Try and be a Star

Relationships. Sex. Fashion. Beauty. Gossip. Drama.

All of these contributions are what makes it so hard for me, a twenty-year-old female, not to love watching Sex and the City. The racy and scandalous lifestyle these 4 women indulge in (and get away with) are noteworthy. Created by Darren Star, Sex and the City is a show that women can relate to. Darren Star’s focus on status, relationships, and conflict are expressed through his multiple productions. Other than Sex and the City (both the series and the movie), Darren also produced Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Cashmere Mafia, Grosse Pointe, and Miss Match to name a few. Star’s work consistently targets the same audience by using the same genre of television shows. First I’ll explain a little bit about Star’s work and then go into detail on what makes the link of luxurious lifestyles between his work.

Darren Star, born in 1961, was raised in Potomac, Maryland, which he claims to be his inspiration behind Beverly Hills, 90210. Being the son of a freelance writer and orthodontist and knowing that his life inspired Beverly Hills, 90210 it is easy to say that Star was raised in a middle-to-upper class lifestyle. After attending Winston Churchill High School Star went on to attend the University of California in Los Angeles. Star’s obvious interest in sex and juvenile relationships was even made apparent in his first screenplay. Sold at age twenty-four, Doin Time on Planet Earth is about a high school student who lusts after other girls with a sex crazed best friend. In 1990 Beverly Hills, 90210 was created which focused on a set of twins who just moved from Minneapolis to Beverly Hills to attend high school. The high status lifestyle was made one of the main focuses of this show along with the relationships and conflicts that are brought about.

In a way I believe that Darren Star produces for a specific audience. His productions started with focus on high school drama only to progress into adult dramas. Beverly Hills 90210 is about wealthy high school students and their lives as they get older. There are friends, enemies, lovers, haters, and a conflict that covers almost every social issue from alcoholism to pregnancy to AIDS. Star then goes on to produce Melrose Place, intended to be a spin off from Beverly Hills 90210, which is about a group of young adults with an outrageous story line including adultery, multiple personalities, and violent crimes. Melrose Place was a bit of a step up from 90210 with crazy story lines to keep the viewers intrigued. Sex and the City is focused around four women who are inseparable best friends, yet live very different lives. Romance, fashion, alcohol, conflict, and coffee are what complete the lives of these four women. Cashmere Mafia is the story of a group of female best friends who have been friends since college who help each other with their work and relationship problems. The trend in Star’s age progression of characters through his work can appeal to the same audience that he originally started with.

One of the obvious thematic motifs that are presented in Star’s work is his appeal to a more feminine audience through drama, sex, fashion, and power. This recurrent theme has a strong focus on relationships and scandal. Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place center the story line along with both males and females whereas Sex and the City and Cashmere Mafia is more focused with females and their perceptions of the relationship they have with other men. Along with this racy drama, another link between Star’s work is the city lifestyle that is displayed through multiple shows. The women on Sex and the City are often seen strolling the busy streets of New York City. The use of a dolly enables the camera to follow the women through the streets of Manhattan. A dolly is a wheeled camera support that permits a rolling camera movement, typically the forward and backward movement of the camera. The use of a dolly is often used in Beverly Hills 90210 as the characters roam the halls of their high school, or walk the streets of Beverly Hills, 90210

Throughout multiple pieces of Star’s work the framing is usually in either medium shot or medium close up shot to help audiences focus in on facial features though out conversations. Also, a common mise en scene in Star’s productions was the multiple expensive material products shown to exemplify the high-class society. The name brands that were strategically placed in a variety of ways through cars, clothes, jewelry, and shoes. This just goes to show that the shows are centralized around power and wealth. The bright lighting contributes the glamorization of products, as Sex and the City: The Movie while trying on multiple designer wedding gowns for a photo shoot, the light is strategically placed Carrie and her accessories with a song that spells out “glamorous” in the background. The camera is on a tripod and is either panning the room side to side to show all of the people and work being done, or tilting up and down to focus on the dresses.

The opening sequences of Sex and the City, Beverly Hills 90210 (the initial pilot opening sequence), and Melrose Place are all used as somewhat of an establishing shot. An establishing shot is a long shot that positions characters within their environments and heps to establish the setting. In all of these opening sequences the audience is exposed to the city life that these characters live in. They all are similar in the way that they have multiple shots of the city the show is based in and the lifestyle the characters are exposed to. The use of material luxuries exemplify the lavish lifestyles that will be expressed in the show.

Star’s devotion to making shows that are appealing to female viewers is obvious. His manipulation of relationships and conflict are somewhat of an addicting drug to his viewers. The imaginative story lines are used to keep his audience wanting more.

References:

IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0823015/

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Star