The Same Four Featured Characters

It seems that throughout popular television shows for and about women there are four main categories of characters: the main character, the promiscuous woman, the naive girl, and the feminist. As related to Sex and The City the main character would be Carrie Bradshaw, the promiscuous woman is Samantha Jones, the naive one is Charlotte York, and the feminist is Miranda Hobbes. In reviews there has been a link between Entourage and Sex and the City. It seems that men follow and relate to Entourage in the same way the woman have followed and related their lives to Sex and the City. Just as woman take online quizzes for 'which Sex and the City character are you?' men have been taking 'which entourage guy are you'? I can't help but wonder if there is a relation between these stereotypical characters and if male roles follow the same patterns.

In this series, it seems the same rules apply. Vince is the main character. Turtle is the promiscuous one (at least for this season). Drama is the naive one. And Eric is considered the feminist. Now this may seem like a stretch, so allow me to explain.

Vince: No one can argue that he is the main character and centerpiece of the show. Everything revolves around his life as an actor and none of the other characters would be where they are without him.

Turtle: You may be questioning why he is the promiscuous one seeing as how up before this season he didn't get much attention from girls. But now that he has a girlfriend, he has gained confidence. Women are attracted to him for the sole reason that he is dating Jami Lynn Sigler. Girls at his college pulled a sorority prank and stole his underwear from his house. Now the main sorority girl (we have yet to learn her name) has been hitting on him tirelessly. He even admitted to the guys that he has been thinking about this other girl. I can feel the drama build up as Turtle struggles to stay faithful, but lets face it...he is going to give in eventually. And in so doing a man whore is born.

Drama: He is clearly the naive one. He is stuck in his past trying to relive his fame from his since cancelled television series of the 90's. Everywhere he goes he tries to act like he is a star, but nobody actually cares. People barely remember him and the only reason acquaintances are nice to him is because he's Vince's brother.

Eric: Oh Eric, the eternal feminist. He is lost without a girlfriend. Most of his life is centered on his relationships and he just doesn't know what to do with himself when he's single. He even held on to his relationship with that stalker Ashley after she constantly checked his phone, showed up announced at his work, and yelled at him incessantly for not being trustworthy up until the point that Eric actually handed her his blackberry and let her check all of his emails. That is how much he will put up with just to continue having a girlfriend. In other words Eric may hang out with Vince, but he is definitely not a man's man.

I think it is strange that these same four roles appear not only in women's shows but men's shows as well. I think it is sad that there isn't more complexity to each of these characters and why they all can't be a little bit of everything. When these same roles continue to occur in the media, viewers will start to believe that they have to be one or the other. I would personally like to see some change and chaos introduced to these roles. What would happen if Vince could no longer get hired in Hollywood? or Turtle did become the ladies man? or Drama became famous again? or Eric manned up and stopped letting women walk all over him? Would it be an entirely different show we are watching?