Get back vs you can’t go back

It feels like I’ve been watching a lot of television this month. I suppose it’s a combination of keeping on top of what’s trending and this most recent and dramatic uptick in Covid cases. It just seems prudent to be at home.

I’ve written before about Peter Jackson’s documentary about the Beatles, but I feel as if I have more to say about Get Back. It really made an impression on me and I keep thinking about it.

The program has absolutely reignited my love for the Beatles, an emotion I haven’t consciously felt since I was about 15. But beyond that, viewing the Beatles’ creative process has added tremendously to my appreciation of them as individual musicians and as a band. I feel like I have a different understanding of them now than I had previously. 

Listening to the 2021 release, (something I do almost daily), “Let it Be (Super Deluxe) is a much more complete experience post viewing Get Back. I can see the faces of the voices and feel a deeper sense of connection to the material in every way. I can picture what they were wearing as the worked out the lyrics to songs that continue to resonate decades after having been written.

I’m completely gobsmacked* by the Beatles.

Peter Jackson has created a documentary that deftly revisits the past while remaining contemporary and ever so relevant. The same, in my opinion, can’t be said about the reboot of Sex and the City, And Just Like That.

I came to the original SATC after it had ended it’s run, I think it involved dvds in the mail or from the public library. That long ago. As a NYC girl at heart, I loved the setting and the fashion and the smart dialog and romance. Guilty pleasure. We all have ‘em.

As a child in the 70’s, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be Sabrina or Kelly on Charlie’s Angels, but there was no doubt who I wanted to be, as an adult, on SATC: Carrie. The independent, sexy writer with a killer closet and a habit of picking the wrong guy? 

Yep, that’s so me.

Since initially taking in the entire series at least a decade ago, I’ve kept up to date on the various movies released. It’s fluff and there’s nothing wrong with some fantasy, especially during Covid life. Judgement free zone here. 

Last week, after the buzz of And Just Like That had died down ever so slightly, I jumped in to the new series. I’m current with this first season and have some thoughts about the first few episodes. Maybe you do, too?

All right – here’s what I’ve got so far…

Have I always been the same age as these characters? I mean, right now we are. Miranda actually stated our exact mutual age of 55. These are my contemporaries? 

I never identified, beyond my girl crush on Carrie’s life (as I wrangled three kids and a full time job and a divorce and…), with any of the characters as my peers. 

Somehow they seemed both older and younger than I. 

The characters’ wardrobes remain bold, dramatic and wildly vivid. I love what they wear but it doesn’t feel real. Some of the creativity has disappeared. It’s like fashion on steroids, almost caricature-ish rather than inspiring.  To me.

Carrie’s excessively long white tulle skirt, that I can’t imagine dragging through the streets of NYC, Charlotte’s continued allegiance to the lifestyle and closet of a 1950s housewife, complete with cinched waist and mid calf length…meh. 

The new characters add some well needed richness to the cast, but I wish their introduction didn’t feel so clunky. I’m hopeful that the characters will become better incorporated in the upcoming episodes.

Life seems to have softened these women, like stones on a beach. They all seem a little exhausted. Maybe they’re just tired of their lives. I kind of am, too. 

That being said, I’ll continue to watch And Just Like That, especially since I burned through Emily in Paris for a fashion fix, but I’m thinking about the series more as a stand-alone than a continuation of a previously told story. 

You might Get Back, but it isn’t always possible to go back.

*Incidentally, a word I’ve never before been even tempted to use to describe myself.