In what appears to be continued proof that in order to do anything in America, politics most especially, you have to be famous, Cynthia Nixon officially announced her bid for New York governor on March 19th on, where else, Twitter. On the heels of Trump’s latest tweet storm railing against McCabe and Mueller, it is rather troubling to watch this sudden accepted trend of celebrity ascension into public office take shape in yet another new form.
And yet, looking back on the first season of the irrevocably iconic New York institution that is Sex and the City, Nixon’s “sudden” plan to run doesn’t feel so sudden at all, for the desire to rage against New York state and NYC government seemed to be ingrained within her by the writing of Michael Patrick King (who penned the “Valley of the Twenty-something Guys” episode in question), feeding Miranda Hobbes such lines as, “Good luck finding one. There are no available men in their thirties in New York. Giuliani had them removed along with the homeless” when Carrie asks, “Shouldn’t we be dating men our own age?” Carrie, too, makes her own fair share of Giuliani allusions, and yet you don’t see Sarah Jessica Parker running for governor (which might actually be preferable because it would give her an excuse to spend even more time away from Matthew Broderick).
Alas, Nixon has that lesbian cachet paired with the fact that she was born, raised and has continued to live her adult life in New York City, which is something fewer and fewer people can seem to say, as most of them all seem to abscond for Los Angeles. That Sex and the City premiered on June 6, 1998, just as The New York Times was getting ready for a handful of articles over the course of the same summer detailing Rudy Giuliani’s avowal to close more sex shops–which, frankly, kept the seedy underbelly that New York was once known for and is now merely romanticized for in shows like The Deuce–is telling of the rebellious political streak Carrie and Miranda occasionally flaunted when taking breaks from dissecting their “relationships” and constantly breaking the only rule of the Bechdel Test.
Nixon’s most famous role had her playing an opinionated lawyer who might have eventually run for office of some kind if the plot needed to be shaken up after more than six seasons. And one can indeed picture Hobbes saying over breakfast with the girls, “I love New York. I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else. But something has to change. We want our government to work again.” It might have been at that point that Carrie could have chimed in, “Ya see, this is why I’m moving to Paris again–but this time, for real!”
To that point, the ad Nixon released to showcase her concern at times looks like cutting room floor footage from the third installment of the Sex and the City movie Kim Cattrall never agreed to as Nixon tools around town on foot, dropping her Brady-lookalike kid at school, “frantically” texting on her phone as she waits for the subway and walking the sidewalks as though someone is stalking her (maybe the director and cinematographer were influenced by Single White Female). She declares in Carrie-esque voiceover, “New York is my home, I’ve never lived anywhere else. When I grew up here, it was just my mom and me in a one-bedroom fifth floor walkup… I was given chances I just don’t see for most kids of New York today. Half the kids in our upstate cities live below the poverty line… We are sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than they do about us.” And yet, isn’t that what this attempt to oust incumbent “liberal” (yet liberals rather tend to despise him) Andrew Cuomo is ultimately about? While, sure, Nixon has secured her place in pop culture, a career transition seems rather essential to her right now, as the parts don’t exactly roll in for older women who aren’t Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren. And there’s perhaps no other profession that most notoriously requires great acting skills than being a politician (Trump obviously excluded, ’cause that muhfukka isn’t playing a buffoon, just is one).
Regardless of motives pure and impure in this gubernatorial bid, the fact remains that the last thing New York needs is someone without longstanding political experience to take office at a time when America is already being harshly judged for its superficial obsession with celebrity, and the effects of such an obsession now managing to seep into all levels of government–an institution once based on actual qualifications. And then there’s the further ruination of a beloved show to consider. Carrie Bradshaw probably couldn’t help but wonder, can anyone watch Sex and the City with the same zest when seeing Miranda getting eaten out by the “Overeater”–among other such scenes one can’t remove from memory–and then having to remind oneself, “Oh yes, this is my governor”? It almost makes Weiner look tame.
