Deconstructing Carrie

CAMBRIDGE -- In a classroom at the nation's leading technical university, discussion turned to Samantha, she of the rakish sexual appetites and avowed playgirl status. Was the ''Sex and the City" character right to pronounce marriage cliche? Or does a woman of such extreme coupling-aversion exist only in the imagination of the television show's writers?

Debate ensued, and emotional confusion reigned. It was all very un-MIT, much to the delight of Danielle Le, 20, a junior majoring in biology. ''It's such a nice break from my math and science classes," Le said. ''Here we can talk about our feelings!"

This semester, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is giving its best scholarly treatment to a slice of popular culture each Tuesday evening when 24 undergraduates gather to ponder HBO'S ''Sex and the City."

Students in the elective class ''Sex and the Institute" watch a pair of half-hour episodes, each followed by a half-hour of discussion. It is a serious class, instructors say, examining the show's unorthodox treatment of issues such as marriage, dating, sex, gender roles, and career and family balance.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the class was overbooked. Instructors turned away some 30 students at the outset and admitted a balance of men and women from a range of class levels, some ''Sex and the City" fanatics and others curious to learn what the fuss was all about.

Some students new to the show said they were taken aback by its piquant language and scenes of male and female nudity. Yet for all the show's titillating subject matter, the class feels like an intellectual undertaking, perhaps Sociology 101 meets Psychology 101.

The episode in which Samantha fended off a wealthy and dashing bachelor's efforts to extend their relationship beyond the bedroom propelled the following exchange among students:

''For girls, marriage is still expected," said Le, recounting the looks of horrified surprise flashed by friends when another friend recently announced her doubts about marriage.

Luis Loya, 21, a senior majoring in civil engineering, answered, ''Is that wrong?"

''No," Le said. ''It's not wrong; it's just the norm."

''But is the norm changing?" interjected Julia Kurnik, one of the instructors. As the students thought, she added, ''Have you seen the final episode of Season Six?" (That show, the finale for the series, left the four principal characters, including Samantha, coupled up.)

MIT officials said the class was created this year within the women's studies department as a seminar with six credits.

''Seminars are meant to be interesting and topical," said Myles Crowley, a spokesman for the school.

Other seminars this year include: ''Enough Time to Fall: Spectacular Failures in Engineering and Other Experiments," ''Photovoltaic Solar Energy Systems," and ''What Is Particle Physics?"

For students in ''Sex and the Institute," classroom discussion can be emotional at times. Tears streaked a few faces in a recent class when the main character, Carrie Bradshaw, received a marriage proposal from her boyfriend. Philosophical disagreements surfaced when another character, Miranda, declined the marriage proposal of her unborn child's father, Steve.

Some students applauded the decision, saying that Miranda should not submit to marriage for the sake of convention.

Jason Atkins, a senior, objected. ''Steve is a good guy," Atkins said. ''He's trying to do the right thing."

When a female student asked why Miranda would or should want a potentially unhappy marriage, Atkins responded, ''That is a very good question, and I have a lot to say. But I'd rather not right now."

''Sex and the City" has been the subject of earlier academic focus. Its implications for postfeminist ideals and the male archetype have been dissected in journal articles and women's studies classes. Assigned reading for the MIT class includes ''Reading Sex and the City," a collection of cultural-theory essays such as: ''Orgasms and empowerment: 'Sex and the City' and the third wave feminism" and ''My Manolos, my self: Manolo Blahnik, shoes and desire."

The course requires a paper, no more than five pages, examining the program in the context of their own lives and other MIT students.

''We want them to think about the issues the show presents, not just think about its entertainment value," said Laura Stuart, an MIT health educator who teaches the class with the two senior MIT students who conceived the idea for it: Kurnik, 21, a comparative media studies major, and Riva Bakal, 21, a finance major.

Atkins, 21, a mechanical engineering major, said he signed up on a lark, and has taken a fair amount of ribbing.

But he said: ''It's helping me form a sense of what a relationship should be. It's a show for women, so it's like studying the opposite sex, indirectly."