Whether you watched Sex And The City when it first aired 27 years ago (and re-watch it every year like clockwork), or are a recent fan, discourse around the series will never die down. Heterosexual women from Gen Z to Gen X continue to relate to the four friends' plight to find love, build careers, and carve out a meaningful life in New York, and whose emotional anchors are each other.
Still, nearly every character has gotten a grilling thanks to a fresh new fandom's eyes, and Carrie Bradshaw, the show's protagonist and a sex and relationships columnist, has been getting a lot of flack recently. Online, the character has been labelled 'insufferable', 'everyone’s worst version of themselves' and 'messy' by some. Many of these arguments stem from her poor financial decisions, habit of drawing a conversation back to her dating life, and poor dating choices. But now Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays Carrie, has confirmed she won't join the hate-train.
Speaking on Today with Jenna & Friends, Parker was asked by the host, 'We've watched Carrie date for so many years on our TV screens. Is there ever a moment where you’re like, "Girl, wake up!" Are you ever yelling at your character to do something different?'
She replied 'no', adding, 'It’s been such a sort of extraordinary experience. I try to describe it as being contractually obligated to play somebody else — be somebody else — for about 27 years, to behave in ways which would be illegal if I, as a married person with children, ways in which I would behave in the city or with men.'
She also reiterated her trust in the writing behind Carrie. 'I feel like I have such implicit trust and faith in Michael Patrick and his extraordinary writing staff that, though decisions sometimes, I recognise, might be controversial or give people grief or have people have very big feelings, it’s incredibly fun to do,' Parker said. 'So I really love it.'
While many on social media have railed against Carrie, others argue she's an anti-hero and ahead of her time, adding she's just an authentic 30-something woman dating in a big city, and getting things wrong in the process. Viewers will get another chance to dissect the character with season three of the spin-off series, And Just Like That, which returns 29 May.