I didn’t realize the full-retardation of Carrie Bradshaw’s cavalier attitude toward money – one that ultimately made me cringe even more than her cliched observations on all things Man – until I moved to her hometown. Her spending habits did more damage than even her faux-female empowerment act: Episode after episode, she squandered her menial writer’s salary on Manolo after Manolo, all too willing to pay full price. Only in the world of fiction could this irrational combination exist, but we bought it anyway, and sunk ourselves into debt right along with her. Where shopping’s concerned, SaTC’s heroine might just be the worst rolemodel we’ve ever had. And – in a monumentally stupid move – MTV’s about to unleash her spawn in the form of one Whitney Port. Recession, Shmecession.
According to Page Six, “It takes women as young as Whitney and her carefree cohorts to let us relive those frivolous, halcyon, spend-crazy days of Sex and the City. ‘We all need clothes, obviously, but to be fashionable right now is an extra,’ Whitney says.”
(…is an extra, what, exactly?) I don’t doubt that “The City” is Whit’s reality, but it’s not mine and I’m way too self-centered to give a shit about anything extraneous to me, obvs. I don’t need to see “The City” (see, like SaTC, without the S!) to know it’s like reading a fashion mag; its only lasting effect is that it leaves you thinking you *need* the apparel, shoes and accessories you’ve just seen. And that’s exactly what MTV’s banking on with this hot mess of a half hour.
You. Don’t. Have. Any. Yet. (If you do, in excess, it’s probably not your own. Moochface). This doesn’t mean you sacrifice living in the moment and/or shopping; it means you stop associating spontaneity with impulsively buying expensive crap.
Look, Whit, my beef isn’t with you. I’m sure your PR gig at DVF snags you all sorts of free goodies, so I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that trench coat you obviously needed was a bonus, and not something you blew your entry-level salary on.
This is *reality*, right?
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I cannot agree with you more. I’m sorry I do not want to watch a show where I walk the same streets as this girl who is getting paid big bucks by mtv to look too trendy and stylish in clothing I cannot afford on my entry level salary. It makes me way to J.O.S.E (jealous other still envious) a word I haven’t used since high school. ughhh
If I didn’t care about being politically correct, I would type “amen!!!”
Barf. No wonder that Carrie person took six seasons and AND a feature length film to finally bag a man — who the eff wants to saddle themselves with some dingbat’s massive pile of debt?
You’ve just highlighted one of the main reasons I couldn’t stomach SATC. I can suspend my disbelief, sure, but I can’t watch someone be so relentlessly stupid about money.
And I agree that Whitney’s example is just going to allow that spend-big-or-go-home attitude to trickle down to women in their 20s, who have even FEWER resources than women in their 30s. Oy. It gives me a migraine.
Agreed. This is why I can’t stand shows like Gossip Girl and Sex and the City. I don’t believe that money is the answer to being fashionable, but the sad part is that I see a lot of people in my age group being influenced by the sort of consumerist logic promoted in these TV shows. What’s even sadder is that we live in a third world country, and even office workers get paid peanuts. I know some people who are still paying off debts in the tens of thousands because of excessive shopping. It’s sad.