Looking Past the Gucci Bags

Written by Dani

I’ve sat on couches, sleeping bags and bunk beds and digested buckets of chocolate malts and salty popcorn while the lives of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte dramatically unraveled on the TV set.

So I could hardly wait for the 148 glorious minutes to start as I sat in the fourth row, already halfway through my bag of candy. Everyone hooted and hollered as the opening scenes splashed Carrie Bradshaw strutting down a New York avenue in impossibly high heels and designer digs, her voice explaining the two L’s of why people gravitate to the Big Apple: love and labels. Now I love this show, but as I heard the trot of heels and watched glossy store bags being placed in the back of an SUV like it were a showcase, my love hit a snag.

Millions anticipated this movie, it made $55.7 million its opening weekend and the lines to simply get a seat were horrendously long. But my heart dropped to the sticky theatre floor when I realized that a nation full of theatres was clamoring around this cultural phenomenon…oohing at Gucci bags.

What to others looked glamorous, to me felt empty. I wondered, is this what we’re aching for, what we’re wishing we had? A happy ending where we drive off into the sunset in a shiny Range Rover weighed down by Vogue’s and Monolo’s?

If you’ve seen the movie, what did you think? Do you think fans bother or even care to look past the Gucci bags to question what ideas are really being presented?