Now, being the curious and thoughtful philosophy major that I am, I wonder about many of the things I experience. Ever since I saw the Sex and the City movie (a rather long time after it was released in theaters, I must admit), I became enamored with the show's reruns, as edited and pathetic as they are now that they've been confined to network television.
Anyway, I'm well aware of Candace Bushnell's ideas about Carrie Bradshaw-- the show's main character is meant to be Bushnell's alter ego. But remember, I'm a philosophy major. The conventional explanations don't sit well with me. Over the summer (when I watched Sex and the City rerun marathons almost every night), I developed an interesting theory about Carrie and the other three ladies on the show. Or, at least, I think it's interesting. Well, that's the point of the blog, I suppose
So here's the thing. Suppose that Carrie Bradshaw is actually a very disturbed woman. After all, she has been damaged many times by so many men. Look at the two major relationships she sustained on the show. Carrie and Aidan were very serious for a long time, then they broke up, got back together and then Aidan immediately wanted to get married. Carrie then got cold feet and left Aidan. She was completely heartbroken-- and I mean broken-- after that. It was actually painful to watch. And that's not even taking into account the antics of Aidan in the second movie. Who walks up to one's ex, finds out she is married, and kisses her? Clearly Aidan has no regard for Carrie's feelings. Carrie's second man was, of course, Big. Who can forget him? Big pushed her away repeatedly for the entire series and they didn't even get married until the first movie-- and the majority of that movie involved Carrie being depressed about his leaving her at the altar (and then they ended up married!). Mind you, I'm not trying to say Carrie is a saint. She does some pretty screwed up stuff, too. And I'm not saying that the romanticism isn't at all wonderful (I'm a sucker for romance). But, assuming that Carrie is a very messed up woman, her mental issues are only exacerbated by the men she dates.
Now, Carrie is an outwardly normal woman. No truly crazy delusions or odd compulsions. But what if the issue is bigger here? Existential, even? What if the existential crisis involves the most crucial thing in her life-- her relationship with her three best friends? Granted, it's not surprising to find women who are close, share everything with each other, etc. I admit it. Bear with me. What if Carrie's delusion is that the three other women on the show, that is, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda, don't exist? They are real only in Carrie's head, as projections of her personality. Specters, perhaps, of different facets of her psyche, purer qualities than the full amalgamation of her character. They exist to help Carrie make sense of twisted and entangled relationships with men, to give her guidance in the most complicated situations. Samantha, the most confident in herself-- she encourages Carrie to fully embrace her sexuality and become the strongest woman she can be. Charlotte, the conventional one and the romantic-- she continually gives Carrie hope that her knight on a white horse is out there, waiting to sweep her off of her feet into a perfect relationship. And Miranda, the career-oriented one, grounded and practical-- she keeps Carrie (forever flighty) from slipping off into scatterbrained oblivion and is the model of the stable career that Carrie wishes to emulate.
Essentially, in order to hold herself together, Carrie creates these projections, which give her advice and ultimately even out the various extremes in her personality profile. I know it's crazy and fantastical, but, hey, it's fun to dream and wonder, right? That's the theory. Take it as you will.
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