An Analysis on Emily IN paris
A show released earlier this month called Emily in Paris has received a lot of critique in such little amount of time. The show centers around a girl from Chicago who moves to Paris after being asked to bring an American perspective to a marketing firm. What follows, are cliched “American girl in Paris” shenanigans that result in eye rolls and groans. Although the show received backlash many people devoured the show within days of release; it showcases Benjamin’s (1935) view on a piece being reproduced and copied for monetary gain and Adorno’s (1947) view on the industry losing its innovative flavor in order to follow a preferred template with assured success.
The show was created by Darren Star who is known for creating Sex and the City, a popular television series created in the late 90’s that accumulated a large fan base for years. References made in respect to the series and analysis of characters and episodes can still be seen across all platforms, 20 years later. While watching Emily in Paris many reviewers alike, kinned the show to Sex and the City. Although the series was made by the same creator it seems as though Darren Star took pieces of various different fashion-centered shows and mashed it together to form a series that fits a well-known mold that guarantees success. This relates to Benjamin’s (1935) view of a piece being reproduced and copied. “By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence. And in permitting the reproduction to meet the beholder or listener in his own particular situation.” (Benjamin 221) As the show becomes a reproduction of the very popular Sex and the City, it is clear that it is deliberately trying to fit a prior template. A template that time and time again has proven will gather an audience and praise, which ultimately leads to Netflix, who produced the show, for their pockets to be filled once again.
Emily in Paris has not only had comparisons made to Sex and the City but the popular teen drama, Gossip Girl. Neither shows come without their flaws, cliches and comparisons. Particularly because Gossip Girl and Sex and the City are centered around New York City, fashion and gossip, the connections can be easily made. But rather, the messiness of the character’s decisions and morals; and contemplating their own demise while trying on the newest Manolo Blahnik shoes has become a trope that teens, and even much higher age groups, eat up. And Netflix, desperately loves to feed. Which comes to no surprise that Netflix decided to produce, and heavily market, Emily in Paris. Commercials for the show appeared rapidly and consistently on YouTube and Instagram. “Not only are the hit songs, stars and soap operas cyclically recurrent and rigidly invariable types, but the specific content of the entertainment itself is derived from them and only appears to change. The details are interchangeable.” (Adorno, 1258) Adorno, explains that hit songs and popular television shows are then replicated, a template with interchangeable details. This can be seen within this new Netflix series, if someone was hearing the plots of Sex and the City, Gossip Girl and Emily in Paris, it’d sound like a mashup of a quickly made remix. Within the industry, because the knowledge of assured success is so attainable, they tend to want to remain in their small, self-made fort while rarely departing. A quick scroll through Netflix’s browse page can attest to this statement, it’s a redone of a redone, repetition at it’s finest. And their new show is nothing short of that.
Emily in Paris, was rather entertaining, as the industry knew it would be, however it lacks innovation that brings substance to modern popular culture. Although their template that promises monetary gain and success was correct, and did bring entertainment and enjoyment to many as promised. There is something cheap and empty that comes from simply following an already made mold, instead of branching out and creating something new. And unfortunately, Emily in Paris is just that. Empty.