I NEVER thought I’d look back on the 1990s, the decade of the tedious John Major and the empty vessel of Tony Blair, as a decade to reminisce over, but increasingly I do. That is why I was both curious and more than a little worried when I heard that Sex and the City was making a comeback.
For anyone who has never watched this hit TV show: It kicked off in the late nineties and was based on the sexual and relationship exploits of four friends in New York – this was a programme filled with beauty, energy and fun.
My concern on hearing of the remake, now dubbed And Just Like That, was partly due to the age of the characters, who would now be in their 50s rather than their 30s. But I was more concerned that the programme makers, rather than having a relatively carefree and joyful attitude as they had in the 90s, would now feel the puritanical pressure to take the knee at the altar of wokeness.
READ MORE: Football and double standards of the woke over free speech, by Stuart Waiton
Unsurprisingly, in no time at all, the new series gave us excruciating moments where the two main characters, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), embarrass themselves in front of the new and more politically correct characters in the show. Like Carrie and Miranda, we the audience realise that we too need to learn from these younger, more in tune characters about how to behave in this narcissistic identity obsessed world.
Of course, by the end of the series, the other main character, Charlotte, (Kristin Davis) discovers that her daughter is transgender – of course she is. While Miranda, having been married for years, appears to be starting a lesbian relationship – heterosexuality is so yesterday.
If the PC World boxes were ticked in each episode, there wasn’t much else that ticked along with much pace, passion or pleasure in this series – although the tired-looking actors fitted well with the tiresome and joyless moralising of their younger cohort.
But if that wasn’t enough to make you lose faith in the characters you once loved, back in the real world, things have gone from bad to worse.
It was bad enough that Mr Big, the main love interest in the programme, was killed off in the new series – not the best idea the writers have ever had. But now the actor who plays Big, Chris Noth has been thrown under the bus by his co-stars after allegations of sexual misconduct.
READ MORE: Stuart Waiton: Why cultural elitism on TV is proving a real turn-off
Two women have accused Noth of rape, another has alleged he groped her. So far, other than these allegations there is little to go on and no clear evidence. Noth has denied the allegations and admitted to having what he calls “consensual encounters'' with two of the women.
Regardless of the lack of evidence, or the years of knowing Noth, his great friends and colleagues Parker, Nixon and Davis have issued a joint #believe statement explaining that, “We support the women who have come forward and shared their painful experiences”.
It is unclear how his former co-stars know that these women have had “painful experiences”. Perhaps being politically correct gives you special powers to know the truth before any evidence or due process. But then that would be to make the mistake of thinking that wokeness has anything to do with truth and justice rather than “awareness” and a moralistic sense of virtue.
In line with the authoritarian attitude of #believe, Noth has also been fired from the CBS crime drama series The Equalizer, Peloton have dumped their advert featuring Mr Big, and he has lost a $12 million drinks deal to sell his tequila brand.
I still think of the 1990s as a bit of a nothing decade, when politics was reduced to different shades of grey. But at least back then it was sex not your sexual identity that was celebrated and people still had the decency to wait for some evidence before destroying someone’s life. Ah, the good old days!
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