I am, apparently, too poor to get Foxtel and all the glorious shows that come with that luxury. Thus I am forced to watch free to air and quite frankly: there is too much crime and murder on tv these days and I'm a little bit over it. Why aren't there more cooking shows?? And I don't mean My Kitchen Rules type show where it's a bitch-fest. I mean more cooking, less backstabbing. God I miss the food channel. But I digress.
Sunday afternoons is my folding laundry day, and with two active children and a fastidious husband, let me tell you, there is always plenty of laundry to sort. Over Christmas, I made the monumental mistake of bestowing my man a playstation 3 from 'Santa'. Since Christmas day, I have been a widow of sorts as he continues his love affair with some post apocalyptic world in which he is searching for his long lost father and the truth. Remember people, the truth will set you free.
So what to do? While the husband hogs the 55" plasma because god forbid he fight cockroach mutants and robots on an 80cm old school LG, I am banished to the master bedroom to watch anything I please on said old school LG, where everyone looks like they've holidayed on Mars because the colours are too red.
In the past few weeks I've been taking a trip down memory lane watching old Friends episodes. *sighs* Love this show. Just watching it made me relive old memories, it evoked feelings I had long forgotten and I laughed like I was watching it for the first time.
Ditto Sex and The City. The fashions, the heartache, Samantha. All reasons to tune in again and again.
The thing is, while I loved these shows and love them still, as an older person who's life has shifted to a new beat, I found myself watching two characters in growing anger.
Rachel from Friends and Carrie from Sex and the City.
Now, I am not trying to start world war 3 with anyone, but seriously, could there be any more self obsessed, narcissistic and selfish characters than these two? I mean really.
The premise for the movie Sex and the City 2 was kinda sad and pathetic. Carrie bitching to her husband about buying a tv? Carrie being a complete and utter mole because Big wants to stay home of a weeknight and she doesn't want to become domesticated? Carrie trying to cling to her youth by wearing ridiculously outlandish outfits yet giving Samantha shit over an opening night frock? Married Carrie pashing her married ex boyfriend because apparently the universe was giving her a sign? Grow the fuck up you selfish little twat.
Rachel on the other hand, while not as self obsessed as Carrie, still only ever considers her own needs and feelings.
This kind of portrayal of a supposedly strong and incredible woman does us no favours. I'm under no illusions that in life, there are plenty of women like our Carrie and Rachel. I know because I used to be friends with one. I used to want to be like her, many years ago. Now I just pity her because while I'm bogged down in domesticity, all she has to keep her warm at night is her over processed hair, designer clothes and the sinking feeling that we're both on the wrong side of 40.
Every time we talk (which is infrequent at best) she cuts me off and it's all about her. Her problems, her heart break, her issues, her adventures. She never asks me about my kids, scoffs at me when I tell her I'm tired, tells me to suck it up. Of course.
The great thing about getting older (yes, trust me, it has its benefits) is that you let go of a lot of baggage that you carry around in your younger days. You learn the art of selflessness and of putting the needs of others before your own. Most of us will never have Carrie's fashion sense or incredibly rich husband, but I dare say we all possess something more invaluable. Consideration of other.
As for Rachel and her yoga honed body. Now I'd kill to have those pins! Won't ever happen. But a girl can dream. Even a nobody like me.
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