Sex and the City and Consumer Culture: Remediating Postfeminist Drama - Book Report/Review Example

Sex and the and Consumer Culture: Remediating Postfeminist Drama In the article, Jane Arthurs examines the positive implications shows such as Sex and City have had on the post-feminist movement in media. Arthurs (84) demonstrates that the show has played a substantial role since it typifies a situation in which women can attain success both within the workplace and in their homes. Arthur’s article further shows that a vast majority of everyday women can find points of shared views, beliefs and perceptions with the four leading female characters in Sex and the City. In essence, Arthur’s arguments concerning Sex and the City are a sufficient depiction of evidence of post-feminism in contemporary media. Arthurs presents a novel approach to the depiction of diverse attributes of women, for instance, their sexuality, in contemporary media. The author demonstrates how Sex and the City is the epitome of the integration of postfeminist culture into present day’s media. Arthurs’ (83) shows major comparisons to Sex and the City to former instances of woman-focused drama produced in the postfeminist era within the US. However, the author notes that unlike Sex and the City, other dramas televised in the wake of the second wave of the feminist movement do not entirely incorporate feminist discourses in reaction to shifts in the cultural environment in the lives of the dramas’ viewers. Arthurs demonstrates how in previous postfeminist dramas, such as LA Law, and Cagney and Lacey, the roles of women were most confined to private and personal relationships while men were afforded roles that demonstrated their masculinity to the public world of work. Prior to the emergence of Sex and the City, drama shows attributable to the feminist era were known to respond to shifts n the socio-political context by allowing for the examination of liberal feminist issues that arose from the relations women had with work and law. Therefore, Sex and the City has managed to revolutionise the way media tackles women studies and the depiction of female roles in the socio-political milieu. For instance, the drama (Sex and the City) manages to bring to light the new ideology of media studies whereby the focus on women shifts to the role of protagonists who are capable of influencing the narrative through their actions. As a consequence, Sex and the City has paved the way for the replacement of marginal and confined range of roles previously bestowed on female characters in dramas. Ultimately, Arthurs (84) poises that while Sex and the City and other drama shows share characteristics such as integration of feminist themes, as well as other focus on the white, liberal and heterosexual woman, Sex and the City is markedly distinct from other dramas. These distinctions can be attributed to the institutional situation that characterised the production and distribution of Sex and the City. This is primarily since the production Sex and the City was focused on the development of a drama for subscription cable television rather than prime-time network television. Arthurs further views Sex and the City as a notable progression from the characteristic focus on work that postfeminist television has in the 1980s and 1990s. In contrast, Sex and the City does not play primary attention to the roles of women within the work environment. However, Sex and the City also typifies women’s financial independence, which is a major hallmark of postfeminism. In Sex and the City, most of the leading female characters are typified as inherently independent. In fact, their work is reduced into another element of their self-expression. This is a major divergence from the conventional postfeminist drama, which mostly portrays women as having the primary desire to get married and start a family. Arthurs identifies Miranda as the only woman in Sex and the City who perceives a distinct divergence between her professional success as an attorney and her life as an independent woman. Miranda is the only woman in the drama who is reliant on the assistance of a male figure in the form of her child’s father. Arthurs (85) argues that from the onset, Sex and the City shows that the women characters are constantly in pursuit of genuinely satisfying and long lasting relationships. Contrary to most postfeminist narratives, Sex and the City shows that the unhappiness experienced by women in modern media is not primarily attributable to their selection of a career over men. Sex and the City presents a fresh twist to the conventional romance narrative by providing a form of relatively conservative approach to femininity, which, in practice does not work. Alternatively, like in the vast majority of feminist, Sex and the City explores women’s sexuality. From the new media studies, it is clear that the regulatory changes in the regime of television are what have influenced the continued assessment of women’s sexuality in contemporary media. Particularly, the sensitivities of modern media and outputs of this media have shifted away from religious sensitivities associated with Puritanism in television networks. Since Sex and the City is not subject to the moral constraints that muddle network television, and thus is able to take full advantage of the approach to female sexuality that glossy women magazines are famous for adopting. Like typical postfeminist dramas, Sex and the City encourages and exploits women’s sexual pleasures, as well as agency, which is part and parcel of the modern consumer attitude and lifestyle. As a consequence, Sex and the City can be deemed to have attained major strides in shifting from the traditional family-centred sitcoms (Arthurs 86). The immense focus, which Sex and the City continues to lay on women’s sexual consumption and relationships, is indicative of the immense cultural influences of the bourgeois bohemians. Arthurs (86) poises that this class division managed to completely replace the Yuppies as the primary class in the developed economies. The primary element that typifies this division, which is signified by shows such as Sex and the City, is the capacity to reconcile the major differences between bohemian and bourgeois lifestyles and belief systems. In the bohemian movements that characterised the 1960s, sexual permissiveness was typified with extremist anti-capitalist perceptions. In order to attain the postfeminist feel for which Sex and the City is famous for, the drama has managed to redefine this sexual permissiveness in order to adhere to materialist priorities inherent in consumer culture, as well as the politics of the 1970s and 1980s, which emancipated women. As a consequence, dramas such as Sex and the City have managed to free white women of middle-class status from the sexual limitations provided by bourgeois lifestyles. Arthurs (87) further poises that Sex and the City is characteristic of the way comedy and satire has been used to replace serious connotations of ethical commitments. In exchange, the drama, like most postfeminist shows challenges the power links of patriarchy. However, Sex and the City’s focus on the leading women appearance and sexuality presumes that women in the audience are willing to share the male gaze in order to help internalise the gaze in women’s thoughts towards their bodies. This cause the objectification of women’ bodies, which in term renders them powerless. At its core, Sex and the City is the outcome of a new type of globally influential television, considering its rich comedy and immensely high production value owing to its successful brand. Arthurs (90) considers the success attained by Sex and the City in the modern media environment as emanating primarily from the drama’s influences on shifts in fashion trends. Consumer culture responds positively to media forms that significantly impact the cultural situation of the society. Arthurs (95) argues that through the fragmentation of the television market, critical feminist discourse and sexual explicitness has been facilitated, in line with the accepted standards of postfeminism. Work Cited Arthurs, J. “Sex and the City and Consumer Culture: Remediating Postfeminist Drama.” Feminist Media Studies 3.1(2003): 83-98. Print. Read More