'Ridicule': The French Reaction to'Emily in Paris' by Elaine Sciolino
Translation丨Xi
The story is old-fashioned, but long-lasting: an American girl, American ingénue, moved to Paris, fell in love with the sensory pleasures of the city (usually by meeting a French lover), and tried to integrate into its unshakable customs (Never smiles at strangers)-if you are an American audience.
However, Parisians do not buy into the cliché that "Paris is the romantic capital of the world". Therefore, Netflix’s new drama, "French version of "Sex and the City"-"Emily in Paris" , created by Darren Starr and starring Lily Collins, only released a one-minute trailer. Less suspicion of the French.
French radio station RTL stated: "Between berets, cocktail dresses and impeccable streets, it is difficult for Parisians to recognize their daily lives ." Les Inrockuptibles, a French magazine that never waits to see American pop culture, wrote: "Parisians have already started to laugh at this drama that has not yet started."
But when I showed excerpts from 10 episodes to a dozen Parisians from 22 to 81 years old, they evoked a more nuanced impression—a slight difference.
Among these Parisian audiences, the most common reaction is ridicule ridicule-French means ridiculous and absurd, as well as funny and funny.
One of the ridicules: Lily Collins played by Emily Cooper, a 20-year-old social network marketing expert from Chicago, did not know that her assignment to Paris was "responsible for teaching a Paris luxury marketing company how to improve their Instagram and Marketing on Twitter".
Ridicule 2: Emily wears different high heels and flashy fashion suits in every scene . This is impossible on the streets of Paris, nor within her budget .
ridicule three: Emily’s boss Sylvie publicly insulted and belittled Emily with artistic malice —no, the French don’t do that— they all speak ill of others secretly .
The best of ridicule: Emily does not speak French, she relies on the translation software on her mobile phone. " Translation software can't work, " says Caroline Valentin, the owner and director of a studio that makes hand embroidery and beaded costumes for theaters.
"These clichés about Paris are really too many and too dense. They are like a collection of sketches, gradually becoming funny in exaggeration ." said 65-year-old Philippe Thureau-Dangin, a small French book publisher The owner and director of the company Exils. " Maybe the creator of this series wanted to imitate Molière . Molière also exaggerated and made impossible situations for the sake of comedy effects."
When the middle-aged retired French company director greeted Emily with a passionate bise— kissing on both cheeks —Mr. Philippe Thureau-Dangin smiled and said, “This kind of bise will never happen to In the office of a professional that I met for the first time. It’s a bit too straightforward, isn’t it? Moreover, the company’s department director also happens to be smoking—how could it be possible to smoke in the office without permission ? Besides, there is no permission. Smoking is no longer allowed in French offices.”
Another thing that Paris audiences thought would never happen: a thin, blond Serbian model swaggered across the Alexandre III bridge to shoot for a perfume ad. She was naked, except for the perfume she "worn on". Emily is keenly aware of the #MeToo movement and opposes sexism in advertising. With the support of Emily’s female boss, the French perfumer stated that this ad is sexy, not sexy.
"This is an imitation of the nude they used in their propaganda 20 or 30 years ago!" said 29-year-old cameraman Léo Bigiaoui. In 2016, the Paris City Hall released a short film showing the picturesque landmarks of the city-the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the bridge over the Seine-after which Mr. Bigiaoui and his partner Maxime Baudin used their The short video "Paris, we love you too" counterattacked. It shows everyday life : a man fishing, a sweating woman jogging, and working-class shoppers in an outdoor vegetable market.
"I will never, never imagine shooting a naked woman on a bridge over the Seine. It really sucks!"
The French version of #MeToo, #BalanceTonPorc(#ExposeYourPig), makes advertisers and marketers more cautious about how to use sex as a sales tool. "I will not use nude models that show sexual charm to attract men's attention in perfume ads," said Florence Coupry, a 33-year-old executive of a top strategic communications company in France. "It has nothing to do with being a Frenchman. Such an activity would be counterproductive."
However, Ms. Coupry still believes that the exaggerated stereotype is deliberate. "This show takes the stereotype of Paris to the extreme, full of various old-fashioned settings and enjoys it. As audiences, we are amused by them."
For Ms. Coupry, "Emily in Paris" is like a TV series version of Paris photos of Instagram celebrities. "Don't forget, remember, the word clichés originally means "photo" in French, and Emily is in charge of the Instagram marketing specialist in the play. Her daily job is to post and wait to be liked. (Liked). She is obsessed with wanting to be liked (liked) in real life, and even liked by her very mean boss."
However, about that mean boss, there is one thing that makes many viewers feel true. When Emily asked Sylvie why she didn’t want to know her, Sylvie replied, “ You moved to Paris to work in my company. , And even disdain to learn French. You treat this city as your amusement park. After a year of food, sex, wine, and some culture, you will return to your old American home with satisfaction. " Americans who have a taste of Paris, some locals in Paris are unwilling to make friends with them.
Parisians are very accurate, and some viewers quickly pointed out some factual errors in the play. These include: Emily’s 120-watt vibrator may short-circuit the electricity in her apartment, but it will never turn off the electricity in the entire community; her apartment is not as depicted, it is a standard, narrow, 100 The maid's room on the attic of square feet is chambre de bonne, but a spacious space on the floor below. Those who grew up eating American beef from the Midwest would not call French steak "surprisingly tender"-no matter how well cooked it is.
However, I can still empathize with Emily. I moved from Chicago to Paris for the first time. When I was a foreign correspondent for Newsweek, I was in my 20s. I had no friends and was not good at French. I lived in an apartment where I could see the Eiffel Tower up close. The other reporters in the company (older men) had a tolerant or almost undisguised contempt towards me.
In less than a year, I boarded an Air France charter plane and went to Iran as a resident reporter. I was reborn professionally by leaving this country-my sheepskin coat and Sorel snow boots from Chicago were of little use in Paris, but they were perfect in Tehran.
Sometimes the "cliche" is true, and this is why some of the plots of "Emily in Paris" are not bad. Some viewers think this show is a fresh escape from the new crown-in real life in Paris, all public places must wear masks; bars close at 10pm.
"This series was embarrassing at first, but it looked good after looking at it," said 22-year-old Arthur Baker. He is a volunteer of a non-governmental organization that resettles political refugees. "I might finish it with my friends in one go. In this case, any way of distracting is good."
About the author
Elaine Sciolino is a writer for The New York Times, formerly the head of the Paris bureau, and has been based in France since 2002. Her new book The Seine: The River That Made Paris was published in October 2019. She has previously published four books, including "The Only Street in Paris: Life on the Avenue of the Martyrs" The Only Street in Paris: Life on the Rue des Martyrs is a best seller in The New York Times. In 2010, she was awarded the Knights Medal of the Legion of Honor, the highest honor in France, in recognition of her "special contribution" to the friendship between France and the United States.
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