Emily in Paris - Netflix Show Review

Once again Netflix has blessed us with another trend-worthy original to sink our teeth into. Somehow I still haven't learned that I can't resist these sorts of TV shows. Time and time again I saw adverts for it before I eventually just conceded and binge-watched the series a couple of days ago. The trailer had already leveled my expectations to a certain degree, and lets just say that what I got was fairly standard for this sort of TV show.

So, what did I like?

Before, I delve into the actual issues I had with this show, its only fair to offer up the parts I actually enjoyed, as I didn't hate the show. So there were some notable moments that I came to enjoy and drove me to watch the whole series.

• Its fairly safe to say that this sort of TV show is very chic and fashionable, as to be expected from some of the people involved in Sex and the City. The city is shown in all its beautiful glory, showcasing some of the most famous landmarks that bring people to Paris in the first place, and definitely one of the reasons I fell in love with the city when I visited years back.
• Then there was the costume design. My god the outfits the characters wore were absolutely stunning. Everyone looked so stylish. There was a suggestion that everyone in Paris dresses like that, but that just seems to be what happens with these types of shows I guess.
• Finally; at the end of the day it was your typical rom-com style show, definitely taking great influence from Sex and the City; cheesy and cliche yet still fairly entertaining to watch. I found myself pulled by the romance plot that drove our wonderful protagonist forward.

Where did it go wrong?

I'll start off mild, and that is the annoyance I had with the portrayal of her job as a social marketer for luxury brands in France. Although I don't work in the marketing side of things, I do work with luxury fragrance brands, and let me tell you, the job isn't anywhere near as easy as she makes it out. Yes, luxury brands could benefit from easing up on their bizarre rules, but the things she does throughout the show are absolutely obscene, knowing how brands can react to even the most minor inconvenience.

The fact she was continuously rewarded for the very out of touch things she was bringing to the company started to really grate on me, mainly through jealous as I wish it were that easy, but also as it made the job just seem like something anyone could sweep there way into.

Now for the actual reason this show is ridiculous...

As I've noticed from many criticisms of the movie, it is full to the brim of border-line offensive cliches dedicated to the people of France and Paris in general. The whole concept of the movie is a young American woman traveling to Paris for her job, the jokes stemming from the fact that she doesn't speak a word of French and is there to integrate American lifestyle into the luxury marketing company that she will be working for. Now, I should've seen this coming really after knowing how the producing team dealt with Abu Dabi in Sex and the City 2, but the film was basically a giant middle finger to the people of Paris.

The cliches around the French are very clear from the very first episode, with the presumption being that they are all rude, overtly sexual, and have no concept for loyalty in relationships. I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt, it being the first episode, yet this never ended. Each episode took solace in basically laughing at the differences between the quirky and upfront American, Emily, and the cold and rude French people. This could've been saved if Emily actually learned from these differences, instead it was constantly pointed out that the French should be adapting themselves to make her more comfortable.

I've seen that the show came out and said that the cliches were part of their own experiences of Paris and that they stood by it. I partly agree with them, cliches are there for a reason, there is always a hint of truth behind them, but that doesn't mean a show should be built basically tarnishing a whole culture for laughs. For me, it felt very much like the normal American style of humour of pointing and laughing at other countries and cultures for being different to themselves.

At the end of the day...

Should a second season be created I will not be watching it. As entertaining as the rom-com style plot was, I couldn't ever get over the fact that it was just built around a whole offensive perception of French culture. I don't want to accommodate and accept such lazy jokes and just offensive depictions of people who have so much more to offer than sexiness and abrupt personalities.