Loading ...Cynthia Cheng
When Sex and the City made its debut on television 10 years ago, nobody thought that Charlotte and Miranda would end up marrying their respective husbands. Harry Goldenblatt and Steve Brady just didn’t “fit” with what women like Charlotte and Miranda wanted. However, the women still found that there was something about them that was “right.”
In the early seasons, the Mr. Right Charlotte was looking for not only had to have a good career, but also should have the “right pedigree” and be attractive. She found that in Trey, but we all know how that marriage ended up. Then came Harry. While Harry, who is a lawyer, had the “right career” he certainly did not have the “pedigree” that Charlotte wanted. He wasn’t exactly sophisticated either. He also was of a different religion and was definitely not physically attractive. Yet, Charlotte still fell in love with Harry. She even converted to Judaism. Shallow as it sounds, had Harry not been a lawyer, but it’s very unlikely that Charlotte would have even given him the time of day.
The same goes for Miranda and Steve. Miranda is an attractive, sophisticated lawyer. Steve was a bartender. Introduced in season two, Steve was also kind of awkward looking and dorky. Not exactly the top choice for a lawyer. The relationship was on and off again, likely due to differences in career aspirations. Steve does open his own bar later on in the series. While it was never really emphasized in any of the episodes, “graduating” from being just a bartender to a bar owner elevated his position in the eyes of Miranda (and probably the other girls too). It made him more accomplished, career-wise. Accomplishments, after all, have historically been very important when choosing a life partner. Of course, back in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, “accomplishments” pertained to women of a certain class. His new career made him more ideal.
Perhaps these women are shallow, but many women like Charlotte and Miranda are. Like it or not, most of us have certain standards, and prospective partners who don’t “fit” most of the standards must have other good qualities about them to win our hearts. Since Harry and Steve don’t really fit, does it mean that they are the unideal ideal husbands?
Loading ...