美国国家公共电台 NPR Candace Bushnell Discusses 20 Years Of 'Sex And The City'

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(SOUNDBITE OF DOUGLAS CUOMO'S "SEX AND THE CITY THEME")

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

For me and maybe many of you out there, this music takes me straight to New York City in the late-'90's and a foursome of Manolo-wearing, cosmopolitan-swilling friends. That foursome would be Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte and Carrie, the women of "Sex And The City." This week marks 20 years since the show debuted¹ on HBO, 20 years since we met the main character, Carrie Bradshaw, who writes a column about love and dating which she narrates² throughout the show.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SEX AND THE CITY")

SARAH JESSICA PARKER: (As Carrie Bradshaw) Welcome to the age of un-innocence. No one has breakfast at Tiffany's, and no one has affairs to remember. Instead, we have breakfast at 7 a.m. and affairs we try to forget as quickly as possible.

KELLY: Carrie's character and her column are based on a real writer, Candace Bushnell. And Candace Bushnell joins me now. Welcome.

CANDACE BUSHNELL: Thrilled to be here.

KELLY: Let me sum up a little bit of how this came to be. You in the '90s were in New York, and you started writing a column called "Sex And The City." This was for the New York Observer. You eventually turned those columns into a book, which became a show. Was that something you ever anticipated when you set out and you were covering the love and dating scene in New York City in the '90s?

BUSHNELL: No. I mean, you have to understand. For me, "Sex And The City" was, you know, the best and the most popular iteration of work that I'd already been doing. I had many, many girlfriends. You know, we felt empowered by the fact that we had control over, you know - somewhat of our careers that we could live without men. But we felt disempowered by the fact that we were in our 30s and that we were no longer considered - how should I say - eligible³, you know, prospects⁴.

KELLY: Let me - we asked listeners to weigh in and send us voice memos⁵ about some of the things that they connected with in the show. And I want to play you a couple of these. One thing that resonates with so many people apparently⁶ is the theme of female friendship. Let me play you this. This is Alexis Miller⁷. She says she started watching "Sex And The City" in high school.

ALEXIS MILLER: To this day, I still think that some of the fights that Carrie and Miranda had over the years were some of the most realistic portrayals⁹ of female friendship that I've seen on TV.

KELLY: Realistic portrayal⁸ of female friendship - was that one of the things y'all were going for?

BUSHNELL: Absolutely. One of the phenomenons of "Sex And The City" was this intense forming of family-type bonds with one's female friends. In New York City, in my life, there was really a feeling that without your girlfriends, you could not survive. And that's certainly something that the show portrayed¹⁰ beautifully.

KELLY: To what extent did those friendships on the show reflect friendships you had in New York around this time?

BUSHNELL: Well, yeah, my friends and I always joked that we would never be friends with Charlotte.

KELLY: The very sweet - she's super sweet, goody two shoes, yep.

BUSHNELL: She's the Darren Star creation.

KELLY: Darren Star - the producer of the show you're talking about.

BUSHNELL: Right. But Charlotte was always the one that didn't fit in. And we are always like, huh? I mean, Charlotte would have gotten eaten up and chewed up and spit out for lunch.

KELLY: (Laughter) Well, let me move you to how you think about this now and how the show kind of registers now. Another listener we heard from pointed¹¹ out that the show was not as inclusive as it might have been. This is Wren¹² Murray. She's 20, and she says she's got some conflicting feelings about "Sex And The City."

WREN MURRAY: It definitely taught me so much about being a woman and being a sexual being. But it definitely did not teach me about my own identity as a brown, bisexual female.

KELLY: She's pointing out the show's been criticized for having very few characters of color, for not representing LGBTQ community in a very positive light. I mean, looking back, do those strike you as flaws? Or was it the way those characters would have seen the world at the time?

BUSHNELL: I mean, the world of "Sex And The City" that I was writing about in the city - it was diverse. I think as the show went on, you know, there was more awareness¹³ and more of an attempt to address that.

KELLY: I wanted to follow up on when you were talking about being single after 35. Is part of what the show did, part of the legacy¹⁴ of it saying to women it's OK to be single after 35, to be out making your way in the world and not have a man at your side?

BUSHNELL: Absolutely, absolutely, And you know, for me, the point of writing "Sex And The City" was trying to get at this idea of, can we have other goals than just finding a man? You know, there are criticisms of the show of course. But, you know, largely it made women feel like, I'm OK, and I'm not alone.

KELLY: Well, Candace Bushnell, thank you. This has been fun.

BUSHNELL: Thank you.

KELLY: Candace Bushnell - she wrote the "Sex And The City" column which inspired the book which inspired the TV show which debuted 20 years ago this week.