I grew up during the 90's when Spice Girls was the hottest female group out there and when the term "Girl Power", thanks to them, could be heard everywhere. It was the sense of Girl Power as in women having each other’s back and having a strong and fierce friendship. Then, about the same time as the Spice Girls craziness started to slowly fizzle down, a new sense of Girl Power took form in the shape of Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha.
This new type of girl power was a lot about sexual liberation, making a successful career and, of course, friendship. It was a girl power not only about girls having each other’s backs and being strong, but also about girls making it in a male-dominated world and living life on their own terms. The reason Sex and the City were, and still is, such a huge success is because it has a piece of everything women strive for in life. But after Sex and the City went off the air there has been, in my opinion, a big gaping hole in the TV line-up, a hole that once again should be filled with girl power. Because not matter how many times you can re-watch Sex and the City, you can't deny that it do lack modernity. Imagine it being recorded at present time where we have Instagram, iPhones and Twitter, that is what we need! A show about girl power in 2015, about strong, powerful, beautiful women who also know how to utilize social media to their own benefit.
There have been some attempts to bring a similar concept of Sex and the city-girl power to the TV screen, an updated modern version of girl power. But unfortunately it has hardly made it past the first season. In 2008 there were two attempts to bring back girl power to the screen; Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle. Cashmere Mafia had the same concept of 4 strong female leads, but making them slightly older, already married, with children (or headed in that direction) and also keeping a lot of the focus on their respective careers, making the show not so much about sex and love (of course there was some of that to) but more about their success and struggles in the business world. I thought it was such an inspiring show and loved that it was not all about relationships and drama, not to mention the cast was great, but unfortunately that was not enough, and after only 7 episodes it was cancelled.
Lipstick Jungle was originally a book written by Candace Bushnell, the author to Sex and the city, and stayed on the air slightly longer than Cashmere Mafia, with two seasons and 20 episodes, before it got cancelled. Lipstick Jungle had 3 females leads, and quite similar to Cashmere Mafia, they were all strong women that have already made careers and have marriages and children. But Lipstick Jungle had more relationship drama than Cashmere Mafia and was also slightly less "cheerful", not like the quirky sense of humor Sex and the City would bring.
Why is it that since Sex and the City there have been no strong girl power-shows that has managed to stay on the air? I guess the closest thing we have is the show Girls that is now on season 4, but that show do not really have the same level of “fashion” to qualify as a successor to Sex and the City. Where are all these TV shows about powerful fashionable females making a career? Where did all the girl power go? And when will they bring it back? I am impatiently waiting. But until then, I guess I have to be satisfied with watching reruns.
