\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.craft.cloud\/26ed9c78-feb7-4ee6-8ddf-262fd7bafb2d\/assets\/tco\/images\/satcimg.jpg\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
A purer cinema of excess has yet to be made. In classic sequel fashion everything here needs to be bigger, better and more bejeweled. So why not fly in Liza Minelli to perform a\u00a0rendition of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u200b\u2018<\/span>Single Ladies (Put a\u00a0Ring on It)\u2019 at a\u00a0distastefully expensive wedding ceremony? Why not organise a\u00a0parade of random guest celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Penelope Cruz, who show up to do basically nothing but sell their face? Why not present a\u00a0flood of product placement, so we can all buy the same computer Carrie writes on (I personally never pegged her as a\u00a0HP<\/span> girl) and drink her favourite\u00a0<\/span>SKYY<\/span> Vodka cocktails<\/span><\/a>? And never forget: you\u2019re a\u00a0bad spouse unless your anniversary gift is a\u00a0Rolex\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n The lavish dresses, exotic locales and starry cameos naturally appealed to a\u00a0global audience that yearned to spend more time with their fictional heroines, making\u00a0<\/span>Sex and the City 2<\/span><\/i> the highest-grossing romantic comedy of that year. All this splendour, however, also revealed the inherent creative bankruptcy of what was once a\u00a0groundbreaking show about fiercely independent women navigating high-level careers and the slippery NYC<\/span> dating market. Of course,\u00a0<\/span>Sex and the City\u00a0<\/i>was also enamoured with money, but at least in the HBO<\/span> series it only functioned as a\u00a0means to an end \u2013 a\u00a0resource that afforded our protagonist to explore the layered textures of the multi-faceted American metropole.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But there\u2019s the rub: it\u2019s all the fluff, broken scenes, internal contradictions and messy politics that make\u00a0<\/span>SATC2<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i>such a\u00a0fascinatingly rich text. Here we have a\u00a0film that completely fetishizes the nouveau riche of the Middle East, while being so violently Islamophobic that it makes total sense all exterior location shooting was done around the more western-friendly Marrakesh, instead of the actual United Arab Emirates. Against the political backdrop of Obama\u00a0<\/span>amping up his international arms trade agreements with UAE<\/span><\/span><\/a> and banking on their vast oil reserves to combat the financial crisis,\u00a0<\/span>SATC2<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i>now serves as a\u00a0perfect illustration of America\u2019s thorny relationship with the east.\u00a0<\/span>A.S. Hamrah was right on the mark<\/span><\/a> when he framed this film in the context of America\u2019s disastrous imperial wars, as\u00a0<\/span>SATC2<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i>plays like a\u00a0cultural bombardment. Armed with Herm\u00e8s dresses and mounted on camel-back, Carrie\u2019s battalion invades the Middle-East as arrogant Americans who marvel at the wealth of the Emirates while violating its cultural fabric wholesale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The most telling scene reveals that niqab-cladded women \u2013 for the New York socialites the ultimate symbol of oppression \u2013 secretly wear western luxury brands and lingerie under their cloaks, emphasizing that America may be falling behind in the global economy, but reigns supreme when it comes to cultural expressions of freedom. The irony that all of this happens in a\u00a0film with virtually zero emotional substance makes\u00a0<\/span>SATC2<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i>all the more potent, albeit in unintentional ways. Even the scandalous reappearance of Aidan in the spice market \u2013 my personal scourge as a\u00a0firm Mr. Big-believer \u2013 can\u2019t make up for the fact that this film is essentially about nothing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a\u00a0complementary fashion, all this nothingness is captured in a\u00a0funky-looking hybrid between opulent film stock and a\u00a0hyper-digital postproduction, decorating the blatant artifice at the core of the film with the most uncanny of glimmering sheens. I\u00a0don\u2019t know any other film that looks like this. King cites David Lean\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Lawrence of Arabia<\/i> \u2013 another key text to illustrate Edward Said\u2019s point that western media subjugates the east with its orientalist gaze \u2013 when Carrie et al traverse the Saharan desert on camel. This allows Samantha to make the most egregious joke ever put to script, recalling an explosive night with a\u00a0Danish architect she describes as the \u200b\u201c<\/span>Lawrence of My Labia.\u201d Such an insulting throwback to a\u00a0genuine classic of film history only reinforces what a\u00a0brazenly shameless film\u00a0<\/span>SATC2<\/span><\/span><\/i> actually is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With the luxury of hindsight, it\u2019s fascinating to see how with\u00a0<\/span>And Just Like That\u2026<\/i>, Parker and King completely dialled back the tone-deaf xenophobia and openly racist rhetoric in favour of a\u00a0more performatively woke and Ultra-Correct\u2122 stance. How can we ever forget the somewhat baffling inclusion of the incredibly vocal non-binary comedian Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez), Miranda\u2019s queer partner we all\u00a0<\/span>loved to hate<\/span><\/a>?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When\u00a0<\/span>SATC2<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i>was released, critics lamented how the film tarnished the legacy of the show. Now it serves as an important hinge point in this fictional universe; a\u00a0signpost of when Carrie and company abandoned their free-spirited\u00a0<\/span>joie de vivre,<\/i> as well as a\u00a0harbinger of what was to come with the even more unhinged spin-off series that has tested even the most hardcore SATC-fan. More so, it\u2019s an pertinent illustration of the American empire in decline, desperately trying to keep the party going in the face of abject misery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n