“Emily in Paris” is a romantic comedy series directed by Darren Star, which aired on Netflix on Oct. 2, 2020. The show stars Lily Collins as Emily Cooper, a marketing executive from Chicago.
After Emily’s boss is unable to go to Paris to represent their company, Emily is sent in her place to provide an American perspective at a marketing firm, despite not knowing the language whatsoever. As Emily settles into Paris, she meets her handsome downstairs neighbor Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) who somewhat makes her feel welcome. The same cannot be said for the employees at the firm she is sent to. The Savour crew welcomes her with very closed arms, especially her boss Sylvie (Phillippine Leroy-Beaulieu) who is very hard to win over. Emily, being a very eager, open-minded girl, enters the office with people she has never met nor worked with, stubbornly implementing new rules upon arrival. As you could imagine, her stubborn ways do not rub well with her coworkers and boss, but she continues to try to please them and show she was sent to Paris for a reason, and that is to make their firm better.
Despite Emily’s character being funny and quirky, her cultural ignorance soon becomes a greater weakness for her character. Many French critics found the show to be offensive to their culture and lifestyle. The French are portrayed as mean, lazy people who are late to work and sit around cafes doing nothing but cheat on their wives throughout the show.
Although some people found it offensive, the show seems to be more of a joke about Americans. It more so pokes fun at how uncultured Americans can be, rather than making fun of the way the French like to spend their day. At least that’s how Americans might look at it. The show is a funny, possibly slightly offensive look at two different cultures colliding. Although they don’t always agree, they still learn from each other and progress together. The show doesn’t have a super interesting, crazy plot, so in order to compensate for that there has to be some humor, offensive or not.
Although the show is “Tres Cliche,” “Emily in Paris” is a rom-com fantasy that is entertaining for both the French and the Americans all around.
