A Searching Sunday

I went to see Sex and the City today. I prefer to be completely upfront with it. In the same vein, I'd also prefer to not waste space posturing about my manhood. Nor will I make excuses about seeing it. I wasn't dragged there, it wasn't for a date. I saw the movie of my own volition. And though it dragged on a bit, even at two hours plus I found it enjoyable.

Although it's not always readily seen, I've always been an emotional person. For many years my folly was trying to suppress it. I still get in my own way from time to time but in general I like to think that I'm honest with myself and with my emotions. In the past I was quite a bit more cavalier--not only with myself but in my relations with others. Reasons for this change are difficult to pinpoint (If I were a middle age woman I might be able to lay this heightened emotional evolution on menopause). Despite all of this and my own security with it, I am still reticent to admit that Sex and the City struck a chord with me.

It always seemed to me that Sex and the City's appeal to women lay with the alternate universe it opened to them--a tangible dream life for young women to strive towards and a brave youthfulness older women could pine for. We all internalize the stories we read, the shows we watch, and the lyrics we hear. We need to identify with the characters, that identification drives our enjoyment. It grounds the material in something we know or wish to know.

What gets lost among the handbags and the fancy lunch spots are the existential questions posed and the fluid conclusions each character reaches in response. That is what first made the show evolve from bearable to enjoyable for me--from something to share with my little sister to something I could watch on my own. It is also, I think, what I identified with the most in the movie. Of course there were all the natural Hollywood moments geared towards the demographic--overblown melodrama, metered humor, and plenty of dresses--but essentially the movie, like the show, was a chronicle of the inseparable nature of life and love. Within that spectrum was its greatness. It had the confusion, the hope, the despair, and the clarity of life and love. To any who have been there, to any who have experienced love, these attributes are easily identifiable. And it was that which truly spoke to me--the lonely soul reaching out into the world searching for that most human of all connections