3. Episode 4.11 on the webpage:

There can be information found about episode 4.11 in three different segments of the webpage; the scrapbook, the episode guide and the community.

In the scrapbook, you can find this information about episode 4.11:

Story highlights

“Are we there yet?”

Miranda is pregnant with Steve’s baby, and has to decide whether to have it or not. Carrie wavers about whether or not to tell Aidan about an abortion in her past. Charlotte, who really wants a baby, learns that pregnancy is not a possibility and Samantha loses a star client over a bag.

+ read an in-depth synopsis of this episode.

Dating diary

Aidan

Carrie worries that Aidan will judge her by having had an abortion when she was 22. After initially hiding the truth from him, she decides to stop lying and gets understanding in return.

+ read an in-depth profile of Aidan.

The Look

Carrie looks cool as a summer breeze in a white vintage sundress and UV ray-blocking Battenberg lace parasol. Barely-there nude mules by Manolo Blahnik add invisible height.

Carrie is at the head of the ‘80s-redux class in this reconstructed prom dress mini by Invitation of Christ and white stiletto pumps by Manolo Blahnik. A classic Hermes silk pochette with an ‘H’ scarf ring gets a new lease on life as a headwrap. Note the double designer bags – a Bulgari print purse and a Lulu Guiness striped tote.

Miranda shows her fondness for colourful ethnic design with this Japanese print dress by Cacherel, while Carrie’s messenger style consist of Comme des Garcons knickers, a Martin vest and a graffitied tote.

Charlotte greets the day in a sunny botanical checkerboard shift dress by New York-based design duo David Gregory and a peach handbag by Charles Jourdan.

Girltalk

No information

Address Book

No information

Inside Scoop

No information

It’s clear that the scrapbook focuses on the fashion aspect of the episode; there is no information about what the girls are discussing this episode and where they go to, but you get detailed information about what the girls wear.

In the episode guide there can be found an in-depth synopsis of the episode, music credits and fashion credits. Both the synopsis and the fashion credits I already mentioned and pasted in the pages above.

            One of my sub questions was how the webpage offer a participatory opportunity for the audience, so that they can copy the lifestyle of the SATC-girls. Based on episode 4.11 in the webpage, the audience is mostly able to copy the fashion aspect of the lifestyle. They get enough information about different outfits and brands to make their own combination, inspired by the SATC-look. The audience is able to use the fashion of SATC to create their own fashion. In that way, there is an active audience (Fiske 1987). The audience looks at the information they get, and uses that to create their own set of information.[8]

The audience gets also the opportunity in the community to share their opinions on that SATC-look and the way the SATC-girls handle certain things in their life. But I will come that in the next chapter.

Based on the whole webpage, the audience is able to copy these elements: the interior of apartments of the four girls, the look, the beliefs on certain topics (they are in the episode guides), and the places to be.

4. Sharing opinions:

The main theme of episode 4.11 Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda is the pregnancy of Miranda and whether or not she’s going to have an abortion. I looked that abortion theme up in the SATC-community on the webpage, and I was stunned that there are only a few posts about that abortion question. It seems that the only thing the forum members do on the community is talking about how they’re all doing and what clothes, make-up and shoes the SATC-girls wear.

            This is what I found concerning the abortion theme:

1. “ONE of my all time favorite memories was the show WOULDA COULDA SHOULDA, when Miranda is deciding on an abortion. At the very end when Charlotte finds out and she says WE'RE HAVING A BABY! Everytime an episode has Charlotte crying, you can almost feel her emotion.”

2. “I think it´s good that they brougth this abortion theme in. A woman should not feel ashamed about that. A appreciated that part.”

3. “What single woman Carrie's age hasn't had an abortion? Most of these gals are very irresponsible when it comes to contraception. A lot of gals will go out on the town with their friends hoping to find Mr Right. But at the end of the evening...after one too many cocktails, will end up in the bed of Mr Wrong, ass up in the air...face buried in the pillow, getting drilled from behind doggiestyle. Just because they get knocked up after a night of drunken debauchery, they think it's OK to fix their mistake by killing the innocent lovechild that results from their union. This is just wrong!”

The man or woman that posted that last one, gets the following respons:

4. “i for one have not. why don't you find out all the facts before you go shooting your mouth off. and you sure do know a lot about the show for someone who cant watch it because it morally bankrupt. maybe your just an immoral liar. And would you rather they have a child that no one wants so it just gets bounced around in foster care?”

5. “don't know what you guys think, but i think we should all make a pact to just ignore MrBigWhereItCounts [the author of post 3] and other ppl who are simply on the board to be as offensive as possible. too much of these boards gets taken up with ppl arguing about who's being judgmental or defensive, and it's really not worth it.”

The author of post 3, later posts the following (a week later):

6. “The one episode that kind of pissed me off, was where Miranda was contemplating having an abortion, and the rest of the gals were sitting around the lunch table sharing abortion stories. I mean, it kind of made it seem like killing your baby is an acceptable form of birth control. It's the wrong kind of message to be sending young ladies. If a woman is going to spread like peanut butter for any Tom , Dick , or Harry....she damn well better be responsible enough to deal with the consequences...and I don't mean by murdering her baby! Would you all agree?”

But nobody responds to this post.

            I think the fact that almost nobody discusses the abortion question but is more concerned with what the girls wear, shows that the Sex and the City webpage is mostly about the fashion, not so much about what the SATC-girls opinion is on different topics. It’s mostly the fashion aspect of the lifestyle that’s being copied by the audience. That’s an interesting point, because the show itself isn’t really that superficial. Every episode, Carrie raises a question concerning relationships. These questions are often very critical and well-considered. You would say these questions stimulate the audience to think about these topics. I don’t believe that the audience of Sex and the City really is that superficial. I think the webpage doesn’t stimulate a critical environment, because the webpage doesn’t concentrate on Carrie’s questions, but only on the fashion aspect.

5. The popularity of SATC and fashion:

The main reason why Sex and the City became so popular is because of the fashion in it. It is a fact that whatever the girls wear, becomes a fashion hit. In magazines (for example in the Dutch Starstyle) we can see what Carrie wears and how we can combine the clothes from H&M to make a similar outfit. Carrie combines in the show stilettos with baggy pants and after that you see on fashion posters baggy pants with stilettos. I don’t know if the fashion market says to the producers of SATC “hey, this will be big in the summer, can you show it in SATC?” or that the stylist of Sex and the City (Patricia Field) can do what she wants and create a new fashion, which the fashion market copies. That’s an interesting topic on a new research, but for now I will stick to my own topic.

Sometimes there is product placement in Sex and the City; that’s when a product of one of the sponsors is clearly on screen.[9] In the episode I used for the analysis, episode 4.11, the audience sees Lucy Lui wearing a shirt with the lines “I love Dior”. That is a clear product placement. Other times there is talk of inscriptsponsoring. When a product and the commercial message are incorporated in the script, it’s called inscriptsponsoring.[10] In episode 4.11, Carrie makes Aidan swear on Chanel. That’s an example of inscriptsponsoring.

            Sex and the City uses a multimedial strategy in advertising the products of their sponsors; the brands are advertised in different media. The products are seen on the show, but also they are often named on the webpage, namely in the Scrapbook, in The Look, and in the Episode Guide. The advantage of the webpage is that people can look up what the brands are the girls wear. The sponsor can be sure that the audience who wants to know what clothes are worn, has the possibility to easy look it up. Is this multimedial advertising a strategy that will be often used in the future? Or can’t we already get away from it? That’s also an interesting research for the future.

On June 7th 2004, Sarah Jessica Parker was crowned as the fashion icon of 2004, by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In the Dutch paper, ‘De Telegraaf’, was an article about this award that Sarah Jessica got. They write what I was trying to say in the introduction:

“[That Sarah Jessica Parker officially is proclaimed as style icon, is inevitable. As Carrie Bradshaw, she is in the unprecedented popular serial Sex and the City for many women a role model. As for lifestyle, but mostly as trendsetter. Not for nothing praises the organisation her personal and professional involvement with fashion and her typical New York’s style. Carrie shops ‘till she drops and always wears the newest clothes.

Thanks to her passion for beautiful clothes, she has made that brands like Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik and Marc Jacobs are known in many living rooms. Women in the large cities already knew the enormous popular shoe brands, but thanks to the show, everybody can recognise the shoes from a distance. This has brought grist to their mill. Marc Jacobs, Micheal Kors and Prada are on an average named once every episode. And when Carrie Bradshaw is robbed on the street, she only can perplexed murmur: “He has got my Manolo’s!”]”[11] Free translated from Dutch.

            Sex and the City has an unprecedented popularity. In the Netherlands, there is even a Dutch equivalent of the show: Rozengeur & Wodkalime (‘Scent of Roses & Wodkalime”). This show is inspired by SATC: it’s about four thirty-something girls who constantly date with men. Even the webpage of Rozengeur & Wodkalime is much like the SATC-webpage. It’s using the same lay-out and gives information on the same topics as the Sex and the City webpage, for example on the interior of the apartments of the girls. And the show catches on. I absolutely don’t think that the show is in the Netherlands as popular as Sex and the City, but I’m certain that it provides high viewing figures.

            Sex and the City is all about expensive clothes: Prada, Chanel, Manolo Blahninks, etc. What I’m wondering is why the producers use such expensive clothes in the show. They must know that a large part of the audience isn’t able to buy such clothes. But I think they do that, mainly so that the brands used in the show become well-known. And these expensive brands make the SATC-lifestyle more exclusive and therefore more attractive to the audience. The lifestyle of the Sex and the City-girls is so expensive that it becomes special to live that lifestyle. When you can buy the clothes at H&M, it isn’t special anymore, because everyone can buy it. When it’s Prada, it is special, because there aren’t that much stores (especially in the Netherlands) where you can buy these. And also, Prada is so expensive, and thus exclusive, what makes it more attractive. But what a lot of women forget is that you can buy the clothes at H&M, only of a cheaper material, and of course, here, you don’t have to pay for the brand.

Conclusion

My main question “To what extend is the official webpage of Sex and the City a commercial extension piece for the show?” can be answered by the following: the webpage stimulates the audience in copying the lifestyle of the four Sex and the City girls and is therefore an enormous commercial tool. You can point out two layers in the show: the moral, like questions about relationships and how the girls think about certain topics. The second layer is the material layer: the clothes, the bags, the shoes, the restaurants, the clubs, etc. The website concentrates on the material layer of the show and is therefore clearly trying to sell the “material lifestyle” of the SATC-girls. The fact that the women in the community almost don’t talk bout the moral layer, but only about the material layer, is a sign that the selling strategy of the webpage is working.

There are a lot of questions that pop up investigating the main question. First of all, as I already noted above, is that it’s interesting to find out about the relationship between Sex and the City and contemporary fashion. We saw that Carrie is a true trendsetter. But who has made her a trendsetter? Does Patricia Field, the stylist, have a free hand in choosing the styles and therefore the new trend? Or is it the fashion market that stimulates Field to use particular styles, because the fashion market knows that it will be big in a half year or so? Does Sex and the City receive money from the brands that they show?

Another interesting topic is whether the multimedial selling strategy that Sex and the City uses will be the way all markets will sell in the future. You see that Sex and the City advertises a lifestyle both on television, in the show, and on the Internet. These two media reinforce each other.

When I was researching the community on the webpage, I was wondering if the producers of the show and the stylist read what the women on the community have to say about the fashion in the show. Does the stylist listen to that opinion? Or, better, does the fashion market listen to that opinion? When the women on the board said that the Birkin bag of the episode I researched is ugly, does the fashion market read that and respond to that by, let’s say, produce less of that particular Birkin bags? I don’t know, but I think that’s very interesting to investigate.

One question that occupies my mind is the following: the episode that I’ve research was about lying, twisting the truth. Samantha wanted the Birking bag, but there was a five-year waiting list. So she told the bag was meant for Lucy Lui so that she would be on the top of the waiting list. At the end, Lucy Lui found out and decided to keep the bag herself to punish Samantha. Miranda didn’t want to tell Steve that she was pregnant with his baby. But Carries boyfriend Aidan didn’t agree with that decision, because he found that Steve had to right to know that Miranda was pregnant. Like I said, on the webpage, there is almost no attention paid to this dilemma; lying to get what you want and keep a secret to your own when the other has the right to know. Clearly, the moral questions are of minor importance than the material stuff. Is there in the 4.11 episode really speaking of a moral message? Or are the moral questions placed in the show to hide the fact that the show is almost a flat selling instrument? And to make it look like the show has a more deep and profound layer?

      As you can see, this paper is only the top of the iceberg in investigating the Sex and the City webpage. Not to name the show on television, I’m sure books can be written on that topic.