MYSTERY MAN

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TELEVISION: Chris Noth, Mr Big from `Sex and the City', talks about that special relationship

KONG RITHDEE, Bangkok Post
May 31, 2002

There's sex, in varying stages of pleasure and anxiety. And there's the city, the dreamland of Manhattan. Four farang women let the camera penetrate the depths of their sexual dimensions in HBO's Sex and the City, while faithful Bangkok cable-subscribers watch on with awe and alarm. We may regard sex with caution, but prime-time televised sex gossip has never been this popular.

A veteran of theatre and television, Noth was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2000 for his performance in Sex and the City.

Frank, clever, obscene or vulgar _ the series' definition is a matter of its viewers' taste (see sidebar). The programme's revealing probe into urban sexuality is sometimes related to contentious issues like adultery and promiscuity, but it also offers a real and entertaining glimpse into the gender tug-of-war. It's the wit and out-spokenness of Sex and the City that earn it a racy reputation in this Asian city where sex is wildly practised but not properly discussed.

The series' new episodes have been running for three weeks. So the neon-lit image of Sarah Jessica Parker, playing columnist Carrie Bradshaw, gazes erotically like a carnal angel at passers-by from mud-stained bus stops. Her cohorts _ daredevil Samantha (Kim Cattrall), neurotic Miranda (Kristin Davis) and optimistic Charlotte (Cynthia Nixon) _ return to join the juicy debates on single women's fears and married women's nightmares. Meanwhile a collection of men orbiting their system alternately bring moments of hope and despair.

Do the quartet's troubles arise from their hormonal anxiety? Or is it those male partners who always spoil the prospect of long-term relationships? If the series is told from women's point of view, it's good to hear from the opposite side. Last week Real.Time got an exclusive interview with Chris Noth, the series' leading man who plays Carrie's mysterious on-and-off lover ``Mr Big'', and he says that there is more to the show than sex talk.

Noth's Mr Big is a presence that catapults Carrie into psychological _ and libidinous _ reactions. The back story is simple: Charismatic Mr Big (we never know his real name or profession) was Carrie's bed-fellow from the original season before he got married to another woman, but he cannot resist the emotional urge that drives him to have an adulterous affair with Carrie. While she feels the burden of guilt, she too finds herself in a limbo when she cannot define the meaning of this relationship with the man she might be in love with.

A veteran in TV and theatre, Noth was best known in the US for his role in Law & Order, whereas his film appearances are mostly in arty independent productions. He's also a proficient stage actor whose roles extend from Hamlet to a part in George Bernard Shaw's Arm and the Man and Gore Vidal's The Best Man.

In 2000 he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in Sex and City, and the question whether his Mr Big will sustain a meaningful relationship with Carrie is one of the series' highlights in this season _ or perhaps it'll continue to be an unresolved myth.

It happens that even if Carrie has had relationships with many men during the course of the show's previous three seasons, she always returns to Mr Big. And the audience seems to perceive this relationship as more special than the others.

Because theirs is the original relationship, and one that lasts the longest. It's one of those relationships that never really ends. Or it has many beginnings and endings. They cannot seem to be without each other; it's like when they aren't together they are together at some level. And yet there are places in their hearts that prevent them to fully reconcile, and they may not be able to consummate it in the way he or she wants.

To many viewers it was a strange decision when Mr Big went off to marry another woman when he seems to be happy with Carrie. Why did he do that? Why did he go against his heart?

Because at that point it was the easiest thing to do. In relationships there are people who challenge you _ that's always happening [and that's what Carrie does to Mr Big]. They work on it, deal with it and get tired with it. So Mr Big thought he could walk away from it but obviously he couldn't. He took the easy way out by getting married.

And you, do you believe that marriage is an easy solution when a man faces a deadend in another relationship?

No, I don't, and I wouldn't call marriage an easy solution. Mr Big couldn't escape from what he had to deal with, and he felt wrong about that. When someone gets under your skin, he or she stays there no matter what, even for a guy like Mr Big.

When Mr Big has an affair with Carrie, we know that it's wrong. But somehow we also feel sympathetic towards the two lovers. I find this paradox very strange.

If you feel sympathetic, you just feel it and there's no reason. Mr Big and Carrie are both only human beings. The love each other, and like all of us, they make mistakes, they're groping in the dark half of the time. These are things everybody can relate to. They're the universal parts of our lives.

Mr Big is very mysterious. He seems to come out of nowhere, make an impact, then disappears, yet viewers can anticipate exciting developments whenever he pops up into Carrie's life. What makes a guy like Mr Big so attractive to women?

Maybe because he doesn't give it all away. I guess it has something to do with that cliche about elusive men being attractive. But it's more than that. It's like the feeling when each of us has this one thing that we know we cannot totally have. There's always one person who can lock us [in their presence]. Yet when things don't work out, we never know the reason why.

OK, for the record. What does the name "Mr Big" imply?

A huge penis obviously! No no, I'm kidding! Well, in truth, I have absolutely no idea what it implies. I guess that's the reason they came up with that name in the first place, because it arouses so much curiosity and speculation.

But for me, that's the least curious point in the show. It's just a name, everyone accepts it, it's kind of funny. So what? I don't care what it means. Why try to figure it out? Once you've figured it out what his real name is, or what his job is _ once you've defined him _ it brings him down and the mystique is lost. It's all fantasy. I get this question asked a lot, but I'm the last person to know. The name means whatever you want it to mean.

A more serious question then. Sex and the City is told entirely through women's point of view. As a man what do you think is the show's strong point?

What's ignored by most people is that the series is about friendship between the four women. We always find them sitting in a restaurant, talking and sharing their problems and thoughts on their relationships and their sex lives. I think that's a big step in friendship when you can talk candidly about these issues with your friends. That's the uplifting part of the show.

Western viewers are familiar with the lifestyle of the characters and the situations in the series. What's the appeal of the show to Asian viewers who may not be as outspoken in the matter of sexual relatioships?

I think Sex and the City is a really honest show. It has good writing, it doesn't pull any punches about sex between men and women and the complications of relationships that might take place in any major cities in the world today. People are drawn to the problems and the resilience of human hearts _ the show is basically about that, and this universal appeal translates everywhere.

We're always looking for a connection, whether in sex or in relationships. When people love each other and cannot work it out, we can feel it. Or when they get over it, when they pass the obstacles, we feel that too. That's the job of the series, and it's better when we laugh along as we watch it.

There are criticisms against the series from the moral standpoint that some of the characters behave too wildly. How would you defend this?

Well, first of all, I don't think I have to defend it. I don't think we're trying to judge; we're not trying to define morality at all. [The series doesn't oblige] to show these characters going to church. Maybe they don't go to church. A lot of people don't in the US, and a lot of people do.

I think the show is honest, and I think people can make up their minds. If they think the show is immoral, they don't have to watch it. That's part of the freedom of morality, as something to do with freedom of expression.

 

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