Me: You’re totally Miranda!!
Friend: …..ugh.
No one can deny that Sex and the City was a groundbreaking show for its time, specifically for powerful women who love having sex. Television rarely depicts the experience of women having sex, much less depict it at all accurately. Sex and the City was literally THE first time I saw women talking about their own sex lives with other women. Orgasms, fetishes, threesomes, impotence — you name it they were talking about it. This was inspiring to me because I LOVE sex and I LOVE talking about sex.
Recently I just went through a HUGE sex and the city phase — which of COURSE means I watched the show twice. ….back to back. I then proceeded to drag everyone around me into conversations concerning the show’s characters, plots, and sexual situations. This means discussions concerning the best episodes, the worst guys, the most relatable situations and lastly on what characters we were most like. After a while, I noticed that almost everyone who got pegged as a Miranda was usually disappointed. But why?
Miranda is without a doubt the most successful character on the show and SHOULD be the character we all aspire to be. Miranda went to Harvard Law School, became a law partner at her firm before the age of 35, bought her own apartment in the upper west side without any help, is a full-time mom while working her dream career, and still maintains a social life with her best gals. Literally she is living the dream! So why would my friend be disappointed when I said he was like Miranda?
My friend did try to explain himself and give valid reasons for not wanting to be Miranda. Miranda can be extremely negative and pessimistic compared to the other three characters. Her sex life definitely isn’t as consistent as Samantha and men aren’t throwing themselves into ridiculous impractical situations for her like they do Carrie. However, Miranda voices her opinions without fear, stands up for her friends no matter what the situation, and is unapologetically herself all the time. Oh, AND she still has crazy amounts of great sex that ends with starting a life with her soulmate. So why wouldn’t someone want to be a Miranda?
The simplest answer is, powerful women who are vocal about their needs are often seen as bossy, rude, and controversial. Miranda has a great quote in Season 1 Episode 10 where she says “The witch in Hansel & Gretel is very misunderstood. I mean the woman builds her dream house and these brats come along and start eating it!” This quote translates to Miranda’s whole character — she’s a powerful woman and doesn’t want anything or anyone interrupting her incredible life. Why should that be a bad thing? Miranda actually a lot of similar qualities to Mr. Big. But Mr. Big is considered a smooth player, while Miranda is pegged as a negative snob.
Telling your friend they’re most like Miranda is literally like saying they’re in the Hufflepuff house at Hogwarts. They’re outwardly disappointed by your decision. However this should NOT be the case folks!!! I truly think if Sex and the City aired on television today, Miranda would be more popular than Carrie. She is the most relatable character on the show by a long shot. She never apologized for what she wanted, she wasn’t ashamed of her eating habits, she was the most realistic when it came to love, she was always there for her friends, she enjoyed talking about things other than men and she didn’t have to wear luxury designer clothes every second. Her feminist, no bullshit, take what you deserve attitude is something that all women should aspire to have. Honestly, we’d all be lucky to be Hufflepuffs and we’d all be blessed to be a Miranda.
