Fandom in Context: How Do You Solve A Problem Like Samantha?

In a year in which we'll finally get the Snyder Cut, a return to the MCU and maybe some patches for CyberPunk 2077, the Sex and the City's revival may be the biggest fandom event, so far. The show, which ended in 2004, before resurrecting for two movies and prequel series, announced it would be the latest television reboot, joining the ranks of Will & Grace, Twin Peaks, Mad About You and a slew of other nostalgia trips that make up our modern TV landscape. However, unlike those shows, Sex and the City will be missing a key element: The Sex. Kim Cattrall will not be returning as the unquenchable sexual id Samantha in the revival, a disappointment to fans everywhere.

For days after the news dropped in mid-January, headlines flooded mainstream publications about the meme-worthy reactions to the star's absence. Armed with nothing but Sex and the City screenshots and a library of meme-able phrases, fans shouted their disappointment throughout social media. The underlying message: Sex and the City is not the same without Samantha.

Sex and the City doing a new series without Samantha is like Destiny’s Child making a comeback without Beyoncé #andjustlikethat #satc pic.twitter.com/shwVFmzDJO

— Rebeckah Hird (@RebeckahHird) January 11, 2021

Meme-ing, at this point, is one of the most explicit forms of fan expression, a language which they can upvote, retweet and share the most coherent and succinct version of their message and demand creators respond. By using moments of Sex and the City against the show, fans are using the language taught to them by creators against them. For instance, one tweet captioned, "Me watching the Sex and the City reboot without Samantha," features a moment from the show in which the character Lexi (portrayed by Kristen Johnston) screams, "No one's fun anymore! Whatever happened to fun?!?" just before slipping on her heel and falling out of a window. Usage of moments like this concentrate the fandom's feelings by uniting them in their shared recognition of the moment and repeating a familiar refrain: Sex and the City without Samatha isn't fun.

Me watching the Sex and the City reboot without Samantha pic.twitter.com/ZUaHfKCJvf

— Mike Tague (@rhymeswithbeg) January 11, 2021

Typically, this is a pretty common thing in fandom. Even before Sex and the City premiered in 1998, there were plenty of TV shows where the main star left, leaving the rest of the cast to fend for themselves. Sometimes, they get away with it. After 17 seasons, Gray's Anatomy is still on the air, despite the comings and goings of stars like Patrick Dempsey and Katherine Heigel. Some attempts to keep a show without its star are not as successful, like keeping the The Office alive without Steve Carrell's Michael Scott. And some just kind of happen, like the recasting of Ruby Rose's Batwoman on the CW. Sex and the City is a show that existed before meme culture's rise and, therefore, rarely had to deal with the brunt of its ire. Like, no one's really talking about Sex and the City 2 — which many considered one of the worst films of 2010 and became the subject of an Islamaphobia controversy — when they talk about the show today. But memories are short.

Roughly a week after the Samantha controversy and subsequent memes made headlines across the internet, Sarah Jessica Parker threw a Hail Mary to win back her fans. She meme'd.

You see, there's this little photograph of Bernie Sanders sitting in a chair. He's wearing funny mittens, a thick coat and a mask, which many speculate covers his scowling face. For the longest 48 hours in the history of everyone's Instagram feed, this meme was everywhere. SJP noticed.

Perhaps making light of the controversy, while also showing some of that "I'm just like you spirit," Parker posted her variation of the meme. She edited the 79-year-old senator into a picture of Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda, joking that they found their new Samantha. And just like that, she won them back.

The headlines changed after that. Before news outlets relitigated oft-repeated rumors about Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker feuding on set, now they gushed with delight over the new meme queen of Hollywood. She meme'd her way back into the public's trust.

In a sense, Sarah Jessica Parker co-opted fan language to ingratiate herself back into their good graces. Through memes, she could speak to them as they prefer to be spoken to, proving she's in on the joke and that she's one of them. The meme shifted news coverage of the show, from Cattrall's gone to SJP shares Bernie meme.

Celebrities always do this when the headlines go south. After accidentally sharing a picture of his penis several months ago, Chris Evans logged on to Twitter to joke about it. Elon Musk, who faces near-constant controversies, ranging from anti-Semitism allegations to giving Dave Chappelle COVID, keeps his loyal army of Redditors stuffed with dank memes from the wealthiest edgelord on Earth. This technique works because they're communicating to large groups of people in an agreed up language, one that's not the corporate-speak of a press release but rather one that shows that they have a sense of humor about themselves.

The Sex and the City story is just another example of creators and fans interacting through memes. They know (or at least their publicists and social media managers know) that merely saying "We wish things were different" isn't going to cut it. To regain public standing, you have to meet the public on their level, and almost every time, the public falls for it. Meme culture changes from fandom to fandom, but when the object of the community's interest gets in on the fun, they have no choice but to stan.