Sex and the City (2008)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust consume and where thieves
break in and steal; but store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 7:19-21

There are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:24

Or should we say “sister” when applying the proverb to Michael Patrick King’s adaptation of his cable hit series Sex and the City? Much beloved by female viewers because of the friendship of the four principle characters—Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker ); Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall); Charlotte York Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis); and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon)—the film takes up four years after the series ended. Mr. Big (Chris Noth) has finally proposed to Carrie, and her friends have traveled from near and far to participate in a wedding that started out small and simple, but has grown to Barnum and Bailey proportions. Mr. Big, troubled by the elaborateness of everything, has second thoughts and does not show up at the altar. Carrie searches the streets for him, and when she finds him nearby is so upset that she neither hears nor heeds his apology and intent to go on with the wedding.

The rest of the film deals with the romantic problems of the other friends, as well as with the guilt of one who had said something negative to Mr. Big at the rehearsal reception the night before, words that fueled Mr. Big’s apprehension about marriage.

I must admit that I never saw one of the cable TV episodes, and was prepared to dislike the film because of the shallow values enshrined in the show, values that seem the very opposite of those espoused by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount. And yet as crisis followed crisis and the women’s support of one another grew ever stronger, I could understand why the series, and now the film, has garnered such affection from female viewers. Men have an endless series of male-bonding films, but how many sisterhood films become blockbusters? The film’s conclusion left me joining the rest of the audience in dabbing a tear from the eye, so perfect an ending is it.

For Reflection/Discussion

1) How is Mr. Big partly justified in his misgivings about the wedding? How had Carrie allowed matters to get out of hand? Could they have done better if she had taken him more into her plans?

2) How does their confrontation show again the importance of forgiveness in human relationships? Where else in the film do we see the necessity for this?

3) What seems to be the understanding of sex in the film? Compare this with a Christian view.

4) What do you think of the four friend’s obsession with clothing and name brand handbags and such?

5) What does Louise (Jennifer Hudson) bring into Carrie’s life?

How does the emphasis upon friendship trump the other values in the end?

6) Were you to become a friend to any or all of the characters, what might you say to them in regard to faith and values?