Heterosexual Propaganda And The City
Posted on June 3, 2008
Filed Under Arts/Culture, Entertainment, Fashion, Film/Video, Gay/Lesbian, NYC, Women | Comments Off on Heterosexual Propaganda And The City
I emerged from the darkened cinema after watching the new film version of “Sex and the City” feeling just as beaten-over-the-head with heterosexual propaganda as “Mr. Big” was with white roses. Yes, the relationships between the primary four white women (plus the new addition of Carrie’s black personal assistant — a comforting, mammy-like portrayal by Jennifer Hudson) were lauded as the antidotes to female loneliness and isolation. The fact that there are never any economic consequences resulting from the folly of these white folks is more a commentary, I guess, on the collective desire of the masses to be swept-away by a Hollywood fantasy, and distracted from the drudgeries of daily reality (such as bill-payments, and the modern-day necessities of safe-sex and condoms).
Yes, we were bombarded with eroticized images of the male torso (complete with frontal exposure). But frankly, speaking as a woman, I am tired of being left totally ignored as a lesbian spectator of this on-going saga, (in spite of a sweet scene where Carrie and Miranda were mistaken as a lesbian couple having a romantic dinner on Valentine’s Day, when they, in fact, were two jilted straight girls).
Yes, we certainly enjoyed the experience of seeing Samantha’s beautiful body clad only in strategically-placed pieces of homemade sushi, and Charlotte’s sensual shower-scene during which she was so beside herself with happiness that she, in a moment of forgetfulness, allowed Mexican tap-water to trickle into her mouth. But couldn’t there have been one moment of physical admiration – especially by the pool in the Mexican sun – between these so-called friends? The closest we came to a simple acknowledgment of one for the other’s body was when Samantha noticed the growth of Miranda’s pubic hair enough to imply that Miranda had provoked her husband’s lack of sexual interest, and that she should schedule a bikini-wax ASAP. (Meanwhile, we all know that the actress, Cynthia Nixon, who portrays Miranda, is in actuality an out lesbian, and deserves an Oscar for her acting during the sex-scenes with her on-screen husband.)
The lesbians of the Big Apple have had enough of being ignored and swept under the rug of this fantasized portrayal of “best girlfriends” in New York City. Besides, what would this series be without the fabulous haute couture of designer Patricia Field, whom the lesbians of New York proudly claim as one of our own?
