If you don’t recognize the phrase from the title, then of course you haven’t seen Sex and the City. And then you would have missed this perfectly classic scene (though there is a little bit that was cut out, but the best parts are there). Now, I never have seen all of The Way We Were, for it always seemed rather melodramatic and I just don’t like Barbara Streisand that much. But it’s a great scene all the same.
I would have to say that I’m a Katie girl. I’ve got the curly hair to prove it, just not in that Striesand 70s white afro sort of way. And I’ve also got my Hubble, or maybe even a Mr. Big. Though only being 25, I know, probably being melodramatic on my part, but this is a guy that’s popped up more often than not. He’s even got a nickname, the Boy Scout. Which he is, even has the Eagle Scout patch to prove it. Or maybe I just identify far, far too much with that scene. Hmmm.
So why do I bring all of this up? Well, it’s one of those times that the Boy Scout has encroached back into my life. And I saw the Sex and the City movie today. It had everything: the clothes, the shoes, the men and of course, the relationships. I’m sure everyone has heard the multitude of spoilers out there, and I’m not going to divulge any here. Go see the movie. If you’re a Sex fan, you’ll love it. If you’re not a Sex fan, you’ll probably not get it.
Seeing the movie though, and remembering the series and the great moments that it gave, and uh. . .well smelling the Boy Scout’s cologne in the movie (no, I did not see it with him, rather it was left over from some activities of the afternoon), I couldn’t help but wonder. . . What is it that we really want?
Give me a Carrie Bradshaw moment here and just run with it. Because I’ve been reading some wonderful romances for a long time, and reviewing here for over a year. I love the men and relationships and the happily ever afters. The movie, however, does make some very good points about what life can throw at you and what you can and can’t expect. Are those happily ever afters in the books we read what we really want? Do we want something else and only use that as a crutch?
I’m not going to discount the many different and superbly lovely happily ever afters that I’ve heard about from so many bloggers and commenters here. It’s out there, but is it out there for everyone? For every happy woman, isn’t there one that sits by the phone waiting? And as unrealistic as a Hollywood movie is, the Sex movie also showed that even if you get that happiness, it’s something you still need to work for.
I don’t want to imply that the Boy Scout and I would have a HEA, there’s history and drama and just a mess there, but isn’t that true for everything? The things that Hollywood can teach you (as well as Esquire no less), are probably the same things that are read in every romance novel that we come across, good or bad grade. An optimism for a future, a desire for a happy ending, whether that’s the neat tied in a bow type of thing or something else.
By the end of the movie the resolutions and lives of these four women that have had an impact on more than the producers of the show ever expected show, I think, what just about anyone would want: love. Not only in your romantic relationships, but also with friends, with family and even with yourself. What a reader, a movie watcher, or anyone else want when they see the word romance attached to anything is that great feeling of knowing things will turn out good in the end.
Though, again, I can’t help but wonder. . .well, you go ahead and wonder for me.
LOL you know what? I dont think I’ve EVER watched an entire episode–let alone more than five minutes of SITC
I loved that show. It was appointment TV for me. I started watching it when I was pregnant and thru the early years with my daughter. I’d sit up in bed on Sunday night, munching on popcorn and fruit juice, invariably nursing her, and watch SATC.
The sanitized reruns on USA aren’t as much fun. But they’re watchable. I’ll be seeing the movie as soon as I can get the g’mother to watch the curtain climber.
I’m a Carrie girl, and I’m happy with that. I think if we’re all honest with ourselves, we’re all Carrie girls, just some are better at hiding it than others. I think the “simple” girls with the straight hair are as complex, if not more so, than the rest. Only, the guy doesn’t find out about that complexity until they’re across the divorce lawyer’s conference table, or in front of a couples therapist.
There’s something to be said for being confident enough to express your emotions and desires to the person in your life who is expected to meet and fulfill them.
There was a study by Harvard, I think, called the “Executive Monkey” study that illustrates this to a point. Upshot is if you keep all your feelings bottled up waiting (for what, I don’t know), you’ll likely end up unhappy. Spread them around and you have a better chance of finding that person.
I’ve never seen more than two or three minutes of it while flipping through channels. The SITC thing totally passed by me.
What Shiloh said.
Then again, considering that for me shoes of any kind–forget heels–are always optional, and for me ‘doing my hair’ means pulling it away from my face…
😀
What?
Speaking of shoes – did anyone else happen to catch this?
Bueller, Bueller, Bueller, Ferris Bueller…
Just for the record….
YOU
are in soooooooooooooooooooo much trouble
And just who is the YOU are you referring to?
Not ME! 😉
Lol. Gwen, you should go see the SATC movie, ASAP. I think you will like it a lot.
You know just who YOU is… one would think you would learn a lesson
Even though I never really warmed up to him, I always thought Big got the best line in the whole series
(Carrie, clearly upset: “What do you want?”
Big, with a grin: “Why don’t we save ourselves an hour and you just tell me what I want?”)
And I still haven’t recovered from them making my beloved Mikhail Barishnikov look bad. Characterwise, not appearance I mean (because that wouldn’t be possible.)