The television world's one of iconic woman Sarah Jessica Parker turned another year old and probably Carrie Bradshaw wouldn't like it if we mentioned it here. She had played the role of writer Carrie Bradshaw in the series and the spin-off films Sex and the City, and that show gave her fame for all the right reasons.
Sex and the City bridged a gap between friendship, fashion and female empowerment. It is difficult to accept and love Carrie Bradshaw from the very start of the show since she appears to be too conceited and materialistic, but as seasons pass by, Bradshaw grows with you, when you learn that while she may be a teenager stuck in the body of an adult, she also has a unique method of accessorising her life when she finds a lack of love in it.
Sarah Jessica Parker made her debut with Sex And The City in 1998 and stayed with us even in 2021 as she returns for a reboot. Before Sex and The City not many of us could find an emotion, or a series of the word that could normalise our love for success, partner, materials and not feel guilty for wanting everything in life.
Samantha Jones may have been undoubtedly fabulous, but Carrie Bradshaw remained the emotional fool that stayed in all of us. She dated New York when she had no man, and she enjoyed her single life without allowing shame to consume her. (And why should she?)
Carrie Bradshaw and her many life lessons
"I've spent $40,000 on shoes and I have no place to live? I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes!"
Carrie didn't have a sense of savings. She loved her clothes, shoes to the point that she literally forgot to invest in a residence before splurging on luxuries. Carrie made us understand the real and uncomfortable truth about materialism. We all hate it, morally judge it until we reach a point when we too can afford it.
Carrie had an obsession with shoes and designer clothes. But when she had to face eviction, Carrie taught us that the answer to happiness might be when you are able to put your foot inside a Jimmy Choos, or Manolo Blahnik's.
But when it comes to necessities maybe you should take a look at that first, else life might take you to the point where you might be the woman with the latest collection of shoes, as none of it will hold much value when you have to beg your friend to trade her favourite ring, so she could loan you the cash with which you could buy your old apartment.
"I'm someone who is looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love."
Carrie pioneered the trope of romanticising love that later turned out to be really messy. She had a swinging feeling from Mr Big to other men, whom she silently kept comparing with Mr Big. As Charlotte had pointed out, Mr. Big had been the most romantic encounter in her life. It's a sheer shame that her girlfriends had been too late to realise it.
"Maybe the past is like an anchor holding us back. Maybe you have to let go of who you were to become who you will be."
Memories of what I should have done, I could have done kept haunting all the girls of SATC. Through heartbreaks, losses and failures Carrie learnt that nothing can be better in her life than her three girlfriends.
Carrie and the girls refused to be in competition with one another and that challenged the status quo of SATC with other television series based on women friendship.
In FRIENDS, Monica Geller was always competitive, in Desperate Housewives all the homemakers were trying to be as perfect as Bree Van De Kamp, in Full House DJ Tanner, the high scorer eventually turned out to better than her best friend Kimmy Gibbler.
SATC did not make these women compete with each other, rather they consensually decided to be each other's soulmates.
