Sex and the City

Narrative Structure in Sex and the City: “I Couldn’t Help But Wonder…”

Cindy Royal Doctoral Student The University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism Submitted to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Entertainment Studies Interest Group March 20, 2003 4502 Avenue C Austin, TX 78751 512-407-8930 clroyal@mail.utexas.edu

Narrative Structure in Sex and the City: “I Couldn’t Help But Wonder…”

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Abstract: Sex and the City uses a unique narrative structure to portray the complex issues faced by single women. Each episode, the central theme is posed by the main character as she ponders a topic for her weekly column. This device performs several functions that aid in illustrating the meaning of the single woman and creating identification with the audience: voiceover narration and the development of spectatorship, construction of multiple meanings, and women’s relationship with technology.

Narrative Structure in Sex and the City: “I Couldn’t Help But Wonder…”

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Narrative Structure in Sex and the City: “I Couldn’t Help But Wonder…”

Introduction Sex and the City is a popular HBO program that chronicles the lives of four single women in New York City. Based on the weekly sex column in the New York Observer written by Candace Bushnell,1 and produced by Darren Star of Beverly Hills 92010 and Melrose Place fame, the series uses a narrative structure unique to television comedy to portray the complex issues faced by single women in their 30’s. During each episode, the central theme is posed by the main character, Carrie Bradshaw, in the form of a question, often preempted by the phrase, “I couldn’t help but wonder…”, as she ponders a topic for her column in the fictional newspaper The New York Star. The question is stated through voiceover narration while Carrie types on her laptop

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In 1996, Bushnell’s columns were published as a book, Sex and the City.

Narrative Structure in Sex and the City: “I Couldn’t Help...