I started watching Sex and the City the same way most people my age do — I watched the movies. While the feature-length films are in no way Oscar-worthy, they are fun popcorn entertainment, perfect for a girls night. After watching the movie, it is natural to discuss which of the four ladies we like the most, and which we do like the least. Obviously Carrie is the most liked. She is beautiful and bubbly and social and stylish and her hair flows in the wind. And you know who sucks? Miranda. She is just so frumpy and annoying. That is the general consensus.
The films, and often the show, depicts Miranda as lame and obnoxious. Think about it, in the first movie, Miranda plays a huge role in ruining Big and Carrie’s wedding. In the second movie, she doesn’t really do much. Seriously, who remembers what happens with Miranda in Sex and the City 2? Because I don’t. Throughout all of this, she is wearing unflattering outfits that is shamed in comparison to Carrie, Samantha, and Charlotte’s gorgeous attire.
With this framing, it is easy to dislike Miranda. She can be annoying. I get it. But there is so much more to her character that tends to be overlooked.
She tells it like it is
“By the time you reach your mid thirties, you think: ‘Why should I settle?’ You know? I have been out with some of those guys. The short, fat, poor ones. It makes absolutely no difference. They’re just as self-centered and unappreciative as the good-looking ones.” These were the first lines spoken by Miranda and in just those few words, she completely summed up dating culture.
Miranda may not be the most confident out of the four girls, but she has never been afraid to share her feelings. When her friends are being unreasonable or selfish (a.k.a Carrie), she tells them. When a man is playing her, which let’s face it — they do all the time, she tells them to their face to quit the bullshit, and she leaves. This proves to all women that we should not be afraid of confrontation and that being passive aggressive just makes relationships more harder.
She is the only girl who deals with real weight issues
It is difficult to claim that Sex and the City has a realistic portrayal of upper-middle class white women when 3 out of 4 of the main characters are stick thin. Sure, Charlotte is a runner so it makes sense why she is always fit and Samantha does Pilates and has a lot of sex and if you count the movies, she had a little belly when her relationship with Smith Jared was going downhill. But Carrie sits around smoking cigarettes all day so I’m not too sure how she could be so teeny.
Even though Miranda works out as well and is a generally healthy person, she is the only one who actually struggles with weight gain. She, like pretty much every other person I know, stress eats. I don’t think I have ever related to a character as much than when Miranda had to throw away a cake in order to stop eating it… and then she proceeded to eat it out of the trash. This love of junk food, which is simultaneously harmless and toxic, and her baby weight made for a difficult process for getting back to her ideal size.
After joining a weight loss group, and successfully losing most of the weight, Miranda still had difficulties balancing work, eating the food she liked (Chinese food and chocolate), and staying relatively healthy, truly mirroring the typical health struggles of the average 30-something woman
She is a fierce, amazing friend
No matter the day, hour, or issue, you can call Miranda for help. She will drop what she is doing, drive to your place, probably carrying some takeout, and be there for you to rant, give advice, or even just comfort you. Miranda always puts the girls first. She will hold off talking about any of her relationship problems (and there are many) in order to listen to Carrie, Samantha, and Charlotte.
She is a four-dimensional character who clearly matures throughout the series
Miranda was always amazing throughout Sex and the City, but she was scarred. Men did not give her much respect so she stopped believing in love. She began to feel comfortable with the idea that all guys suck, and that she won’t ever have that ‘special someone’.
Once she met Steve she was extremely resistant. She refused to believe that a man actually saw her for more than a sex object. Her unsuccessful and unromantic past prevented her from ever being truly happy. It took the death of her mother and the realization that people (both her friends and a man) completely love her. She never really became a ‘care-free gal’ like Samantha and she was most definitely never a hopeless romantic like Charlotte, but she let herself fall in love, she let herself trust someone, and she let herself be healthy and happy.
Miranda is a role model to all women who want to balance a successful career, a family, and a social life. She struggles with self confidence issues and tends to push love away, but ultimately, she learns how to let herself love someone and more importantly, love herself.