{"id":43784,"date":"2021-12-20T09:57:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-19T22:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&p=207257"},"modified":"2021-12-20T03:12:03","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T03:12:03","slug":"miranda-and-just-like-that","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/miranda-and-just-like-that\/","title":{"rendered":"What Has This Show Done To Miranda?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cExcuse me, are they going to do Miranda dirty AGAIN?\u201d I scream-typed to my group chat when our <\/span>Sex And The City<\/span><\/i> fave told Charlotte (consistently my least fave) that she and Steve had not had sex for years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thankfully, And Just Like That<\/em><\/a> was simply setting everyone\u2019s favorite corporate lawyer turned student up for a possible fling with new friend Che – the first character arc that felt at all \u201cMiranda-ish\u201d in the new series.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
This is the one development that feels right for Miranda. Credit: HBO Max.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m all for Miranda having a crisis of sexuality – it\u2019s a plot line that would make complete sense in the <\/span>SATC <\/span><\/i>world circa 2021. With gender and sexuality spectrums far more discussed and embraced than they were in the 90s (ahem, can we <\/span>ever<\/span><\/i> forget Carrie\u2019s gross freak-out over dating a bisexual man), a character only just now discovering her true self in her 50s is such a wonderful one to explore on a series that always championed women growing and changing, even during periods of life where it was more socially accepted to just \u201cbe\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

But who is this Miranda? I don\u2019t recognise her. As my sister said during one of many heated discussions about <\/span>And Just Like That<\/span><\/i>, if the scale was Samantha on one end (liberated, outspoken, daring) to Charlotte (ignorant, privileged) on the other, Miranda sat right up near Samantha. She was always the straight-shooting realist, which is why everyone was shocked when it was Miranda, not Charlotte, who had never listened to podcasts and word-vomited her way through meeting her Black professor Nya Wallace, stumbling through casually racist comments about Nya\u2019s hair, then behaving like a white savior when Nya was asked to present her ID pass to a college security officer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b\u200b<\/span>\u201cYou\u2019re the professor?\u201d Miranda asks Nya, shocked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes! Why do you seem so surprised?\u201d Nya responds, visibly perplexed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, your braids,\u201d Miranda says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA law professor can\u2019t have hair like mine? Why is that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh no, no, I didn\u2019t mean because of the braids,\u201d Miranda fumbles. \u201cI was just thrown as the braids are just so different to the hair in your photo on the Columbia website. My comment had nothing to do whatsoever with it being a Black hairstyle. I knew that you were Black when I signed up for this class. That was important to me.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou signed up to this class because I\u2019m Black?\u201d Nya says, as the wide eyes of other students pierce Miranda’s soul.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPlease just forget that I ever said anything about your hair,\u201d Miranda responds. \u201cHair has nothing whatsoever to do with appropriateness or relevance\u2026 Do I look like someone who attaches any significance to hair? I let mine go grey and it makes me look old. Not that I\u2019m ageist. Do I sound ageist?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Miranda\u2019s been diminished to a bumbling, confused 50-something. She is the stereotype of the ageing female – she is in a sexless marriage she clearly hasn\u2019t questioned for years, is alarmed by her son Brady having sex with his girlfriend and smoking weed, and seems completely out of touch with 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s like I was so scared of saying the wrong thing that I said all the wrong things,” Miranda reflects later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"and
Would Miranda really be this ignorant in 2021? Credit: HBO Max.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I find it hard to believe that the Miranda who was killing it in a male-dominated field, was sexually adventurous and never coy about it, and who always called the other ladies on their sh*t would be so adrift in this modern world. Sure, I can believe she\u2019d struggle with growing older as we all do – slowly but surely becoming less in-the-know as younger generations rise up and change the status quo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is how Cynthia Nixon, the powerhouse behind Miranda, sees her character development. Speaking to <\/span>Vanity Fair<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span><\/i>Nixon said this stumbling through modern life was textbook Miranda. \u201c<\/span>[She]\u2019s always sort of jumping before she has everything figured out. She\u2019s very not afraid to stick her chin out, and sometimes she leaps a little too quickly. So we see her definitely putting her foot in her mouth quite a bit, but I think it\u2019s brave of her. I think it\u2019s really hard for white people to talk about race if they never have before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While I agree that Miranda has often put her foot in it, is it truly believable that Miranda would be this out of sync with the social and political mood of 2021? How has she not spoken about race prior to meeting her new professor? At the very least, the fact Miranda has chosen to leave corporate law behind to pursue a Masters in Human Rights as a way to help the underprivileged should surely mean she\u2019s educated herself in some capacity on anti-racism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Miranda feels like a fuddy-duddy in <\/span>And Just Like That<\/span><\/i>. She\u2019s behaving like that awkward aunt who lived a narrow life and is now even more clueless than they ever were about the world. The woman moved to Brooklyn in the 90s while her friends considered New York City as beginning at Central Park and ending at Wall Street.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I also feel like having Miranda and Steve\u2019s marriage once again in a giant rut is a disservice to all the challenges they\u2019ve been through, and the strength of their relationship. They have long been my favorite couple – Steve was always such a wonderful counter to the often privileged, snobbish energy of the characters in <\/span>SATC<\/span><\/i>. They were the perfect opposites-attract pairing and it just feels a bit ridiculous that Miranda wouldn\u2019t have dealt with the loss of sex in their marriage sooner than years down the track. After all, wasn\u2019t the absence of sex the first sign their relationship was in trouble way back in the first movie? There is no way Miranda wouldn\u2019t have questioned this, and consequently her sexuality if that\u2019s where this plot line is headed, years prior. Still, I am okay with Steve and Miranda ending if it\u2019s part of her discovery of self. I just wish the series wasn\u2019t diminishing that marriage to this sexless, boring partnership like they\u2019ve done in the past. We saw the sex scenes, guys! We remember how hot Miranda and Steve were in bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"and
Steve and Miranda can end, but why would Miranda ignore a waning sex life for so long? Credit: HBO Max.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I know, I know – it\u2019s just a show. But it\u2019s one that really impacted our lives, and we\u2019re invested in these characters. I feel like Miranda was the one character we really thought would shine in her 50s, and honestly the one many of us now identify most with after spending years trying to convince ourselves we were the free-spirited, chaotic Carrie in our worlds. It just doesn\u2019t seem fair to reduce her to this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nixon says there are \u201c\u200b\u200b<\/span>many more changes coming for Miranda\u201d that will make her character development across these first three episodes \u201clook small\u201d. But it\u2019s not really about where the character is headed, it\u2019s that Miranda has even become this person in the first place. Here\u2019s hoping we at least get some justice for our series fave.<\/span><\/p>\n

Melissa is a freelance writer. You can find her on Instagram<\/a> and Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31333,"featured_media":43785,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[23],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Has 'And Just Like That' Done To Miranda Hobbes?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Miranda Hobbes is almost unrecognisable as a character in the new Sex And The City reboot, And Just Like That. 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