Emily in Paris - Rant & Reaction

Hi, it's Mary Schiller of maryschiller.com, and I am here today to talk with you about that show on Netflix called Emily in Paris. And there have been a lot of videos made about this show. Some people love it, some people hate it, so I am not going to react to the show in any of those ways that other people have, at least I don't think. And you may wonder why I am even talking about this show other than the fact that I am an American woman who moved to Paris in 2017, so I have some understanding of what it's like to adjust to living in a new culture. But The reason why I personally hated, and I mean hated, this show has nothing to do with the location or anything like that. Now, I may give away a couple of things in, in this chat with you, so if you haven't seen the show, you may want to watch this after you've finished it. But the thing that just kept jumping out at me every single episode all the way to the end is how dumb Emily's character is portrayed. And this, as a woman who is 30 years older than Emily's character, who, you know, got my comeuppance during, um, you know, when Roe v. Wade was first made law of the land of the United States, and we had the whole bra burning thing and, you know, feminism came upon us when I was in my early formative years around age 12, 13, 14, 15. I can tell you that seeing an ambitious professional young woman portrayed as this stupid is beyond disheartening. This is the year 2020, and I feel like we have just rolled the clock back decades with this characterization of an ambitious young woman who could have been shown as not only smart but adaptable, open to new ideas, not wanting to sleep around with who knows who and who knows who else's boyfriend. Um, it just was so disheartening to me, especially because I have a daughter who is around that same age, who is incredibly smart, incredibly ambitious, and happens to be attractive on top of that. Um, but honest to God, I felt like I was watching my own 20s again. You know, when I was in my 20s, I had ambition, I was smart— still am— um, I was cute. I'm tall, I'm 5'10", I had long blonde hair, I looked sort of like the California girl because I was California— still am California— and I ran into so many difficulties because people didn't see me for the way that I felt on the inside. And to realize that all these years later we are still watching these same stereotypes about young ambitious women You know, the, the story could have been so incredible if they had showed some growth in this character, some understanding that maybe she's not the know-it-all she thinks she is. Maybe she can actually learn from other people. Maybe she can take her intelligence and, oh, I don't know, learn to speak French. I mean, there are just so many examples in the show that reinforce the stereotype of a young ambitious woman as being insensitive, uh, stupid, and basically just impossible to be around. I mean, I found her extraordinarily irritating. The other thing that this does for me as a woman who started my own business in my 50s and is working to raise the profile of other older solopreneur women like myself, who is trying to show that we can be ambitious and intelligent and attractive and all of those things just because of who we are and what we want in life. It's really disheartening to see a young, pretty woman like the one portrayed by Lily Collins, made to seem so daft. What does that do for women like me? How are we then seen if we can't, you know, get by on our looks, you know, because society says we're not beautiful anymore if we're not, you know, 25 and a size 2? You know, what does that mean for us? And it's, it's really puzzling to me how this kind of show, A, can get made. I mean, there are so many things wrong with it, I don't even want to go into it. You know, forget about the racist elements in there, that would be a whole other thing. But I just don't see how a show like this can get made and put out there in 2020. There is just no sensitivity to it at all, and it's very discouraging that this is where we are, which I guess this is one good thing— makes me even more determined to put myself forward and to help other, uh, women over 50 put ourselves forward and be visible and be ambitious and openly so and say, you know, this is what actual women are like. We can be attractive at any age. We can be exciting at any age. We are intelligent. We We want things for ourselves, and we're here, so deal with it. You know, don't just sweep us under the rug or make it seem like, you know, we have to be as glamorous as the French female character, uh, her boss was in the show. You know, that's not what we're all about either. So let's try to wipe away these stereotypes by being more visible ourselves and being passionate about what we do, what we believe in, and about being ourselves— our, our ambitious, beautiful, intelligent, creative selves. So that's my commentary on Emily in Paris. I'd love to know what you think. Let me know, and I will see you again soon. Bye!