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SATC 2: Carrie on the human rights violations

5/28/2010

7 Comments

 
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Sex and the City has been called a groundbreaking show that ushered in a new era of female empowerment. Whether or not you feel that walking blocks on end in $800 stilettos, constantly (pretending to be) eating high-calorie foods, and having lots of sex is empowering, is irrelevant.

At issue here is something far greater than designer clothes and limitless bank accounts, in a city that eats money faster than Samantha can spread em-mental cheese on a bagel stick.

If SATC is so empowering to women, why does its sequel take place in “Abu Dhabi” (as played by Morocco)?

How can it justify adding a character to its script that flogs its own people, treats “guest workers” who power its economy like de facto slaves, and has a police force that – according to the American government  – enables the beating of women?

City officials didn’t even allow the movie to shoot in Abu Dhabi, and as with the first SATC film, number 2 will be banned from cinemas in the United Arab Emirates.
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Still, SATC 2 chooses to make the misogynistic, human rights violating city a central character in its plot.

And to think, it was two of the Sex and the City masterminds who wrote the book He’s Just Not That Into You.

Not even they got the message? Seriously?

How can the producers justify setting up shop in a country that refuses to sign standard international human rights treaties?

Worse, how can they so flippantly choose to glorify such a country?

Well, back in September 2007 Warner Bros. (SATC’s production company) announced a joint partnership with the UAE’s region of Abu Dhabi. The Hollywood Reporter  said the deal would be worth billions of dollars over time.

A deal lined with movie multiplexes, Mickey Mouse video games, and 50-50 funding of broad-appeal blockbusters...

PictureSarah Jessica Parker's 'hands'
If Warner Bros. can (attempt to) cover up Sarah Jessica Parker’s man-hands on an 80’ by 35’ screen, they could certainly use a backdrop of decency to somehow cover up the UAE’s human rights violations.

And really, if the production was able to make Morocco look so chic and glitzy, why couldn’t they just say they really were in Morocco?

Would that not be as believable as a sequence in the movie showing Abu Dhabi women removing conservative clothes to reveal flashier garments beneath?

Though you would like to think that many are enraged about the glorification of an abhorrent country, the focus of criticism on the film has mostly been pointed in another direction.

Sex and the City 2 has been blasted for its “insensitive” portrayal of the Muslim culture. But Michael Patrick King, who helped create the show and wrote both spin-offs defends the film.

“To me it’s not a political movie… It’s an escapist comedy.”

And SJP says, “Certainly Carrie is loving the experience of this rare opportunity to observe women of faith who are really loving the idea of tradition or, in fact, loving their faith and re-defining tradition for themselves.”

Parker goes on to say that any criticism is purely based on misunderstanding.

This may indeed be true.

Because there is a big misunderstanding here if “Carrie” can only see a rare opportunity to observe (repressed) women re-defining tradition for themselves.

And an even greater irony if King thinks this movie is entirely escapist, when in fact, there are many who can’t escape Abu Dhabi.

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Less then 20 per cent of those in the UAE are citizens. Imported workers are stripped of their passports, suffer to the extreme, and have no recourse to be heard. If they try to leave, they're often threatened and denied money that's due to them.

True, a 15-year-old expat girl got out. She was flogged 90 times for adultery (an “adulterous” teen?), before finally “escaping” and getting deported from Abu Dhabi.

And while Sex and the City 2 romps around the world, premiering its newest star, an 18-year-old Muslim woman is in a UAE court, after she was allegedly raped by six men from 1:30am to 5am.

For this she was initially charged with the “crime” of consensual sex.

In the UAE, if a Muslim woman is found guilty of consensual sex she faces lashings and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Interestingly, while in court the other day, the teen retracted her claim. She offered no reasoning other than she was “unaware” of her actions when she reported the crime, and added her brother beat her after accusing her of talking to other men.

So now, if this girl is lucky, the charges of consensual sex may be dropped to “deception,” which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

So bravo to Warner Bros. and bravo to Sex and the City 2 and its entire team.

You have actually managed to make the abuse and repression of women and the disenfranchised fashionable - and most importantly - sexy.

What’s more empowering than that?

7 Comments
Bianca Coleman
5/28/2010 02:58:33 pm

Well written Dahlia very poignant and oh so true! Unfortunately, whilst many get caught up in the opulence of SATC and which is over and over again referred to as “escapism”, we need to take a more heavy handed (no reference to Sarah’s ‘man hands’) look at exactly what these four women are condoning. These women are trying to get some kicks in a land where men can legally beat their wives and where the victim of rape is sent to prison for life.
I am not suggesting for one moment that we rely on these four women to step in with their Manolo’s and try to change the culture in that part of the world because whilst we cannot direct the wind, we can certainly adjust the sails by not filming there. I think we should start daydreaming for the next SATC 3 to bring in a fifth women into the fold who is intelligent enough to say “ I wont go to a country where women are treated so badly”.
Let me draw your attention to what is happening in Australia this week. The body representing Australia's obstetricians and gynaecologists is considering whether to support a less extreme version of female circumcision known as a ritual nick. Female circumcision has been illegal in Australia since the 1990s but doctors are worried that it is being done anyway, in unsafe conditions, by immigrants who take their daughters back to their home country.
So, legalizing female circumcision in Australia is an answer to this problem? This is a very sad day for women.

Reply
dahlia
5/29/2010 04:21:56 am

i like your idea, but say, i was cast in SATC3 (while we're at it, let's say i also won millions in the lottery... because if i were cast in that movie, no doubt i'd be rolling in luck)...

so say i said "nope, i'm not glorifying that country" i'm sure i'd be cast out just as quick as in... someone who would have pull and say is indeed SJP. and academically at least, she seems quite intelligent with her multisyllabic and look at how smart i am words...

so i'd like to assume she is smart enough to know better... maybe though, it is hard for her to concentrate on such trivialities as her focus is entirely on her man-hans. ick...

next... the "circumcision"... first, i prefer to call it what it is - mutilation. and funny you should bring that up, i was just reading about yesterday too. came across some horrifying pictures online when i was looking for pics for this post.

i really appreciate your comments bianca.

love 'em.
d.

Reply
A.J.K
5/29/2010 08:53:10 am


Oh how id LOVE this blog to get into
those MeAN hands of Sarah Jessica Parker!

Reply
dahlia
5/30/2010 03:51:32 pm

MeAN hands. nice. thanks, AJK.

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Jeremy Beal link
6/27/2010 12:53:25 pm

Money trumps human rights, and the Saudi's are lousy with the former. It's a difficult ideology to wrap your head around from the outside, but I would suggest that anyone getting their cues from this cultural juggernaut would be too far gone for any sort of help a blogger might lend.

So sex and the city is oversimplistic? Well, let's all line up to throw stones in the ocean. This preaching to the choir stuff is too easy. You're a writer, pitch an alternative. Sex and the Library. Abstinence and co-op.

Love your blog!
Jeremy



Reply
dahlia link
6/27/2010 02:47:52 pm

Sex and the Library. City Hall should pitch that. It would up readership in Toronto.

and thanks for the compliment Jeremy. much appreciated.

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Michelle Kenneth link
12/29/2010 04:47:41 am

Funny...I was just watching this movie on Monday. The next day, I started planning a trip to MOROCCO after seeing that it was really filmed in MOROCCO.

This morning, I was thinking about how women in Muslim societies are so different as compared to what we are used to in the Western World.

SATC2 is not a Cause Celeb film (I highly recommend reading Bridget Jones' author Helen Fielding's book "Cause Celeb"). It's not meant to show the tortures of the world. That's not what SATC has ever been about.

They only touch briefly on the differences in the cultures. It wasn't meant to dive into the atrocities that happen there. It only touches the subjects lightly (from the burka, to the hiding of the skin, to the NO SEX, to Samantha practically getting stoned for having condoms in her purse, to getting arrested for inapproriate male/female touching in public, to women hiding color, personalities and private freedoms...like reading banned books in private).

For SATC2 to talk about the atrocities, it takes away from SATC. It would stop being a SATC movie if they started talking about the atrocities.

What is happening to women across the Islamic world...that's a movie in itself that is best represented by people that are not Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha. They only speak loudly of being an American in an Islamic land. That is all.

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