Sexism and the City

Close friendships are important for both men and women. I like the relationship amongst the four women regardless of the over-the-top fashion.

I have to give some major props to the author of this article for going to the movie, keeping an open mind, and making some rather intelligent observations. I especially love the tie made into politics, and the sparking of a fire that people everywhere try to smolder - there is still sexism in this world, and more than most would like to recognize. Thank you to the author for not being blind to the obvious in both the minimal of examples and the most intense.

It seems to be like your article is sexist, for the vast amount of generalizations you have about males. Maybe men don't like the film because it is a chick flick in their eyes. Maybe they were swayed away by the gushing over it by the 18-29 female demographic. Maybe it isn't their cup of tea and the film is more identifiable towards women. Let's look at another movie, female centered, with a strong female cast and see the difference to the reaction Sex and the City got. Let???s take the film The Hours, did this get the bashing the Sex and the City got by males? No, because the movie had something more to it, people could discuss it at the dinner table. The movie Sex and the City is directed towards the18-29 female demographic, and they???re the ones that liked it the most. Surprising? No. Sexist (for males to criticize it)? No again.

It seems to be like your article is sexist, for the vast amount of generalizations you have about males. Maybe men don't like the film because it is a chick flick in their eyes. Maybe they were swayed away by the gushing over it by the 18-29 female demographic. Maybe it isn't their cup of tea and the film is more identifiable towards women. Let's look at another movie, female centered, with a strong female cast and see the difference to the reaction Sex and the City got. Let???s take the film The Hours, did this get the bashing the Sex and the City got by males? No, because the movie had something more to it, people could discuss it at the dinner table. The movie Sex and the City is directed towards the18-29 female demographic, and they???re the ones that liked it the most. Surprising? No. Sexist (for males to criticize it)? No again.

I thought it was a good movie. Not a profound work of art, but entertaining like the show was. However, as a guy, I know why some guys hate the movie with an emotional intensity that is way beyond what a movie should inspire. And that is because, as a guy, when you're dating, you sometimes get rejected by beautiful women. Maybe all the time, mabye some of the time, maybe even rarely for some guys, but it happens. And then when you are sitting there licking your wounded ego, you imagine her making a joke about you to her girlfriends, just like the women on sex and the city did about their dates. Just contemplating it can be unpleasant. Now did Seinfeld on his show reject all kinds of women for shallow and superficial reasons? Of course. But he was rejecting women, so guys didn't get upset about that. This show has women rejecting men for sometimes superficial reasons and so it causes some guys to go through the roof.

There are of course other reasons for disliking the movie. It wasn't an amazing work of art, so some may be disappointed in the storyline etc. Also the girls were heavily into fashion so even guys with a healthy ego might not get into it because they aren't interested in that kind of stuff. But for these people there isn't the kind of emotional component to their dislike of the movie. To them, it was simply a movie they didn't care for.

speaking as a man i must say that an article such as this, carefully studied and then recited at just the right moment at a wedding reception, can help us all get laid. and isn't that the point?

Well, I thought the show was okay, but I hated the movie. My wife liked the show, but didn't like the movie.

I think the likely reason is this: The movie was bad.

You mention the 54% the film got on the Tomatometer, yet fail to recognize that many of the negative reviews were written by, gasp, women, like Gina Carbone, Andrea Chase, and Carol Cling. Are they also sexist?

And your mischaracterization of Roger Ebert???s review is saddening. You ask ???If it's not your cup of tea (or Cosmo), must you really attack it so vehemently????, yet criticized Mr. Ebert for stating exactly that???the movie was not his cup of tea, and it did nothing for him. Nowhere in his two-star review (a rating indicating mediocrity rather than hatred) did he ???vehemently attack??? the film.

The idea that this film has received a particularly scathing amount of criticism is ludicrous if you compare it to guy-centric films that got similarly mixed reviews???the vitriol leveled by some reviewers at Spider-Man 3, for instance, makes any negative review for Sex and the City look charming in comparison.

I find it truly offensive that anyone could look at ???Sex and the City??? and equate dislike for that film with dislike for women. The movie is filled with characters who abandon the strongly-crafted and complex characterizations created for them on the television show for shallow ???chick flick??? clichés that are more manipulative than honest. Forgive me for citing a ???guy film??? in contrast, but the difference in emotional depth between this movie and, say, Forgetting Sarah Marshall earlier this year is stark.

So far, I'm hating Newsweek's movie reviews. I love their top-notch political coverage. This is my favorite News magazine as far as that goes, but their movie reviews have just been AWFUL. Now this could have to do with my disdain for pretty much all critics ("I'm a fan with a huge ego that is always right and always has the right to tell you that you have bad taste"), but I'm pretty sure I'm hating Newsweek's the most.

This article seemed tobe written by a 5th grade boy

Wait, you mean men did not enjoy a movie targeted directly at women with little or no intelligence put into it that isn't recycled from a thousand other movies and television shows! Impossible! They must all be sexist.

Oh, and my girlfriend, sister, and mother do not care for SATC.

Great story. Guys do think this movie is stupid???.but it is because they still just don???t understand women, so, to them, it is like watching a foreign film without subtitles!

I'm sure the first woman to have a realistic shot at being the leader of the free world would identify well with a group of women who "empower" themselves through the latest trend in purses and sexual encounters. Likewise I'm sure those four women would sit around drinking pink cocktails discussing what a wonderful plain blue dress with pearls Hillary wore as she stood by her philandering husband. Or not.

Thank you, Mr. Setoodah, for your very sharp and insightful article. It's almost laughable (not to mention obnoxious) how something that is fun and light for the fans, has triggered such extremely bitter responses from the anti-fans. People take away different things from film, and I feel that people with a true appreciation of film truly get that point. That is what is so perfect and magical about movies. Sometimes I attend for the beauty of a great epic or to learn more about a historical event or to better understand the perspective of a favorite director...or in the case of Sex and the City, to just sit back and laugh and cry and feed my softer side. Would any of these SATC bashers debate that part of the initial appeal of film (and I'm talking waaaay back to the beginnings) is the voyeuristic quality? My appreciation in film, is that a good movie fulfills its purpose. Movies like IronMan or IndiJones are really not entirely different in their purpose than Sex and the City: they are not real; they're not going to change the world, cure cancer or accomplish any other miracle. They feed the soul in a shallow, privleged way, that is beloved by anyone in a country as free as the U.S. I would not ask to rid the theaters of any of them. Sex and the City's purpose was to be no more than it is: gorgeous, frolicking, a treat and tribute to the fans, and some well-written words and perspective on love. These ultra-angry, negative people who critique it are posers...wishing they had the chops to comment on a film that would require any level of thought. SATC is an obvious and easy target (anyone can rip apart a chick flick), and leave it to the ego (that finely tuned, but over-inflated ego carefully designed to mask their insecurities and lackings...only to make them all the more exposed) of a man to pounce on it like it's Truffaut or something. And that is certainly not pointed at all men, but some men are just "THAT man", and he's so unfortunate. Thank you.

How sad people have to attach issues about gender and self-confidence to a movie that makes it's own fan base happy. Maybe they should fix their own underlying issues before they speak out like that. Nobody is forcing you to watch this movie. If you're not a fan, don't go see it, you won't be missed.

Do women attack men because they love a movie that appeals to their gender? No, we have more important things to focus on. Sex and the City is a movie, a form of entertainment that happens to have a following.

For the gentleman who commented on the war? Why aren't you focused on it instead of bashing Sex and the City and it's fans?