"..the finite and the infinite can never be compared. So however protracted the life of your fame, when compared with unending eternity it is shown to be not just little, but nothing at all."....Boethius

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

What Do Frank Sinatra and the Producers of 'Sex and the City' Know About New York?

‘I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps
And find I’m A-number-one, top of the list’
         As reported on NPR,  John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the lyrics for a movie that starred Liza Mennelli and Robert DeNiro.  The movie was a big flop but the music has lasted. Interestingly Ebb claims that he never wrote ’A-number one, top of the list.’  Frank Sinatra added that in 1980.  Ebb claims that he knew that it was the right line….so he left it alone.  Don’t we all want to be ‘top of the list, and A-number-one’?    What is it about New York then that requires a television program about 4 women and their exploits to be placed at that location?
          Sex and the City was a TV Show that was produced between 1998 and 2004 by HBO.  The show is important for a number of reasons.  Recently I became part of a group that was to report on that show.  My group met at least once a week for about 3 weeks, sometimes twice a week.   We met to organize and discuss ways to engage a class about 3 areas of cultural concern that may be relevant to the show.      
          The three areas included are, Feminism, Capitalism and Postmodernism and how the show relates to each point.     
          At the beginning of the report, we asked the class what their preconceived ideas were about Sex and the City.  Several of the en said that they believed the show was shallow and boring.  Most of the women responded with more positive answers.  Fun, sexy etc. 
          At my suggestion our group showed a clip from you-tube.  It was a parody of a 1940’s dinner party, and purported to explain how women shuld act.  It was a very funny video, because it showed that women should have no opinions and ust be charming and pretty.  I made the case that the best wasy to explain something was sometimes to explain what it was not.  This relates to Structuralism, which states that thing only have meaning when they can be shown in relationship to something else.  9Black is to white)  ‘Structuralism proceeds though the analysis of binaries: for example the contrast between pairs of signs so that ‘black’ only has meaning in relation to ‘white’ and vice versa.  
          We then broke into 3 groups and discussed the same 3 topics.  My partner and I led a group that discussed Capitalism.  (It was my suggestion to break into the groups as I thought it would feel like a more inter-active exercise)  Research that we had prepared allowed us to ask our group certain thought provoking (I hope) questions directed about the show, and how it relates to Capitalism.  What follow are the questions and some text from research that helps explain the relevance to cultural studies.  
1 and 2
What is Capitalism?  How does ‘Corporate’ influence ‘Sex and the City’?   Our group came up with a very clear definition of Capitalism, someone said it’s about the MONEY!   Barker says, ‘A dynamic and globalizing system of industrial production and exchange based on private property and pursuit of profit.  For Marxism, capitalism is an exploitative order that gives rise to the social relations of class conflict.’  (Barker 475)  
This relates to ‘Sex and the City through among other things their use of Product Placement which deliberately puts products on camera, and in the hands of the actors in exchange for fees.
3
What does the type of consumer product promoted on this show say about class?  The product that is put on camera are high end and expensive.  The actor/characters are seen as trying to achieve something or be more complete or better by carrying an expensive bag or wearing an expensive shoe. 
4
If ‘Corporate’ gives definition to the character/actor’s taste/style, what can we say if anything about political motive of corporate?
‘Marxism says that culture is political because, it is expressive of the social relations of class power.  It naturalizes the social order as an inevitable ’fact.’  And, it obscures the underlying relations of exploitation…’  (Barker 56)  Motive?  Buy more goods keep the corporations rich…..
5
Has ‘Sex and the City’ become a signifier?  What is ‘signified’?  Are the products/luxury goods ‘signifiers?
Barker on Page 78 tells us that ‘Signs become naturalized codes.  Their apparent transparency of meaning is an outcome of cultural habituation.  The effect of this is to conceal the practices of cultural coding.’   The answer is yes, and what is signified is the life that is just out of our characters reach. 
6
Do Corporations create a world of ‘otherness’ by giving the actor/characters certain ideas of taste/style?  If so who/what is the ‘other?   How does this relate to power?
I believe that corporations do create ‘otherness’.  Those who do not strive for the good things 9those luxury products that are promoted cannot be part of the happy life that is taking place on screen in New York. 
And, New York brings us back to our song……’if you can make it there (New York)…..you can make it anywhere…’ and isn’t that what our characters want?   Don’t they want to make it big in their lives and carry their expensive bags….just be able to pay for them too….The show has put us on their side… and we find ourselves rooting for them…..and maybe carrying a really good Gucci bag too!
         
Barker,C., Cultural Studies, Theory and Practice,3rd edition,  2009, Sage Publications, London
 NPR    http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/newyorknewyork/

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