As my mom, sister, and I shuffled into the theater to watch one of the most anticipated movies of the year, I took note of the people occupying the uncomfortable seats. Most were women ranging from their 20s to 40s, over-dressed for a plain old movie theater in the heartland. Behind us sat three very young gay men wearing pink shirts and glitter. To my right was the only couple in the theater. The male half of the couple looked as though he felt completely out of place, suggesting that his woman had dragged him into his current situation. With the exception of the unenthusiastic male to my right, everyone was clamoring with excitement for the event.

It would make sense that most who went to see SATC, watched the series on HBO. However, for those who may have been only be vaguely familiar, the opening credits provided clips from the television series and a commentary by Sarah Jessica Parker, also known as Carrie Bradshaw, in an attempt to get everyone in the audience on the same page. This was also a nice way to bridge the television series and the movie. In addition to re-introducing us to the past, the opening of the flick catches us up on the events that occurred between the series finale on HBO and the present. Samantha has moved to Hollywood with her younger boyfriend and tapped into the entertainment industry as her boyfriend’s manager while Miranda has made a life with her son and his father in Brooklyn. Charlotte and her husband adopted a little girl and Carrie is still writing and madly in love with Mr. Big.

Throughout the movie, each character faces different challenges. The interesting twist is that the struggles they encounter are all personal struggles and there isn’t an antagonistic character causing these issues for them. Each woman has to learn how to overcome her personal dilemmas through a combination of advice from others, personal experience, and gut instinct. Carrie’s biggest obstacle is made obvious in the previews. She and Mr. Big have plans to get married and he stands her up. She then goes into a numb, depression like state and causes the audience to wonder if she will ever return to her vivacious self. After making several changes to her life, including going brunette and hiring the gorgeous Jennifer Hudson as her personal assistant, Carrie appears to have picked up the broken pieces. However, it remains obvious that she is still head over heels in love with Mr. Big. The main issue between Carrie and Mr. Big is that during the dramatics of planning their elaborate wedding, they end up losing sight of what is really important, each other. Sometimes we have to be careful in our relationships to not forget to look at our partner and really listen and heed what they are saying. People say it over and over, but communication really is the key.

Miranda encounters an obstacle that is more common among us everyday folk; cheating. She and her husband, Steve, have hit a sex dry spell, a six month sabbatical. Steve has a weak moment and has sex with somebody else. Miranda reacts as many women would and leaves Steve. The problem escalates as Steve attempts to apologize through every means of communication possible and Miranda, even though her heart is telling her to, refuses to accept the apology. Finally, after heeding advice from her friends, she attempts to mend things with Steve by attending a sort of couple’s therapy. In the end, Miranda realizes that listening to her heart is the only way she will ever be happy and reunites with Steve. Again, we learn the lesson of communication, not only with our partner but with ourselves.

Samantha has moved to Hollywood and is making waves for herself as her younger boyfriend, Smith’s, manager. Being the sex fiend that she is, Samantha gets terribly distracted by the immensely attractive, much younger neighbor she describes as “sex on a stick.” At one point he is showering outside and she stumbles upon him. It takes every ounce of willpower she has to turn down his offer for her to join him. Samantha begins to feel as though she cannot trust herself to not stray from Smith. She begins to gain weight, so as to make herself unattractive to other men and thereby minimizing the possibility of succumbing to her sexual urges. It takes her friends telling her how awful she looked for her to realize that what she was doing was not only unhealthy, it was silly. She ends up breaking things off with Smith, finally allowing herself to be who she is. Samantha teaches us all an important lesson. Although, we may be in a relationship, it is unhealthy to lose track of who we are individually. A healthy relationship allows us to be ourselves while committing to a partner and if that is not possible for whatever reason, it is quite possible that the relationship is not as healthy as we would like to believe.

Charlotte appears to be the only one of the four friends who has her life completely together. She and he husband, Harry, were unable to conceive a child of their own and for that reason, adopted a beautiful young girl. They are the happiest they have ever been. Then, out of nowhere, Charlotte gets pregnant. She is ecstatic at the miracle and is afraid at the same time. Things are too perfect and she is afraid that for that reason, something is bound to go wrong. She becomes over-cautious and even quits running, which is a big part of Charlotte’s everyday life. It takes a pretty huge talk with Carrie for Charlotte to realize that she needs to relax and not live in fear of what might happen. Charlotte eventually begins to run again and get back to her old self. Nine months later she delivers a healthy baby.

Most of us can’t relate to SATC in that we don’t wear $400 shoes, wear designer clothes, and drink cosmopolitans in downtown New York on a regular basis. However, the situations Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte encounter are completely relatable. Many women have been stood up, cheated on, changed themselves, and let fear consume them. The obstacles these four women encounter and the way they deal with them are very real issues that women face everyday. Even though we may not have designer handbags, we can still take a few lessons from the four ladies from New York City.

You can read more thoughts from Kira here.

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