“(Carrie) and her friends run up against the puritanical and misogynistic culture of the Middle East” Discuss Middle Eastern and Western values of how female sexuality is represented in Sex And the City 2.
by rojdavodka Posted on January 25th, 2011 in Uncategorized
In my essay I will be using a number of different theories that can be applied to sex and the city 2. I will be challenging the representations of Western women and Eastern women in the film and apply theories. The film is revolved around these four women who we get to see through their perspectives of life as we follow them through their journey to the Middle East. In my essay I will be talking about how the characters carry themselves throughout the movie and how the Muslim society is confronted. We observe these women facing a transition in their lives and find difficulties along the way. The potential of empowering women in this film is drained through the negative portrayals of Muslim women and the representation of Western women.
The representation of women in the film challenges the idea of women being seen as ‘lack and other’- Bell Hooks. It subverts the idea of the ‘other’ on the men because they are not taking on a huge role in the film as much as these women; they are neither heroines nor murderers. The portrayal of the men in the movie is seen as the just the ‘husbands’ or the ‘ex’s’ and so they have no major or dominant role which places the women as the dominant figures throughout the movie. We also see the female gaze quiet often with the male ego of ‘Samantha’ fetishising on the male figure objectifying the men, which can be referred to the scene at the hotel pool with half naked footballers jumping into the pool in slow motion rubbing their wet bodies. In addition to the scene whilst the women are in the desert and a extreme long shot to a man behind a truck coming towards them, there is than a scopophilic viewing of this man from the perspective of Samantha presenting to the audience her desire for male control physically. This relates to the bell hooks theory because instead of the women being seen as the sexualized objects the role is transferred on to the men. In addition the Muslim culture is also segmented as ‘other’ as we see the main characters question whether the society of the Middle East is too narrow minded which the way the women dress and cover up as a way not to grasp male sexual attention.
As well as being an empowering interpretation of women today does the film degrade the Muslim culture?
“Scenes in which the Manhattan socialites encounter misogynist attitudes from Middle Eastern men and make jokes about women wearing the niqab” we (the audience) view the women having lunch and gossiping about the clothing of the Eastern women as they slyly stare at how a Muslim woman wearing a niqab will eat her French fries. “French fries for the lady in the veil”, we see camera shots of the two Eastern women, a close up into one of their faces and a side view. This places the audience in the perspective of scrutinizing the culture and symbolizing them as animals instead of humans stared at from outside a cage. This conveys the idea of Western society never being able to grasp the values of Eastern society instead looks at it as a negative thing. This also places the audience in a narrow mindset as we are not getting involved with their religion but simply judging what we don’t know.
“Certainly Carrie is loving the experience of this rare opportunity to observe women of faith who are really loving the idea of tradition or, in fact, loving their faith and re-defining tradition for themselves”. An example from the film is when the women are in a room full of traditional Muslim women who reveal underneath their veil the latest designer clothes. Does this imply that the only way to relate to modern society is through fashion and through the pressures that the media influences on us?
The film represents the Muslim culture in a narrow minded manner and does not go into detail about what they practice for the reasons they do it. The traditional Muslim women are not identified as knowledgeable and educated women, however they are represented as ‘other’ and as silenced objects till they unravel the westernized fashion as if women should look a certain to be equal, have a voice and relate to each other.
Lacan’s ‘The Mirror’ theory and Mulvey’s extended idea of this theory is the ‘The silver screen’ and how the mirror reflects back on to the female viewer and representations of female identity. The film is based around the four female characters: Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte. The women are represented as high-class knowledgeable New York City ladies living an extravagant lifestyle. The film starts off with the glamorous outlook on the characters in New York City and one of the first camera shots into this movie is a close up of Carrie Bradshaw’s sparkly expensive footwear which grasps the attention of female viewers and questions them on their fashion and way of life. The characters representation of Western women is always being in the latest fashionable outfits looking at their best at nearly every part of the film and going to bed and waking up with their hair and makeup intact. This portrays an ideological image to our women in society to look and be a certain way nearly all the time making sure we cover all of our flaws that should be appreciated. It could be interoperated as a manipulative way into making women insecure about their bodies as we see Samantha countless times trying to avoid the natural causes of nature by taking hormone pills to exclude menopause from her body.
This is very relevant to today’s society as women try to reach perfection and aspire to be sexually powerful. The women are ideological figure which women today want to become, powerful, sexy, independent business women who have set up their own way of living.
However we do come across Carrie questioning where she’s going with her marriage, whether it be having children or staying just as two in the marriage. She is represented still wanting to go out whilst her husband prefers to stay in. “All you have to do is put on a fresh shirt” we see the force she puts upon him and causes worries for her relationship wondering if the spark has deteriorated . Does this portray a certain view on Western women and always wanting more and never being satisfied, this projects this idea upon the audience and makes them question whether they are ever satisfied.
Gauntlet discusses how the representations of growth in gender equalities and how women’s representations have developed over the years on television thus becoming ‘increasingly equal and non-stereotyped’, from the majority of actors being male in the 1990’s. The character of Samantha is a representation in the media who has dominated and been a voice to women, she can be associated with having the male ego however empowering women as she’s so outspoken. This may be taken as inspiration to the target audience which is mostly females ages varying from 18-50, admiring her character’s voice and honesty. ‘I don’t think there’s ever been a woman who has expressed so much sexual joy [on television] without her being punished. I never tire of women coming up to me and saying, “You’ve affected my life”’ (Williams 2002)
In a particular scene in the film we see Samantha’s outburst as her sexuality is revealed by her bag breaking and a load of condoms falling out. We view Muslim men surrounding her with outrage symbolizing her being dominated however Samantha being the character that she is doesn’t allow that to happen and her inappropriate behavior becomes the center of attention. This depicts the misogynistic culture of the Middle East and how it’s preferred that women should be a symbol of purity therefore revealing condoms would be a major disrespectful thing to do as women. This may be a portrayal of strength in Western women today and the confidence and independent views we have on being judged for being sexually outspoken. The film also tackles areas which the western women discuss whether the western men would like them to be more silenced. “It wasn’t my tone of voice that my boss didn’t like; it was the fact that I had a voice. Men in the US pretend their comfortable with strong women, but really a lot of them would prefer us eating French fries behind our veils”- Miranda. This places the audience questioning a valid point that should be challenged in today’s society, even though women have much more equal rights than the 1960’s is this something that should be confronted? This quote from the film can also be seen as a racist comment as it mentions the veil therefore hinting that Muslim women have no voices. This degrades the Muslim culture; Even though this film was made out to empower women the Western women themselves undermine Eastern women.
