With the news that a Sex and the City revival is on the way (sans Samantha, that is), fans are wondering where this new mini-series could take Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte... and looking back at where they've been. The last time fans saw these iconic friends was in 2010, with the release of Sex and the City 2 - a film that took the group to Abu Dhabi. Samantha struggled with menopause and the local laws, Carrie worried about things getting stale with Big (and kissed Aidan), Miranda quit her job (and found a new one), and Charlotte was jealous of her nanny.
In many ways, it had everything that fans would expect from a continuation of the franchise, but it was a total flop - so the revival should look back at where things went wrong here, and make sure they don't repeat the second movie's mistakes!
Stick To New York
The original series and first movie all take place (almost exclusively) in New York. The girls may travel to other places temporarily, but New York is essentially the fifth member of this group of friends, and moving almost the entire second film to Abu Dhabi was a terrible idea that just didn't feel like the Sex and the City fans know and love. The revival needs to return to Manhattan, and stay there.
Avoid Taking Characters To Stereotype Extremes...
One of the biggest issues in the film was how Samantha was portrayed - rather than being the savvy, sexy, empowered woman that she is in the series and first film, she becomes a complete caricature of a sex-crazed woman. She goes from being commanding and sure of herself to abrasive and shrill, she acts more like a 'Karen' than a 'Samantha', and she seems to need to have public sex with everyone she meets, despite the fact that she is meant to be doing PR for the hotel, and would have therefore read up on the laws and customs. The other three women don't fare much better, with their quirks being taken to extremes in a way that just doesn't work.
...And Don't Underestimate Their Intelligence
Another major issue with both Samantha and Charlotte's storylines is that they are portrayed as surprisingly stupid. While the original characters were extremely intelligent (Samantha runs her own PR firm, after all), this is completely wiped away in the second film, leaving only Samantha's love of sex, with no intelligence to mitigate it. Samantha, pleasure-focused as she is, would be smart enough to follow the law, and fans didn't like seeing her written to be quite so clueless.
Commentary On Sexism Doesn't Need To Be Laid On So Thick
Commentary around the location was overdone, but so was Miranda's storyline about her misogynistic boss. One of the things that the original series does so well is to make its points with more subtle storylines (and, admittedly, less subtle voiceovers from Carrie).
But even the more obvious discussions around sexism tend to come from multiple perspectives as the women talk it out, and will shift with the story as things play out. However, the sexist story in the film had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and fans didn't appreciate that, either.
Storylines Need Originality
Most of the story arcs told in the second movie were utterly banal, and Sex and the City is supposed to be groundbreaking (and the original series was, for the time). Instead, fans received a mother becoming jealous of the 'hot nanny' in Charlotte's story line, something that is painfully overdone as a 'funny' arc. Add in the idea that marriages become dull, and that leads to cheating, and you get a combination of stories that say absolutely nothing new.
Bringing Back Old Characters
Fans love to see old favorite faces pop up in films and continuations, but only where it makes sense. Had Carrie run into Aidan in New York, at a furniture expo (as she did in the series), this would be logical for both characters. But the chances of Carrie just so happening to run into her most significant ex, in Abu Dhabi, by accident, is pushing the bounds of possibility. Following that, the decision to have her kiss him doesn't really fit with anything from their relationship or breakup. The return of favorite faces doesn't include shoehorning in characters purely to add drama without believability.
Stick To Women Supporting Women
One of the best parts of the film was the moment that the women end up being saved from an angry mob by a group of local women. The actual story of Samantha being stupid and rude enough to strip off in public and create the mob in the first place was appalling, but what followed was one of the few moments that really felt like Sex and the City, as the locals revealed that under their niqabs, they are wearing designer clothes, before helping them sneak out to the airport. It was not necessarily the most believable part of the film, but it focused on what the show was originally about - women, friendship, and high fashion.
Don't Brush Difficult Situations Under The Rug
More unbelievable moments come when the women return to New York, and Carrie has to go face Big, having cheated on him (and told him that she kissed Aidan). In the real world, this would have led to some serious conversations, long discussion, and repercussions - and one of the things that the series and film do well is to show these situations in full.
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These difficult conversations are hashed out, and emotions and reactions are covered during brunches together - but in this film, Big reacts to her cheating by getting rid of a TV, and buying her a big diamond ring.
Shelve Boring Stereotypes
Sex and the City (the entire franchise) has been rightfully criticized for its portrayal of gay men - with the majority of the recurring gay male characters (all two of them) falling into serious stereotypes. Stanford and Anthony are a talent agent and a wedding planner, respectively, and everything from their clothing to their body language to their habits is painfully stereotypical. In Sex and the City 2, this is turned up several notches for their own wedding, which is a ridiculously over the top affair, and after which they basically disappear. For the revival, these two characters deserve some real depth.
Have Favorite Characters Grow
Most importantly, the film proves that when characters don't grow, fans get bored. Samantha, as already discussed, became a ridiculous stereotype of herself, and showed essentially no growth at all (her final scene is of her having sex on a beach). Charlotte, Miranda, Carrie - none of them really end the film with any more personal growth than when they started. Unlike the first movie and the original series, nothing really happened in this film, and no one learned anything, which left the whole thing feeling completely flat.