It’s reasonable to put all communities under an umbrella and fit them in outdated stereotypes… right?
By: Benika 10.3
A simplistic background, starring the Eiffel tower and the title ‘Emily in Paris’.
At some point in our lives, we dream of running away to a foreign country and starting anew. We dream of a romanticized version of our lives where the weather is always kind and forgiving. Of days in which work isn’t a concern; of basking in the warm sun without the overwhelming pressure of stress bearing down at us. And that is exactly what Emily in Paris did. Or at least aimed for. The Netflix comedy-drama is about an ambitious young woman named Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) who is sent to Paris to work as a marketing executive at “Savior,” a firm her company bought out. Although she is unable to speak French, she seizes the opportunity anyway. From there, we watch Emily and her friend Mindy Chen (Ashley Park) experience thrilling adventures in the span of ten episodes. The premise of the show is simple- an American meets French culture and attempt to work together in peace. But how did they manage to mess this up?
Considering that this show is set in a foreign setting, there seemed to be an absence of any valid research. There is an incredible inaccuracy in the representation of French culture and people. It portrays French people as lazy, rude, and love-crazed individuals, which is misleading and untrue. Even French critics have stepped in to comment that there was “plenty to be insulted about,” and they’re right. Of course, one could say that it is meant to be a lighthearted show that isn’t meant to be taken seriously. Several film reviewers have noted this, as the escapist element the show brings to the table is enjoyable, as the endearing plots and captivating characters are hard to ignore. However, the line between harmless stereotyping and blatant ignorance is thin, and Emily in Paris may have crossed it. There was a lack of POC representation, and the characters that were minorities had been given unoriginal and stereotypical character traits. For instance, Julien (Samuel Arnold) is Emily’s co-worker who also happens to be black and gay. He is a one-dimensional character, as his only trait is being sassy and extroverted. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there is so much more to being gay than those limited personality traits.
Let’s talk about the title character- Emily. From what we are led on to think, she is happy go lucky, sweet, kindhearted, and head-strong. Despite this, she had a lack of likability, as her questionable actions constantly contradicted what our perception of Emily was supposed to be in the show. She sleeps with Gabriel, who has a girlfriend, Camille; sleeps with Camille’s 17-year-old brother; and directs her attention towards Gabriel when she should have been looking after Brooklyn for her job with little to no remorse. It’s fine to have a protagonist that is morally grey, but the show almost never acknowledges it. One of the rare times Emily faces the wrath of her actions is when Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu), Emily’s boss, calls her out for feebly attempting to weld French culture into Emily’s American vision. As well as that, she gets fired from her job after losing one of Savior’s major client, and rightfully so. However, she does get her job back almost immediately via plot armor. The show victimizes Emily; the plot armor appears to have one concrete rule: Emily can do nothing wrong. It is never really acknowledged again, so it’s difficult to say whether Emily had any character development throughout the season.
Lighthearted or not, why have all these harmful cliches when the show had so much leeway to create something intriguing, seeing as there was a wide range of themes that could have been included? For a show that is all about traveling to a foreign country and learning about the culture, it is awfully close-minded. For what was supposed to be an entertaining watch, having it play in the background is mildly tolerable. Hopefully, season two will be an improvement on the prior episodes in the show.
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