«Sex and the City»: the goddesses we’re in love with

The first season of Sex and the City began filming exactly 20 years ago, in 1997. Since then, a new generation of TV viewers has grown up, they have new heroes and role models, but the cultural significance of Sex and the City is difficult to overestimate today.

“This is the first series to focus solely on women,” muses Jungian analyst Stanislav Raevsky. — It reflects their expectations, aspirations and needs, very accurately describes their values ​​and interests. The heroines of the series independently build their lives. They want to be realized not in one thing, but in all areas at once — they work, fall in love, create families, travel, are interested in various aspects of life. They are active and do not hide in the shadow of men. I think that archetypally this series affirms the feminine principle in the universe. Jung had the idea that the image of God is not complete, because it lacks two components — the shadow and the feminine. This series defends the female component and makes for us a picture of the world more holistic.”

Like the Greek goddesses, the series’ heroines embody behaviors that historically weren’t allowed for women. They (in most cases) make their own decisions and follow their own impulses. However, they themselves certainly do not realize what forces govern their actions and feelings.

The American psychoanalyst Jean Shinoda Bolen wrote two books about the influence of archetypes on each person, which can be personified by the images of ancient Greek gods and goddesses: “Goddesses in every woman” and “Gods in every man” (Sofia, 2008). Together with Stanislav Raevsky, we will try to figure out which goddesses control the actions and feelings of the famous four.

Samantha — Aphrodite

Samantha is, of course, the goddess of erotic love in all its manifestations. She has many affairs, she enters into love affairs of her own choice and almost never finds herself in the role of a victim. She is the very embodiment of erotic attraction, voluptuousness, sexuality. The Aphrodite archetype prompts Samantha to look for intensity rather than permanence in relationships. She may have once wanted a long-term relationship, but once she burned herself and since then she has been promoting free relationships without obligations.

It is curious that, being beautiful and sexy, Samantha is still an older woman. Goddesses are not known to age or change. And Samantha is slowly aging and struggling with these age-related manifestations. And at the same time continues to love. Love remains the meaning of her whole life.

Samantha is not the goddess of marriage like Hera, she is an eternal lover. However, at some point, having caught businessman Richard cheating, he begins to take revenge on him and at that moment behaves like a jealous Hera. Only the appearance in her life of her deeply devoted, caring and loving actor Jared Smith again awakens in her trust in men and faith in long-term relationships.

Charlotte — Persephone + Demeter

Charlotte is the archetypal «nice girl from a good family.» She looks like an innocent child, always dressed up like a doll, perfectly combed, very neat and polite. She strives to give the impression of a good, obedient high school student.

However, her similarity with Persephone is limited to this. She is far from being so passive and silent, and most importantly, seriously focused on creating a family, and her idea of ​​uXNUMXbuXNUMXbmarriage is at odds with Persephone’s view. For Persephone, marriage is an abduction by Hades, the death-bringing ruler of the realm of the dead. Charlotte relates to marriage, rather, from the position of Hera — for her it is a way of self-fulfillment.

At the same time, there is a strong need in Charlotte to become a mother, and this is characteristic only of Demeter.

Miranda — Athena

Miranda is a successful lawyer who is obsessed with her job. She is rational, sometimes even cynical, acts very purposefully. At first it is practically a man in a skirt. Miranda enjoys communicating with her friends and male partners, but for the time being she is spared from deep emotional experiences, does not become attached to other people.

Athena keeps her “above” the level of instincts, Miranda for a long time does not feel in full force either her sexuality, or maternal feelings, or the instinct of reproduction, she is not going to start a family and give birth to children.

Jean Shinoda Bolen writes that the Athena woman sometimes unexpectedly and traumatically transcends the Athena archetype under the pressure of circumstances flooding her consciousness with feelings from the unconscious. So it is with Miranda — the appearance of a new lover with Steve suddenly helps her realize her love for him.

In the course of the series, Miranda transforms, becomes warmer, more feminine, loses her categoricalness and skepticism. Other goddesses begin to attract her — Demeter (due to communication with a child and a sick mother-in-law) and Hera (due to her relationship with her husband). With age, she gains a deep emotional and spiritual experience.

Carrie – Artemis

Journalist Carrie Bradshaw is the central character of the series. Her character is written in more detail than the rest of the heroines. It is multi-layered, holistic, it is difficult to describe it with the help of any one archetype.

But still, in her, an independent woman who loves her profession, there are quite a few features of Artemis. She gets satisfaction by putting tremendous energy into work that is very important to her (but does not necessarily guarantee a solid bank account). She is looking for love, but at the same time she enjoys freedom and is not too interested in the family hearth.

In addition, Carrie contains all the goddesses represented in each of her three friends. In a sense, Miranda-Athena, Samantha-Aphrodite and Charlotte (Persephone-Demeter) are her other incarnations. Carrie’s desire for self-realization is connected to Miranda’s workaholism, the desire to start a family is projected onto Charlotte, and sensuality and eroticism unite her with Samantha.

Feel the influence of different goddesses

“It is important to realize that the gods influence us, in fact, in the same way as stars or planets,” comments Stanislav Raevsky. — I like the idea of ​​James Hillman, author of Archetypal Psychology, about the many gods and goddesses within us. All of them affect us at the same time, just like the planets. It’s just that at each moment of time the influence of one or the other is stronger.

Every woman has a period when she is especially strongly controlled by Aphrodite, and then she becomes like Samantha. Then the woman marries, becomes a mother, and the power of Aphrodite weakens, and Hera and Demeter are in the foreground. Then the children grow up, the woman decides to pursue a career and feels the influence of Artemis or Athena. It’s wonderful when we can feel the influence of all the gods and accept different stories.

There are no good or bad among them. What is wrong with, say, the plot of Athena, a woman who is close to masculine values, who works all her life and does not give birth to children? What is wrong with the Artemis scenario, when a woman values ​​her independence above all else and builds her own business? Why are they worse than Demeter, who gives birth and raises children?

Our time is remarkable in that a modern woman can afford to try on any role. Within each of us are hidden many different motivations and separate selves that allow us to express different sides of ourselves. And for any role, any plot, there is a goddess.