Sex and the City Analysis

The topic that I chose from Barker's Chapter 12, "Cultural Space and Urban Place,” to shed light on a clip from Sex and the City was the idea of “Place.” “Place,” as defined by the text, is a “socially constructed site or location in space marked by identification or emotional investment. Bounded manifestations of the production of the environment.” A lot of what occurs in this clip takes place in New York (one of the mot identifiable cities on Earth) and contains a lot of emotional investment. Carrie, the main character, creates a lot of metaphors about the city as well as defends it when her ex-boyfriend, Big, comes back from Napa to visit. She says, “Bet you can’t get steaks like this in your little Napa village like this, now, can ya?” Even though it was said jokingly, you can tell that Carrie is truly a fan of her city and spends a lot of time thinking about it. Carries also says, “If New York’s signature fruit is the apple, then its signature sound is the ambulance siren. It seems like all day everyday people are getting hurt, and the whole city has to hear about it.” This quote is one of her analogies and shows how New York is a community as well as a “socially constructed site.” The giant skyscrapers which define New York is a huge social scene. People go there to be seen and talked about. The flashy clothing that the women on the program wear are evidence of that. Also, at the beginning of the episode when Big takes Carrie out to dinner, Carrie wears something that one would see on the red carpet. The restaurant looks expensive and it reflects the lifestyle of most of the characters seen on the show. This is a perfect example of a “place” in the Barker book. There is so much meaning to the city of New York and Carrie explains it well whenever she writes about the city.