Miranda, the society that they visit clearly are not living in such a modern society. The women in Abu Dabi are compelled to completely cover up, and the implication is that they are dominated by the men in that society. The message for this movie confirms that femininity and masculinity are, in fact, cultural constructs. In a patriarchal country like Abu Dabi, women are oppressed and men are dominant. What it means to be a man or a woman in that country is very different then what it means to be a man or a woman in this country. It is accepted in this country, if not entirely the norm, for women to dominate and men to be submissive. Therefore, the cultural constructs for gender in this society is much more broad and fluid than in patriarchal societies. That said, in a way, these movies are really anti-traditional culture because of their portrayals of men and women. It is precisely because the films, and the series upon which the films were based, turns gender on its head that the Sex and the City story has been so successful over the years. Sources Used Bartky, S. "Foucault, Femininity, And The Modernization Of Patriarchal Power," in Weitz (ed.). The Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behaviour. NY: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print. Butler, J. “Sex and gender in Simone de Beauvoir’s Second Sex.” Yale French Studies, 72 (1986): 35-49. Butler, J. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1990. Print. De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. New York: Vintage Books, 1973. Print. Connell, R.W. “A very straight gay: Masculinity, homosexual experience, and the dynamics of gender.” American Sociological Review, 57.6 (1992): 735-751. Print. Sex and the City. Dir. Michael Patrick King. 2008. DVD. New Line Cinema, 2008. Sex and the City 2. Dir. Michael Patrick King. 2010. DVD. New Line Cinema, 2010. Read More