User:Morgan695/sandbox2
| Samantha Jones | |
|---|---|
| Sex and the City character | |
 Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones | |
| First appearance |
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| Created by | Candace Bushnell |
| Adapted by | Darren Star |
| Portrayed by |
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| In-universe information | |
| Occupation |
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| Nationality | American |
Samantha Jones is a fictional character who appears in the Sex and the City media franchise. She first appeared in writer Candace Bushnell's newspaper column Sex and the City, a semi-fictionalized account of the author's life in Manhattan that was serialized in The New York Observer from 1994 to 1996 and anthologized as a book of the same name in 1996. Samantha is a confident and sexually liberated middle aged woman, distinguished by her unselfconscious promiscuity and her disinclination towards monogamy.
The character was portrayed by Kim Cattrall in the television adaptation of the column created by Darren Star that aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004. Samantha is one of four characters composing the central ensemble of the series, along with Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York, and Miranda Hobbes. Cattrall reprised the role in the two sequel films to Sex and the City, released in 2008 and in 2010. Samantha also appears in And Just Like That..., the 2021 revival of the HBO series, initially as an unseen character and later by Cattrall in a cameo appearance. The character also appears in Bushnell's 2011 young adult fiction novel Summer and the City, a sequel to her earlier The Carrie Diaries (2010); the novels were adapted into a television series of that name that aired on The CW from 2013 to 2014, in which Samantha is portrayed by Lindsey Gort.
Both the character and Cattrall's performance have received critical acclaim, with Cattrall receiving two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and five Emmy nominations for her portrayal of the character.
Development
[edit]Concept and creation
[edit]"[Samantha] is a New York inspiration. Because if you’re a successful single woman in this city, you have two choices: You can beat your head against the wall trying to find a relationship, or you can say 'screw it' and just go out and have sex like a man."
– Candace Bushnell, "Loving Mr. Big"
The New York Observer, April 24, 1995
Samantha Jones originates from the newspaper column Sex and the City by writer Candace Bushnell, which was published in The New York Observer from 1994 to 1996 and anthologized as a book of the same name in 1996.[1] The column is a semi-fictionalized account of the lives of Bushnell's friends, acquaintances, and colleagues from her time living in Manhattan in the 1990s. Bushnell based Samantha on a longtime friend she described as "kind of an expert on men and dating", and who was among the friends she interviewed about their romantic and sexual experiences while writing a precursor to Sex and the City.[2] Bushnell has never disclosed the identity of the woman Samantha is based off of, remarking that "there were quite a few women who thought they were Samantha",[3] and reported in 2022 that the two remain friends.[2] In early drafts of Sex in the City, the character was originally named "Jennifer" and later "Peggy".[2]
Samantha is first referenced in the column "Loving Mr. Big", published in the Observer on April 24, 1995.
Adapting for television
[edit]Star described the role of Samantha as particularly difficult to cast, as he did not want the character to be rendered as "a Jessica Rabbit-like cartoon".[4]
Cattrall has stated that she sees the character as contrasting women who were "punished" for their sexual freedom, specifically citing Theresa Dunn in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Mata Hari, and Sappho,[5] and that her character arc across the series is one of realizing "that she's not as laissez-faire as she likes to think she is".[6]
Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field described Samantha's wardrobe as "more theatrical" than the other members of the central ensemble, distinguished by "brightly colored suits, fitted waistlines, low-cut necklines, [and] loud jewelry". Field selected the character's wardrobe to reflect their "vivid and sexual" personality, noting that Samantha had greater freedom to dress how she chooses by virtue of owning her own company.[7]
In 2017, Cattrall stated publicly that she had no further interest in playing the role of Samantha Jones.[8]
Cattrall initially declined to participate in And Just Like That..., the 2021 revival of Sex and the City,
Fictional character biography
[edit]Newspaper column
[edit]Samantha is a film producer in her forties. She is a close friend to Carrie Bradshaw, a journalist in her thirties who functions within the story as a semi-autobiographical stand-in for Bushnell. Samantha pursues sexual and fleeting romantic relationships with a variety of men, many of whom are much younger than she is, and is admired by Carrie for her cosmopolitan lifestyle and sexual libertinism. In the series' epilogue, Samantha moves to Los Angeles and begins dating Tyler Kydd, a Hollywood actor.
HBO adaptation
[edit]Television
[edit]In the HBO adaptation, Samantha is a public relations executive and one of the primary characters composing the central ensemble of the series, along with Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York, and Miranda Hobbes.
Few details are given about the character's early life:
She initially lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side, but later purchases a condominium in the Meatpacking District.
Films
[edit]And Just Like That...
[edit]Samantha now lives in London, having become estranged from the group after Carrie dropped her as her publicist. After Big's death, Samantha sends Carrie flowers, and the two begin occasionally conversing over text message. When Carrie travels to Paris to spread Big's ashes, she and Samantha agree to meet in London.
Young adult novels
[edit]Reception
[edit]Rolling Stone described the character and Cattrall's portrayal of her as "the most womanly temptress to strut through TV land in years" in 1999, and placed her on their list of "hot women of a certain age".[9]
Won a Golden Globe and five Emmy nominations[10]
Legacy
[edit]The presumption that she was similar to Samantha in personality motivated Cattrall to co-write the 2002 book Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm with her then-husband Mark Levinson, in which she revealed that she struggled for most of her adult life to develop a satisfying sex life.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ Armstrong 2018, pp. 5, 9.
- ^ a b c Pullar, Jes (January 31, 2022). "'SATC' Author Candace Bushnell On 'And Just Like That' & Her Real Life Samantha Jones". Marie Claire Australia. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- ^ Kurutz, Stevens (June 6, 2018). "It's an It Girl! The Birth of 'Sex and the City'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 7, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- ^ Armstrong 2018, p. 35.
- ^ Sohn & Wildman 2004, p. 108.
- ^ Sohn & Wildman 2004, p. 107.
- ^ Sohn & Wildman 2004, p. 74.
- ^ Armstrong 2018, p. 205.
- ^ Armstrong 2018, p. 97.
- ^ Armstrong 2018, p. 96.
- ^ Kuczynski, Alex (January 27, 2002). "Good Sex Tips From Samantha". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 30, 2009. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
Bibliography
[edit]- Armstrong, Jennifer Keishin (2018). Sex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think, Live, and Love. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781501164828.
- Sohn, Amy; Wildman, Sarah (2004). Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell (revised ed.). Pocket Books. ISBN 9780752215280.
RESOURCES
[edit]- https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/kim-cattrall-and-just-like-that-sex-and-the-city-3-1235256472/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20180607044241/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/style/how-did-sex-and-the-city-start.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20091030153212/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/27/style/good-sex-tips-from-samantha.html