As promised, here’s a reader submission regarding the portrayal of Louise (Jennifer Hudson), Carrie’s assistant in Sex and the City. The writer is Lisa-Marie from Glasgow, who writes a blog called Last Year’s Girl. NOTE: This post contains spoilers. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, read at your discretion.
I never saw any more than a couple of episodes of Sex and the City during its oh-so-fabulous, early noughties heyday; but perhaps the one defining image it seared into the pop cultural receptor at the front of my brain is of Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, perched in front of a MacBook as she files that week’s column late into the evening. And so I feel a little bit cheated after watching the big budget continuation of Ms Bradshaw’s tramps and travails through Manhattan - it turns out that, while she has the money to pay for a top of the range laptop and sparkly pink mobile phone, she doesn’t even know how to send a text message. What’s a girl to do but hire an assistant?
Enter Jennifer Hudson, who plays Carrie’s “Saint Louise from St Louis”. At the risk of giving too much away, Louise comes into Carrie’s life at a particularly difficult time. Overwhelmed by circumstance and boxes of shoes, viewers as astute as STA readers might be forgiven for thinking that what Carrie needs is a life-coach or a therapist rather than an assistant who is expected to combine all three roles for nothing like the pay. Despite (or because of) experience consisting of merely six brothers and sisters as well as a big heart, Louise proves herself more than capable - even while she has to rent her designer handbags by the day.
That said, Carrie Bradshaw isn’t the worst boss to work for. You’ll cringe as she asks for unwanted emails to be filtered to “some place in cyberspace where I won’t have to see them”, but the drinks are on her and she knows how to shop for a Christmas gift. Look out, too, for the “hilarious” interview montage which plays out like our Bossary in reverse.
The biggest problem with the character is simply her limited screen time. Although a lovely addition, Louise remains pretty underdeveloped - and her role in the film’s dénouement is overshadowed, as expected, by Carrie’s three best friends. Here, art indeed imitates life - the assistant working tirelessly behind the scenes, while someone else takes centre stage.
I had actually never seen Jennifer Hudson in anything before and honestly thought she did a good job. But something about it just didn’t fit, besides the renting of the purses. How is that Carrie always turned to her friends to help pick her back up all the other times, but instead turns to an assistant this time? And if your reader watched more SATC, she’d know that the only time Carrie tried a shrink she ended up having a one night stand with Jon Bon Jovi:)
I was torn by the assistant thing also, but for different reasons. I think of shows like “Friends”, as well as “Sex and the City”, that are set in New York City, which is 40% African-American, and yet you never see people of color in these shows. So I thought that including Jennifer Hudson was a sweet, though perhaps misguided, attempt to include a person of color and to get a message out that “we are all the same” (if “we are all the same” means, “we all like expensive purses”!). Because I have been involved in anti-racism activism for some years now, I am a bit wary of this type of “easy” solution, yet at the same time I have to give the producers some credit for even taking this step.
But I am a white woman, so I don’t want to be the “last word” on this. Any people of color out there who would like to weigh in on this?
Hi,
I’m a person of color. LOL… I didn’t care for JHuds acting. But outside of that it appears that they’ve never really had a Black Woman on their show at all. You’ve seen both Samantha and Miranda dealing with Black men in some sort of sexual way or the other. But never have you seen any of them deal with someone on a professional level.
It’s great to see the cast member added, even if for a limited appearance. However, it would have been nice to see it on a more peer based role than an assistant. I’m not saying that Black people aren’t assistant. I am one myself. But really…