Do Auds Really Want Escapism?
The common wisdom, repeated ad nauseam these days, is that in an economic crisis movie audiences crave 1930s-style escapism. In which case, the just-confirmed “Sex and the City” sequel should be any even bigger hit than the first picture. Critic Catherine Shoard thinks that analysis is bunk: ‘It’s with a sort of slack-jawed awe one learns they really are going to make “Sex and the City 2.” Sure, the original film raked in so much cash a sequel was all but inevitable. But, honestly, could there be a story more out of time? The forthcoming “Confessions of a Shopaholic” has been hailed as a magisterial bit of mis-scheduling, but that was greenlit back when blowing cash you didn’t have on a puce tiara was thought just plain common sense. To give the nod to “Sex and the City 2” in the current climate isn’t just odd, it’s intriguing. And I don’t buy all this guff about cash-strapped audiences being desperate for some high-roller escapism: what could be more depressing than trekking out of your soon-to-be-repossesed flat, half-comatose from that double shift at Aldi, to watch other people swig cosmopolitans and slip into next season’s frocks?’
