And just like that, Sarah Jessica Parker's standing up for the character she has been playing on television and on the big screen for nearly 30 years. It's nothing new for Carrie Bradshaw to earn so raised eyebrows from Sex and the City and, more recently, And Just Like That viewers, but Parker responded to the constant criticism of her character for possibly the first time.
As always, the well-read and thoughtful actress shared an insightful response to the nonsense surrounding Carrie in an interview with HuffPost UK. When the outlet brought up the concept of "controversy" involving Carrie, Parker considered the ways in which women, whether fictional or otherwise, are often looked at with a harsher lens than their male counterparts.
In defense of the character who won her an Emmy Award, Parker defended Carrie by saying "smart people make bad decisions sometimes," which couldn't be more true. Recently, fans new and old have taken a fresh look at Carrie's behavior throughout the original Sex and the City series and have fault multiple faults with the character's decisions and demeanor. But Parker stands behind her.
As she stated to HuffPost UK, "I think, fundamentally, Carrie is an extraordinarily decent and good person — an extremely devoted friend, she’s generous of spirit and time, in all she has to offer. It’s always interesting to me that [this is] so condemned, but a male lead on a show can be a murderer, and people love him. And if a woman has an affair, or behaves poorly, or spends money foolishly […] there’s a kind of punitive response to it."
Parker's correct in her take about the response to Carrie, because what is Carrie's crime exactly? Moving through the world for the first time and making mistakes? Being selfish from time to time and hurting others unintentionally? Living above her means when it comes to treating herself to designer shoes? Take your pick, but none of these are particularly horrible offenses. (Lorelai and Rory from Gilmore Girls receive the same kind of nitpicking from viewers, and it's frustrating.)
It's interesting to see how people discuss Carrie Bradshaw with such disdain. How can you watch a show when you hate the main character? Sex and the City, while an ensemble series, is told from Carrie's point of view. She's messy and imperfect and doesn't do everything right. And that's the point. There wouldn't be a show worth watching if she had all the answers and knew what she was doing in love, in career, or in friendship. She's supposed to be flawed and, hello, human.
Even though Parker can see how Carrie has gotten the short end of the stick with the reception she's earned these days, she isn't writing off anyone's interpretations of the character or their feelings toward her. She welcomes any reaction to Carrie since that means the shows and movies are doing their job in eliciting a response, good or bad. People are interacting with the art, and maybe even seeing something mirrored from their own lives.
"But I ultimately think that all those feelings are pretty fantastic. That kind of connection and those kinds of strong feelings, both positive and negative, are pretty wonderful. People are kind of captive in those moments to something, and I think that’s perfectly fine. I just think, it’s just interesting, the ways in which we judge women, and not men," Parker wisely noted to HuffPost UK.
She's completely right. She's onto something! Because a male character like Joe Goldberg, from Netflix's hit series You, can be seen as "hot" because he's in the body of Penn Badgley, even though he's a stalker and murderer. Everyone knows he's very, very bad, but people still like him. Television viewers love plenty of male characters who are basically demons, but God forbid Carrie has an affair.
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