Friday, November 13, 2020

Ten (Dix) Things that are RIGHT about Emily in Paris on Netflix: Darren Star Takes us on the Journey We All Need Now

By Suzanne Ordas Curry

Darren Star's latest series Emily in Paris is one of those shows that well, I've heard people call a guilty pleasure, as if there's something wrong with watching it. I suppose it's trendy to say you're watching some fancy French film, but Emily in Paris? 

Well I don't care. #EmilyinParis on #Netflix is just what we need right now. If entertainment is to help us escape, unwind, dream and inform us, that Emily in Paris checks off all the boxes. 

Do I care that it's several steps away from reality? No I don't. As a huge fan of Sex and the City, that  was too. Maybe call both of them "expanded" reality. If Carrie Bradshaw had a daughter, it would be Emily.

Whisk away the naysayers of this show as lightly and gracefully as Emily's dress sways in the Parisian breeze. In addition to Lily Collins endearing performance as the title character, here are TEN other reasons why I'll watch it over again. And why I am so excited that a second season is coming. Merry Christmas to us all!

Ten Reasons to Love Emily in Paris

Un. If I walk up to a big screen tv and stand there I almost feel like I am in Paris. The show showcases the best and most iconic ares of the city and and focuses on the scenery as more than just a setting shot. I've never been to Paris but it was on my list for this year.  And now we are in a pandemic. What better way to travel?

Deux. I get to look at cool clothes. I am not wearing cool clothes now because there is no place exciting to go during the pandemic, so I can dream about what it is like to wear nice clothes again. Though the fashion is not nearly as bodacious as what Carrie and Samantha wore in Sex and the City - though Emily's fashion statements get bolder as the series progresses, it's still quite a treat to see what Emily and her gal pal Ashley Park will be wearing.


Trois. The French clichés. We know they're not true, and face it the writing plays on every cliché of what Americans think or have heard about of Paris and Parisans and vice versa. But that's okay, this is a comedy. If we can laugh at ourselves we are one step closer to understanding another's point of view. 



Quatre. The office environment. Wouldn't we all love an office where getting in at 10am is considered on time? (Forget that, don't we just dream of going back to an office again where there are people and not relatives and pets?)  Wouldn't we love an office where we can take two hour lunches with fine French wine consumption expected and not be reprimanded? Or where we wear the most inappopropirate  work clothing and no one notices or better yet we get compliments it?. Or where we work with luxury brands and rich people and the office smells like expensive cologne? (In my first PR job, I had to promote foam.)

Cinq. The relationships. First of all, all the men swoon for Emily.. now isn't that many women's dream? We are only getting to know  all the relationships during this first season, but as much as they are predictable with a few twists, I am sure Darren Star has a lot of  tricks up his sleeve that he is savoring, and the complicated relationhips we have come to love from her writing of SITC, Younger and more  will start to appear in this shw. Who will be Mr Big? ??

Six. The Food. OH MY GOSH. As I stare at my bland chicken and frozen fish that I got from Instacart I dream of not just eating food like this in Paris some day, but eating food like that maybe in 2021 when I feel safe to go inside a restaurant again. You had me a chocolate crossiant. You had me at sitting at a restaurant with people. 



Sept.  The French lesson. I already learned a few words. So maybe this show belongs on TLC as well because we can all pick up a few French words besides merci, oiu and croissant, which is the extent of most American's knowledge of French.


Huit. Emily's creativity. Having been in PR, I am quite astonished at the creative, out of the box concepts that she comes up with often within seconds. And from a twenty-something with probably less than 5 years in the business that's quite a feat. It's taken me years to examine a product and figure out the best way to makret it, but young Emily seems to be able to do this seemlessly after just one job as she has barely been out of college. But I enjoy her spur of the moment out-of-the-box ideas, and am taking notes for my little PR book. 



Neuf. The range in ages. Thank you Darren Star. Though Emily is quite young, there's an age range of the people she works with, male and female. YAY. And I love that he has a woman in charge, putting aside the fact that she's sleeping with her married client. I will close my eye and pretend she got to that position on her merit.  

Dix. GIRL POWER. The show is based upon a female, her female friends, and does take into account her view of the world  and its effect on her as a female, taking into account the hopes, dreams and misgivings of any human. 
For Info:

Photos from Netflix

No comments:

Post a Comment