A couple of weeks ago, I finished watching “Sex and the City.” I also no longer have Netflix because my parents own the account and are over 3,000 miles away. So, due to boredom, I will be discussing why I really dislike Carrie Bradshaw.
For some context, Carrie is the main character of the show. It is supposed to be about four friends: Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte, living in their 30s in New York City. While the show is meant to focus on their friendships, it mainly follows Carrie’s life and her relationships with men, especially with Big, whose real name they never say. He’s the guy she chases for six years, making terrible decisions along the way.
Since the first two episodes, I already found her annoying. Now that I’m done, I really don’t like her character.
First of all, she’s an awful friend. She expects loyalty from all her friends, yet she doesn’t give even half of what they give her in return. For example, she got mad at Charlotte for not offering to pay the down payment on her apartment—like, what? She’s literally an adult who chooses to spend her money on things she shouldn’t, and no matter what, just because they are friends, Charlotte does not have to automatically offer to pay for something that big. Whenever her friends asked her to do anything, she would either judge them, make it about herself, or not help at all. Like when Miranda asked her to help her get up after literally breaking her neck alone in her apartment, and Carrie sent Aidan (her then boyfriend) instead. Aidan ended up seeing Miranda naked and unable to get up. Of course, she got mad because she didn’t want someone she barely knew to see her in such a vulnerable moment. Lastly, my least favorite Carrie-being-a-bad-friend moment was when she judged Samantha. Samantha was by far the best friend, she was always there for Carrie, even when none of the others were, or when Carrie did questionable things and the others judged her. Yet, when Samantha did something bad, Carrie immediately judged her. The worst part is that the writers made the episode’s message as if it was okay for Carrie to judge her. Probably because Carrie is the main character, so they had to make her look good and be right all the time.
Speaking of being right all the time, she could not deal with her friends saying something about the men she dated, especially when it came to Big. Let’s talk about Carrie’s relationship with Big. It was awful watching six seasons of her leaving everyone and everything for a man. He was awful to her, but somehow, they still end up together, until the movie, where he LEAVES HER AT THE ALTAR. I’m pretty sure they will get back together even after that.
Anyway, the point is that she always dropped everything for him. If her friends said anything, she would get mad and claim they didn’t support her. Here are some of the things Big did that she forgave him for and still chased after him: going out with other women while they were dating, taking her to restaurants where no one could see them because he was embarrassed, not being able to say he loved her but still wanting her around, introducing her as a “friend” to people, moving to Paris without telling her even though they had been dating for about a year, saying he was scared of marriage because of his divorce and then marrying a 25-year-old in Paris, cheating on the 25-year-old with Carrie and only getting a divorce because she found out, getting mad at Carrie for having a boyfriend even though he was literally married, and only reaching out to her because he got dumped. I know he keeps doing bad stuff, but I haven’t watched all the films, so I can’t say for sure. But those are some of the worst things he did in the six seasons of the show.
Lastly, the thing I disliked most about Carrie is that she made everything about herself. Her friends would always go to her for advice or help, and she would somehow find a way to make it about her and her problems. The point of the show is supposed to be friendship (I think), but Carrie was a horrible friend. In my opinion, true friendship is about being there for each other, being honest, caring, and being someone you can trust, not just paying for things or being a good friend when it’s convenient. Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda did this far better than Carrie ever did. Regardless of the fact that Carrie sucks, the show was pretty good overall, it was funny and dramatic.
