HBO’s LGBT History: Sex and the City (2008, 2010)
Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 11:35AM
Manuel Betancourt in Adaptations, Costume Design, Gilles Marini, HBO, HBO LGBT, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and the City, TV at the Movies, sequels

After a week off (festivals sure do take it outta you, but did you catch up on all of our fun NYFF coverage?), we're back to our regularly scheduled programming. Last we spoke, I howled in laughter watching Curb Your Enthusiasm’s “pre-gay” kid, Greg in that show’s current series finale (there’s always rumors they’ll make more episodes, but Larry David seems to be in no rush). This week, we continue looking at another HBO comedy staple, the endlessly parodied, needlessly dismissed Sarah Jessica Parker series, Sex and the City...

We talked about Carrie & co. once already when discussing the watershed gay moment HBO experienced in 1998, but we couldn’t not talk about the gals’ two big screen outings, especially when they so obviously flaunt their gay cred at us. I’ll say this upfront: I love the series and think the first film is a delight, mixing campy humor and pathos like the best episodes of the show (that entire wedding sequence at New York Public Library is oh so great, with its high melodrama and gorgeous visuals matched step by step by the four actresses doing subtle and over-the-top as the scene requires). The second one? Well… the less said about its decidedly tone-deaf cultural imperialism the better; it really all plays out like a parody of Sex and the City (“Lawrence of my labia”? Oy...), complete with a winking “Paula Abdul” gay butler in the Middle East, who perhaps best embodies the way the film awkwardly (and unsuccessfully) straddles the line between tired stereotypes and progressive ideals.

Given the way both films try to cram enough storylines to fill up entire seasons, it’s probably not surprising that the resident Sex and the City gays, Stanford Blatch and Anthony Marentino, feature prominently only in the context of weddings: Carrie’s (failed) one in the first one, and (improbably) their own in the second one. Oh their wedding… Their gay wedding (the film’s words, not ours). I mean, it features Liza Minnelli singing “Single Ladies” and a gay chorus that’s a who’s-who of gay stage and TV stars: Max von Essen! Nick Adams! Kyle Dean Massey! Andrew Rannells! Matthew Risch!

It even makes space between swans and crowns to give Tony-winning actress Kelli O’Hara a bit part! Gay gay gay. That the entire sequence functions as an excuse to make our heterosexual leads reexamine issues of “tradition” and “monogamy,” is only one of the many ways in which the sequel is a lesser version of both the first film and the button-pushing show.

"This wedding is way more than beautiful. It's Lady Di."

"It's a gay wedding. I figured, what's one more little bitch with an attitude?"

"This wedding? It looks like the Snow Queen exploded!"

Of course, Sex and the City’s gay cred never rested solely on Stamford and Anthony.

Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte have become, if nothing else, iconic archetypes that define an entire generation of gay men (if you must know, I think I’m Carrie, but maybe that’s my own narcissism shining through). Even in its casting, the films, know where it’s at. I mean, take the people Carrie interviews for her personal assistant in the first film:

Yes, I was surprised when, upon rewatching, I found that our beloved Annaleigh Ashford (she of Masters of Sex fame, and another recent Tony winner) was featured in a small role alongside the amazing Bridget Everett. And then, of course, there's J-Hud herself fresh off her Oscar win. Gay.

Oh, and then there’s the men. The delicious, always objectified, men:

If there’s one thing we have to give Sex and the City props for is turning the male gaze on its head, having as gay friendly an ogling camera as they come. This is one of those moments where the show’s LGBT legacy need not be restricted to its representational value but its own sensibility (the fashion! the men! the questioning of sexual mores!). This is why I’m tempted to discuss some other upcoming films that don’t quite feature LGBT characters but whose queer DNA cannot be denied: Todd Haynes’s Mildred Pierce, Lange & Barrymore’s Grey Gardens, James Lapine’s Six by Sondheim… do chime in if you have thoughts on discussing these gems.

 Fun Awards Fact: While the show was a hit with both Emmys (seven wins including one for Best Comedy Series) and Golden Globes (eight wins including three for Best Comedy Series), it’s still unsurprising that both films found little traction outside of your People’s Choice and MTV Awards given they’re female-skewing rom-coms of sorts. Thankfully Patricia Field was singled out by the Costume Designers Guild Awards with a nomination for the 2008 film, an award she’d won for the show four times already, and which she’d win that same year but for her work on Ugly Betty. If you ask me, she’d have made a handsome Oscar nominee that year which saw Michael O’Connor win for The Duchess.

Next Week: As if to coincide with the increasingly politicized national conversation (that 2016 election feels both impossibly close and yet interminably far, don’t you think?) we’ll be discussing Outrage an HBO doc on closeted politicians. You can watch it on Netflix

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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