While no one is expecting the 'Sex and the City' sequel to enlighten culturally or otherwise, Wajahat Ali of Salon explains just how much the film missed the mark in using Abu Dhabi as its backdrop. Below is an excerpt:
Michael Patrick King's exquisitely tone-deaf movie is cinematic Viagra for Western cultural imperialists who still ignorantly and inaccurately paint the entire Middle East (and Iran) as a Shangri La in desperate need of liberation from ignorant, backward natives. Historian Bernard Lewis, the 93-year-old Hall of Fame Orientalist and author of such nuanced gems as "The Arabs in History" and "Islam and the West," would probably die of priapism if he saw this movie. It's like the cinematic progeny of "Not Without My Daughter" and "Arabian Nights" with a makeover by Valentino. Forget the oppressed women of Abu Dhabi. Let's buy more bling for the burqa!
Our four female cultural avatars, like imperialistic Barbies, milk Abu Dhabi for leisure and hedonism without making any discernible, concrete efforts to learn about her people and their daily lives. An exception is Miranda, whose IQ drops about 100 points as she dilutes the vast complexities of a diverse culture into sound bites like this: "'Hanh Gee' means 'yes' in Arabic!"
Only it doesn't — it's Hindi and Punjabi, which is spoken by South Asians.
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Meanwhile, the perpetually self-absorbed Carrie finds enlightenment in the simple, wise words of her Indian manservant Gaurav, who functions as the movie's life-changing, magical minority. And Samantha, our "Western" avatar of freedom and liberation, offers a juxtaposition to the silent, oppressed Muslim women by making immature puns like "Lawrence of my Labia" and performing fellatio on a sheesha pipe in public.
The movie uses only two broad colors to paint the Middle East: One depicting an opulent Eden for our blissfully ignorant protagonists to selfishly use as a temporary escape, and the other showing an oppressive dungeon populated by intolerant men that cannot comprehend cleavage or bare shoulders.
Continue reading the beatdown at Salon