Linksy Bits: Boob Tube, et al.
Some thoughts on the ladies of small screens, plus summer assigns and a veritable pickle-palooza.
And Just Like That …
Whether you are for or against this reboot of Sex And The City, you can’t deny its impact. Not just for showing women in their 50’s having sex on tv (a true rarity), but for the deep feels and hot takes it fuels! After Thursday’s season 3 opener, there are more opinions about lackluster phone sex, the appropriate size of an apartment, and floppy Strawberry Shortcake hats than Carrie Bradshaw has shoes. Because I read the internet, I soaked in a lot of it. And I couldn’t help but wonder ….
How old are these writers? You guys, I have become a Linkedin stalker on some of these writers, sussing out their first internships listed and doing math because it’s become clear to me that a 32 year old can’t understand this show. Yes, I get that SATC belongs to everyone and it speaks clearly to that age in such a groundbreaking and seductive way that even now it has inspired the West Village to metamorph into its Carrie Era. But this is not that show.
Many of these younger writers are holding on to the ladies of the past, not allowing them to exist in their current age, as if they should be held to the same rules of their former selves. You can tell how confusing it is for them, one writer (who I think is 36?) said “The most frustrating aspect of this revival is that, in spite of all the decades that have passed in these women's lives, the characters haven't learned” but then started her next paragraph with “I keep waiting for the series to wake up and become Sex and the City, but perhaps it's a project as pointless as Carrie wearing flats.” So you can’t understand their agency in these choices, and you just want them to be who they were, got it.
Another writer, who is likely under 40, is having a hard time with the whole set up that Carrie and Aidan aren’t going to be together for 5 years. And rightly so (that’s obviously the hook that showrunners created to bring us back for another season, and it worked, yeah? Please tell me you didn’t really think they weren’t going to talk for 5 years.) But instead of exploring it from a situational perspective, she wrote: This “is not a relationship. This feels like a hostage situation. Carrie ‘some women aren’t meant to be tamed’ Bradshaw is totally fine with this setup? Impossible. At one point, Anthony describes her as Rapunzel waiting around in her tower for the guy, but honestly, this whole thing is already giving off real Miss Havisham vibes, but instead of a wedding dress, Carrie will be wearing increasingly insane hats” (truthfully love that Havisham/hats bit of writing tho).
Did she forget that in the interim, Carrie Bradshaw WAS tamed? And maybe not so much as tamed as changed by a supposedly wonderful 15 years of good and satiated living with Big? Could that have changed this wild character so much so that she, and let me scream this for a sec, ISN’T ACTUALLY WAITING FOR ANYONE AND IS HAPPY TO LIVE IN HER WORLD AND IF A GUY SHOWS UP IN IT, GREAT, AND IF HE DOESN’T FOR A WHILE, WELL GREAT TOO.
Shocking, I know, but that’s an actual side of being single in your 50’s, dolls. While Aidan aches for Carrie, she’s content to play with her big new house and go brunching with friends. Let me say that again: content. What if the partnership piece of this is NO LONGER CENTRAL to Carrie? Didn’t she prove that last season by casually flowing through a few partners that neither wrecked her nor completed her? Let the woman evolve!
What if this season is really only starting with that last scene as she types a new perspective, in third person? She doesn’t need a man to buy her an apartment, to complete her life, or be the content that fuels her career. Huh.
Picklers know, change is nothing to be afraid of. It’s the only thing, after all, that proves we’re still kicking. I’m begging the reviewers of this show to allow these characters to flow into whatever kind of mess, or confident single, or still hopeful romantic that they will evolve into without trapping them in their 30 year old versions.
And for god sakes, hire some 50+ writers to help you understand this.
Sirens
Just a quickie note about this Netflix show which is also a crazy and careening 5-episode binge fest about the complexities of women. I love the Greek mythology intertwined within the concept, Sirens are the island bound harpies that trap men with sweet songs of seduction. Some people have found this show odd and hard to track, others have found it a fascinating study in the language of class and a glimpse into our pathology for finding cults everywhere. I loved it for the fact that, even to the end, you’ll be hard pressed to define who the villain is. Actually, you’ll have to decide. And that’s the mark of good tv.
Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
You know I swore off of shouty-girl tv when the Housewives got to be too yelly, but I dipped into the first season of this show last year mostly to see what Mormon life was like. It was fine: Dirty sodas, Utah curls, and the same mean girl mentality found in other walks of life. I tried to pop into this season, but it’s SO MUCH MORE SHOUTY with women using therapy speak to downgrade other women as they pretend they are empowering women. And worse yet, it’s more about clout and who gets what brand deal which is boring. They have not earned my eyeballs.
What To Cook For When you are fully into a Pickle Girl Summer. I can’t open my feed without being hit with a new pickle perfect recipe. Here are the ones I’m most into:
Spicy Pickle Nachos
Chopped Pickle Bacon Bagels
Chicken Pickle Skewers
Fried Pickle Dip
Pickle Breadwich???
Cheesy Pickle Dogs
Summer Assignments
Happy June 1st, which is to say: It’s summer! Just want to remind you that you only really have 14 Sundays until Labor Day so use them wisely. Maybe in these such ways?
Find your first summer read and buy it in paperback. Carry it with your everywhere in case you have a space moment of sunlight or a break before another meeting, so you can stop. And escape.
Buy a lotion that isn’t your normal lotion, maybe a more expensive lotion, but a lotion that smells like you might have been Rita Hayworth on another timeline. Wear it everywhere and waft through grocery stores knowing you are stirring something in people you pass.
Get dressed for dinner. Go out with your pack or invite some over, and even if you grill up some dogs and crack open some chips, do it in some kickass strappy sandals and a summer skirt. Wear the funky jewelry and you can skip the makeup if you want.
Write a letter, an actual paper letter, and send it to someone you haven’t seen in a long while. Pen and paper are a tactile hug for those across state lines.
Make sun tea. Become the sun tea Queen. Mix with a sploosh of bourbon when you’re grilling up dinner and call it your Sundowner Ritual.
XOSM
First summer read to relish: Hotter in the Hamptons. Written by Tinx who has a podcast and loves some internet drama. All of it is West Village Girls adjacent, and maybe that's a new Pet Shop Boys hit.
100% on SATC....it's Millennials thinking they are Gen x'ers again ;) Can't wait 'till that bunch turns 50+! I think there will be a lot of "ooooohhhh"'s happening.
Great writing as always, Cheese! xo