Sunday, July 27, 2008

Is Sex and the City really all that different than Disney??

Now, before I get in all sorts of trouble, let me start by saying I LOVE Sex and the City and I LOVE Disney!! I can't get enough of either of them! I could watch episodes of SATC daily and I could spend days and days at the Disney parks and watching Disney movies. But I really must pose the question, Is Sex and the City really any different from Disney?? Isn't it just Disney on Viagra for the older girls looking for the fairy tale ending?

The series, including the movie, is all about Carrie and her search for true love and a happy ending. Granted, it comes in a more grown up package (my polite way for saying NC-17 rated) than a Disney Cartoon but it's true love and happy endings!! True love is a common theme in a lot of movies but for the SATC and Disney movies it is usually the main theme and find me a Disney movie that doesn't have a happy ending, and now we all know that there were happy endings and true love for all the SATC girls... and guys for that matter!! In fact, during the last episode of the series this is what Carrie says, "I'm looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love". How is that any different than a cartoon princess dancing around singing about how someday her prince will come? Carrie has her issues, issues you just can't ignore and file away, but how is that different from any of the cartoon Disney princesses and their step-mothers, wicked step-sisters, poisoned apples, spindles & evil squid queens? Issues are issues, right? You have your issues and you work them out with friends until you get to the point that it's time for that movie to end and time for you to get your happy ending. In the cartoons Aurora has Flora, Fauna & Merriweather, Snow White has the Dwarfs, Cinderella has Gus-Gus and Jacques, Aurora has Sebastian, Flounder & Scuttle... in SATC Carrie has her girlfriends, Charlotte, Miranda & Samantha. These 'supporting characters' in the story lines are as important as, if not more important than that main character. They are often the voices of reason, the sounding board, the support system for that main person. You always hope that those supporting people get their happy ending too (and they always do) but it's always that main character that you hold out the most hope for, the one that you really root for.

In a way, real life is like that. You hope for happy endings for those around you, you are a voice of reason, a sounding board and a support system for your friends and loved ones. You hope that they are happy and in love and taken care of. The difference is that even though you are the main character in your life, you still wait. You wait for your turn to need a voice of reason, a sounding board and a support system so that you can get your happy ending. You watch these movies and tv shows where all these people solve their problems in 30 minutes, 60 minutes... 2 1/2 hours at the most... and wonder how you got to be the age you are and still be waiting and hoping for your happy ending. Can you really find that ridiculous love that you can't live without? Can your true love and your soul mate and your best friend be wrapped up in one person? Can that love last forever? Can you find true love when you are young and even though it isn't the right time somehow pick up right where you left off and be happy 10 or 15 years later?

I will admit, on top of being a Disney addict, I am a hopeless romantic. I walked out of SATC and I LOVED it! It was everything I wanted in a movie. I laughed, I cried, I laughed, I cried... it was amazing! It brought everything from the series and wrapped it all up in a package and put a bow on it. Sure, they wrinkled the wrapping paper and had to re-tape a couple of spots along the way but in the end, each girl got her happy ending in a pretty little package. But while all the girls were happy, I left the theater wondering where MY John James Preston and Miranda, Charlotte & Samantha were. Damn Hollywood...

Now, don't get me wrong... I'm happy. I love my husband. I have 2 amazing, wonderful kids that I love like crazy. Sure, there are things I would change and there are things that I would have done differently but seriously, for the most part I am happy. So with that being said, why does watching these movies or TV shows always make me wonder if there is more out there? Why do we all buy into it? What is it about watching someone on a screen that we know is a character written by a team, yes a TEAM, of people that makes you re-think your own choices and where you are in your life? Why do the endings always seem happier on screen than in real life? And how come, even though we know they are characters and that these actors go home to relationships that are falling apart or so distant they might as well be bi-coastal relationships, we think of the characters as the main person that the actor is and forget that they are real people? I am sure most of the actors in Hollywood would like to have the happy endings that their characters get!!

So, now that I have determined SATC is really just Enchanted on Viagra, I am going to join my sleeping husband in bed... he may not be Chris Noth or Patrick Dempsey but he's a good guy and he loves me and he's a great dad. My happy ending may not be Hollywood worthy but it is good enough for me... until I watch the next romantic comedy of course!! ;)

Good night, sleep tight...

With love,
Chrissie

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

you think too much... - Ei :-)