Emily in Paris has been unfairly trashed in many viewer reviews here. Obviously many people don't understand that TV-programs can target different audiences for different purposes.
This isn't supposed to give an authentic and realistic image of life in France, and no intelligent person will think that it does. It's a teenage fantasy, obviously inspired by more adult shows like Sex and the City. Both shows romanticize a city (New York and Paris), often by also exaggerating its negative sides for added drama or comedic relief.
Both shows display a completely unrealistic lifestyle through their main characters: they have a lowpaid job but live and dress like princesses, go to all the hippest restaurants and clubs, and sleep with almost any man they desire.
This kind of fantasy is called escapism. The purpose of Emily in Paris obviously isn't to give an accurate impression of real life in Paris, but to provide a few moments of mindless daydreaming. And it does so pretty well.
While I'm not surprised that so many French people have given this decent young adult show an unfair 1 star rating and written exaggerated angry reviews, I do find it revealing that so many of them write: "If you want French people to be nice to you, just learn to speak French!"
To my knowledge, no other country's citizens have the ridiculous idea that you must learn their language in order to "deserve" basic respect. Learning a new language as an adult is a life-long endeavour and not something you do every time you visit a new country. The fact that so many reviewers don't understand this kind of proves that this show's depiction of the French as slightly arrogant isn't necessarily completely unfair.
I'm not the intended target audience for Emily in Paris, so it's only natural that I find the show silly and uninteresting. And yet I've binged every season, because it's a well-produced, easy-to-watch, brainless escape into a fantasy world, which is exactly what my brain needs sometimes.
For what it is, it's a decent show. I think giving it 4/10 stars is fair. Giving it 1/10 stars just because Emily doesn't speak French fluently the minute she arrives in France is just ridiculous.
This isn't supposed to give an authentic and realistic image of life in France, and no intelligent person will think that it does. It's a teenage fantasy, obviously inspired by more adult shows like Sex and the City. Both shows romanticize a city (New York and Paris), often by also exaggerating its negative sides for added drama or comedic relief.
Both shows display a completely unrealistic lifestyle through their main characters: they have a lowpaid job but live and dress like princesses, go to all the hippest restaurants and clubs, and sleep with almost any man they desire.
This kind of fantasy is called escapism. The purpose of Emily in Paris obviously isn't to give an accurate impression of real life in Paris, but to provide a few moments of mindless daydreaming. And it does so pretty well.
While I'm not surprised that so many French people have given this decent young adult show an unfair 1 star rating and written exaggerated angry reviews, I do find it revealing that so many of them write: "If you want French people to be nice to you, just learn to speak French!"
To my knowledge, no other country's citizens have the ridiculous idea that you must learn their language in order to "deserve" basic respect. Learning a new language as an adult is a life-long endeavour and not something you do every time you visit a new country. The fact that so many reviewers don't understand this kind of proves that this show's depiction of the French as slightly arrogant isn't necessarily completely unfair.
I'm not the intended target audience for Emily in Paris, so it's only natural that I find the show silly and uninteresting. And yet I've binged every season, because it's a well-produced, easy-to-watch, brainless escape into a fantasy world, which is exactly what my brain needs sometimes.
For what it is, it's a decent show. I think giving it 4/10 stars is fair. Giving it 1/10 stars just because Emily doesn't speak French fluently the minute she arrives in France is just ridiculous.