Review: The Carrie Diaries

BY ANASTASIA PAVLINSKAYA

The CW network has recently premiered the spin-off to the popular HBO series Sex and the City called The Carrie Diaries. The show is based on the novel written by the same author of the “Sex and the City” books, Candace Bushnell. Set in the early 1980’s, AnnaSophia Robb portrays Carrie Bradshaw as she is entering her senior year in high school.  After the death of her mother, Bradshaw struggles with experiences such as keeping her angsty freshman sister in line, constant arguments with her father and the pressures of high school.

With all of these things coming at young Carrie, her father decides that she should have something to get her mind off the hard times. Suggesting that she do an internship at his friends law firm, Bradshaw is sent from suburban Connecticut to her future playground, New York City.

The show places Carrie in the same setting of Sex and the City, so the similarities are certainly there. However, longtime followers beware; don’t expect to have a show as raunchy as the original. Though there are undertones to the subjects discussed in Sex and The City, they are presented in a very real way for teenagers, unlike the glamour that the original presents. One of Carrie’s friends does lose her virginity, but she is abandoned and left heartbroken, presenting a really raw representation of teen emotions, contrasting with casual sexual encounters Sex and The City would feature.

Another important staple of the new show is the portrayal of Carrie’s family, a topic previously untouched in the adult series. Although Bradshaw’s mother is absent from the show, elements of her are what create the biggest connection between the original and the new series. Carrie renovates her mother’s old purse after her sister stains it with nail- polish, creating the premise for the storyline when a magazine worker becomes fascinated with the purse and befriends Carrie, plummeting her into the diverse concrete jungle where she goes dancing, stays out late, and experiences gay culture for the first time.

Differences exist between the shows, but so do consistencies, such as the presentation of Carrie as a hopeless romantic. The original series circles around Carrie’s lovers such as Aiden and the infamous “Big,” while the teen adaptation has so far talked about Carrie’s fixation with this new boy that she met at the community pool. Of course, since the show is new, there will probably be more males in the life of young Bradshaw, but that is something that is yet to come.

Besides the clever storylines, fashion elements, and romances, viewers of the original series were strongly drawn in by the tale of four women in one of the greatest cities in the world.  So far in The Carrie Diaries, friends of Carrie have flashed by, but the focus is much less on Carrie’s friends and much more on Carrie as a growing individual. Of course, the haven-like attitude towards New York exists, as we watch how Carrie went from writing in her diary to becoming a published New York fashion journalist.

So for all those original fans of Sex and the City, should you check out The Carrie Diaries? Well if you’re looking for a continuation of the original, you’ve come to the wrong place. But, if you are looking for the same elements of Sex and the City presented in a fresh and young light, then The Carrie Diaries is right for you.