Cynthia Nixon Calls Out ‘Sex And The City’ Failings: Race, Feminism and Money

Cynthia Nixon at the premiere of her new movie ‘Stray Dolls’ Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer May 1, 2019

Cynthia Nixon is being — yeah, we’ll say it — such a Miranda.

In a candid conversation with Indiewire before the Tribecca Film Festival premiere of “Stray Dolls,” her new movie about human trafficking, Nixon put forth a pop culture graduate thesis.

Apparently off the cuff, Nixon argued that the failures of HBO smash hit “Sex and the City” to show any kind of empowered womanhood other than white, rich and thin, essentialized the failures of that era’s feminist movement at large.

Good gracious, this lady should run for office or something.

“Well, I certainly think we would not have all been white, God forbid,” Nixon said instantly, when asked the perfunctory what-would-SATC-look-like-today question. Doing press for “Stray Dolls” is the first time Nixon has sat for interviews since running and losing the New York state gubernatorial election to Andrew Cuomo last year, and her public speaking training very evidently rolled over.

In her beloved role on “Sex and the City,” Nixon played striving, brilliant lawyer Miranda Hobbes, whose longterm partner, Steve, is a bar tender. “One of the hardest things for me — it was at the time, too — is looking back and seeing how much of it centered around money, right?” she told Indiewire. “And how, Steve, my [character’s] husband, was like the closest we got to a working class guy, you know? Never mind a working class woman, right?” Not to mention — even the uber-wealthy, can-do Miranda Hobbes struggles with full-time childcare in New York City.

She went on, “Also, I think we wouldn’t all look like that,” she said. “In terms of like, the perfection factor. In terms of always looking so incredible. And I know that’s the fantasy element, and in terms of the show that was important. But I think there’s a lot of ways that people can be visually compelling without looking — quote unquote — perfect.”

Bless. That’s how you thoughtfully criticize pop culture, folks! Not to mention some of the life’s work of other people, including Jewish show-creator Darren Star and the many performers and creators like Nixon, who still credit “Sex and the City” as one of their biggest projects.

And don’t worry — Miranda didn’t always look perfect:

via GIPHY

Jenny Singer is the deputy life/features editor for the Forward. You can reach her at Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

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