“A feminist show doesn’t show women being perfect”
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE BY MAX
What do you think of Sex And The City and its spin-off, And Just Like That? After playing Miranda Hobbes for more than two decades, Cynthia Nixon knows what she loves and hates about the shows. She loves: Che Diaz and Sex And The City’s feminism. She hates: how white the show has been.
By the end of Sex And The City and its films, Miranda was married to a man named Steve, having forgiven him for cheating on her. When the spin-off series began in 2021, fans were introduced to a new love interest, Che Diaz, played by Sara Ramirez. Che quickly became a controversial character thanks to their role in breaking up Miranda and Steve’s marriage. Talking to Grazia, Cynthia opened up about the character and what she really thinks of the storyline.
“I love Che, I love Sara,” said Cynthia. She added that it’s difficult to figure out what audiences would have thought of Che if the relationship with Miranda had started after the lawyer asked for a divorce from Steve. “But I don’t want a show in which everybody is behaving well all the time. A feminist show doesn’t show women being perfect.”
She continued to point out that diving into aspects of relationships that are less than perfect has been a cornerstone of Sex And The City since it began in 1998. Carrie cheated on Aidan with Big, Samantha cheated on Smith with Richard, and Charlotte, after seeing how Trey’s mother manipulates him, uses the same tactics to push him into proposing. “Our show always killed its darlings. If we’re just gonna play it safe and nice, why are you watching?”
So, what does Cynthia hate about the show? “Certain things have really not aged well,” she said. “It’s always difficult being on a show that was so white. I always hated that.” When she and the team raised it, they would always be told that the Sex And The City environment was based on the world of Candace Bushnell and that is a “very white world”.
“Some of the trans stuff, some of the gay stuff was a little cringy to look at,” she added. With Che not returning for season three of And Just Like That – which is rumoured to be because Sara was fired following their outspoken advocacy for Palestine, though Cynthia has also been outspoken and was not fired – we do not yet know whether Miranda will continue to be the vessel for lesbian storylines on the show. But Cynthia told Grazia that Miranda will be dating so there is hope yet.
And Just Like That returns to Max on 29 May.
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