City and the Sex
I find myself in the middle of Manhattan during the opening weekend of the “Sex and the City” movie. It is a city filled with women ravaging with desire to watch this movie. Estimates of the movies box-office tally are only in the range of $25 million to $40 million. I find this ludicrous and yet another example of how mainstream media is completely out of touch with mainstream America.
Granted, my opinion may be slightly skewed, after all I am in Manhattan. I have been subject to women on more than one occasion during the last week stopping to pose for pictures alongside movie posters. However, I think these scenes are nothing more than a microcosm of others being played out in the hearts and minds of women nationwide.
The first episode of Sex and the City I remember seeing was the series finale. I was fascinated with the madness surrounding the whole Event, and I do mean Event with a capital E. I recall women everywhere planning big viewing parties, and I do mean parties in the plural sense of the word.
I called my best friend’s wife and asked her if she was going to be attending a party because I wanted to come along. Excitedly, she said she would be watching it at home alone, but encouraged me to come over so that we could watch it together. My friend was not so happy about this, as now he too would be required to watch. In the end, I didn’t get it and she grew frustrated with both our comments. Since then, I have learned that women abhor play by play commentary during the viewing of any show they hold dear, especially at it’s final climax.
Overall, I have never seen such passion for a show, well maybe American Idol … but that is another post. An inquiring mind, I have asked several women I know about the reason for their obsession. The answer always revolved around them relating to the characters in a way they felt was real and previously not represented on television.
These experiences lead me to believe that the box office estimates for opening weekend are grossly on the conservative end and out of touch with social impact of the show on women in America. Women will watch this movie and then they will watch it again and again and again. I believe the final tally will be much closer to $80 million than it will to $40 million.