The Netflix show Emily in Paris captured millions of starry-eyed Americans eager to get a glimpse of chic European lifestyle. In fact, the show has inspired many people to move to the “city of lights,” and has created a superficial type of tourism called “setjetting,” which is a trend of visiting locations that people see in television shows, according to forbes.com. Although Emily in Paris gives viewers a seemingly perfect image of Paris, it ultimately distorts reality, cultivating a harmful idealization of European life.
Season Four, Part Two of Emily in Paris released September 12, 2024 on Netflix, reached more than 19.9 million people within four days, according to netflix.com. The writers set the latest episodes in Rome, unlike the previous three seasons set in Paris. In this new city, the show continues to offer an inaccurate view of the so-called “European lifestyle,” according to thefulcrum.com. Ultimately, the idealization of Europe does not stop at Paris. It exceeds the borders of France, creating a romanticized version of Europe as a whole
The first three seasons of Emily in Paris focus on Emily’s lifestyle in Paris, full of high-end fashion, glitzy parties, and her melodramatic love life, making the show entertaining. However, the show offers young and impressionable viewers a skewed perspective of what it is like to live abroad. Similarly, in Season Four, Part Two, the show highlights the most picturesque parts of Rome and fails to include the parts of the city that are not nearly as scenic, according to The New York Times. While images of perfect cities certainly attract many viewers, Emily in Paris over-embellishes them by choosing not to include any downsides of these cities. Mr. Darren Star, the creator and showrunner of Emily in Paris, expressed that he is not worried about any backlash from viewers in Italy.
“I’m not trying to depict Rome as the overcrowded, garbage strewn, graffiti-infested place. [T]hat’s not the Rome that Emily is experiencing,” Mr. Star said, according to The New York Times. “I’m not concerned with [possible objections from Italian viewers]. I don’t really take those criticisms to heart.”
Emily in Paris received negative feedback long before the show moved to Rome. When the first season released in 2020, many French viewers were upset at how the show portrayed Paris. Critics and French media mocked the empty plot and French clichés, deeming the series a fantasy world far from reality, according to theeconomist.com. Essentially, Paris is not a perfect city, and naively portraying it as such creates unrealistic expectations of the city.
Mr. Star’s goal is to turn Paris, Rome, and wherever else Emily’s journey may take her into flawless, picturesque cities. Yet, the misleading idea that Europe is constantly perfect can give viewers the idea that moving to Europe can give them a perfect life, just like Emily’s. Similar to anywhere else in the world, there is no absolute guarantee that someone’s life will transform because of the location in which they live. In fact, this assumption is detrimental to hard working citizens who live there. Ms. Angelica Frey, a European writer from The Spectator, asserted how Americans’ warped perception of European life can blind them from the harsh realities of European life, according to thespectator.com.
“As a European who had to leave her own country due to zero job prospects, which left me and people of my generation in such a state of permanent adolescence to the point that many thirty-somethings still live with their parents, I have a hard time reckoning with this romanticization,” Ms. Frey said, according to thespectator.com. “If you want to leave America, by all means, spread your wings, but make sure you have a clear roadmap regarding work, life, and how to integrate into society. Nobody likes gentrifiers.”
It is important to note, though, that Emily in Paris is a work of fiction and its goal is not to misinform viewers but rather to entertain them. Nonetheless, the latter is still a dominant effect of the show. Additionally, Americans are not the only people who tend to romanticize different parts of the world. Madame Marie Hubert, Upper School World Language Teacher and World Language Department Chair, shared her perspective as someone who has lived in both Paris and the United States (US).
“In Europe, we often imagine life in the US as being universally like the one in Manhattan, LA, or Hollywood,” Madame Hubert. “Emily in Paris does something similar with Europe. It presents an idealized, fantasy version of European life that only exists on TV.”
Emily in Paris spreads the misconception that if someone moves to Europe, their life will instantly be full of glamour and excitement. The show is a perfect example of people only viewing other cultures with a rose-tinted lens. Ms. Melanie Hamlett, a writer from Slate, agreed that Americans tend to lack an open mind when viewing other countries or cultures because of the “American gaze,” according to slate.com.
“Emily in Paris suffers from a bad case of what one might call the American gaze,” Ms. Hamlett said, according to slate.com. “The utter inability to see another country or culture without using our assumed superiority as the lens through which it’s understood.”
While Emily in Paris is a entertaining show, it struggles to find the balance between properly representing countries and romanticizing specific parts of Europe. Therefore, Emily in Paris must refine its depictions of cities like Paris, Rome, and wherever else the show may lead to provide viewers a more accurate portrayal of life outside of the US.
Featured Image by Blaire Williamson ’27
