Mr. Big with 1,000 Faces

As part of my attempt to become a really good game writer, I've been reading some textbooks on the topic. I'll go into more detail on what I think about the books in a later post, but one thing they all have in common is a chapter dedicated to the basics of story, which makes reference to Joseph Campbell's A Hero with a Thousand Faces. If you don't know what that is, click the link.

Anyhow, as I was walking to public transportation the other day, thinking about what I had read, it occurred to me that Sex and the City has managed to do a similar thing with the lead male character, Mr. Big.

You may be reading this and thinking, "I had no idea she liked Sex and the City." It's understandable, as I am about as un-girly as you can get. I abhor the color pink, I only own a few pairs of shoes (one of which actually gets worn with any regularity), I will only wear a dress when it is absolutely unavoidable, and I think paying hundreds of dollars for shoes or a purse simply because they have a specific label is ridiculously stupid. Those are the elements that Sex and the City has become known for, but it really only scratches the surface. Underneath all that glitz and frivolity is a story that's beautifully written with real women characters. (Note: I'm referring to the television series, not the movies) The show is almost universally adored by women the world over, and I think the main reason is because we can all see pieces of ourselves in Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha, even if we don't always want to admit it. That's why I like it. And men who simply dismiss it could actually learn a lot about women from it.

Ok, now back to the topic. Mr. Big, for those who are not familiar, is Carrie's main love interest throughout the story. They get together, they break up, they have an affair while he's married to someone else, they become true friends, they get together again, and break up again before finally getting married. He's a successful businessman with commitment issues, yet Carrie can't seem to help loving him.

Even if we never had the rollercoaster relationship that these two had, I think we have all dated our own version of Mr. Big. He's the guy who seems out of your league, the one who can make you feel underdressed in a formal gown simply because he's so perfectly put together all the time. He's the one who can say the perfect thing and the most maddening thing at the best and worst possible moments, respectively. He makes you feel like you have to act a certain way around him. He disappears from your life for awhile only to reappear when you least want him to. He likely played with your heart or strung you along. But despite all of that, you couldn't help yourself. Some of us may have married our Mr. Bigs. I didn't, thankfully, though he was very much an on and off presence throughout college.

The point is I've come to realize that Sex and the City did not only a fantastic job of representing the universal female archetypes, but also a very modern male one. The fact that you never learn Mr. Big's real name until the very last episode of the show is another way they managed to make his character just anonymous enough for us to see our old boyfriends in him. He may have been played by Chris Noth, but Mr. Big really does have "1,000 faces" in the real world.