Girls' Night Out

so i'm sitting in a booth with three girlfriends, munching on french fries and mozarella sticks and enjoying some refreshing margaritas. anyone who has watched even one episode of sex and the city knows that four women and cocktails means the conversation usually goes from bad to worse. at one point, i referred to a sex and the city quiz, brought to you but that wonderfully addictive "quizilla" thingie on myspace (but, in reality, those quizzes totally blow). after taking the "which sex and the city character are you?" quiz i was informed that i was....drumroll...charlotte. see, here's the proof:


Congratulations! You are Charlotte.

so anyways. lorelei says noooo i think you're more of a miranda. immediately the first thought in my mind was tsk! i'm not miranda. now, the feminist/gender studies scholar in me bristled and wondered why i had such a visceral reaction to miranda.

essentially, miranda is the smart, if mostly cynical, career-oriented and strong-willed woman. who wouldn't want to be a miranda? after six seasons we see miranda ultimately grow, in my opinion, more than any other character. she realizes to stop keeping people at a distance and allow others into her life, she gets over her "no one is good enough" attitude to find a truly wonderful and supportive man, and she turns into the loving mother that we all new was hiding deep down inside. i couldn't help but wonder (pun intended)...who wouldn't want to be a miranda? somewhere in me i shuddered at the notion of being the cynical hard-nosed and powerful woman. do we fear the "bitch" label? but in the end, miranda's edges smooth out. did the writers do justice to her character? did she become a more well-rounded person or are we just supposed to take it to mean that really, in order to grow and mature and be happy, we need a man, a cute baby, and a brownstone in park slope? did miranda sell us out? did she basically disprove the the necessity of the lifestyle she had so adamantly fought for for five seasons?

i don't think so.

i think miranda found happiness on HER terms when SHE was ready. and i admire her for it. of course i'm talking about a fictional character here, but really, we fall in love with books the same way, so hush it. so i'm going to embrace my inner miranda. hell, i'll even embrace my inner carrie, charlotte and (gasp galore) samantha. in truth, i think we love those women because they all represent the conflicting parts of our own selves. just with more money and better fashion sense.

***so in celebration of miranda, i'm going to put some of her classic lines***

Miranda: Smart, yes, sometimes cute, but never sexy. Sexy is the thing I try to get them to see me as after I win them over with my personality.
Carrie: You win men over with your personality?

Miranda: I'm sorry, if a man is over thirty and single, there's something wrong with him. It's Darwinian. They're being weeded out or propogating the species.
Carrie: Okay, well, what about us?
Miranda: We're just choosy.

Charlotte: I just know no matter how good I feel about myself, if I see Christy Turlington, I just want to give up!
Miranda: Well, I just want to tie her down and force-feed her lard, but that's the difference between you and me.