Emily in Paris: The Unrealistic Fairytale Presented by American Entertainment
December 1, 2020
By Breanna Valverde
Abstract
This essay discusses the concepts of neoliberalism and what it looks like in American entertainment, specifically the new Netflix show “Emily in Paris”. The show incorporates neoliberal ideals while depicting a fairytale life full of adventure, sex, and success. Although the show portrays Emily as the main contributor to her own achievements, it uses American standards of work labor and social influencer culture to increase her success in France, while also representing the American “happy ending”.
Neoliberalism and Its Beginnings
The term neoliberalism was first used by Ludwig Von Mises and Friedrich Hayek in 1938 at a meeting in Paris. Together, Hayek and Mises published literature arguing that government interference and planning would disrupt people’s way of life and would crush individualism, ultimately leading to totalitarian control. This philosophy caught the attention of millionaires who decided to support and finance the Mount Pelerin Society, founded by Hayek, leading to a network of businessmen, journalist, and foundations focusing on the progression of neoliberalism. Funded by the rich backers, the think tanks began to promote and spread the ideology.
While this concept began to flourish amongst the world’s upper class, the term itself began to vanish along with the policies that were governed on both sides of the Atlantic. After the economic crisis in the 1970s, the neoliberal ideas started to take hold in the mainstream politics. This led to the Jimmy Carter’s administration to adopt neoliberal policies and for Ronald Regan to further push those principles. Following this declaration, were tax cut for the rich, deregulation for big companies, privatization and competition of public services, and the notion of consumerism.
What soon followed was a country dealing with economic, political, and environmental crisis, all effects of the failure of neoliberalism. In the article “Neoliberalism — the root of all our problems” George Monbiot discusses how this philosophy came to be and how it contributed to modern disasters. While the theory was adopted based on the idea of freedom from government control it really meant “freedom for the pike not the minnows” (Monbiot). These freedoms are seen in the freedom to suppress wages and poison rivers without any environmental regulation. The freedom from bureaucratic central planning has led to public services being privatized and competition for employment. Monbiot explains that while “neoliberalism was not conceived as a self- serving racket, it rapidly became one” (22). This self-serving system has led to an increase in the wealth acquired by the wealthy and less success for those at the bottom of the tier. Before the influence of neoliberalism, the gap between the wealthy and poor was declining but rose rapidly after, and has now led to the biggest gap wealth seen in 50 years.
Monbiot makes it clear that this form of capitalism has been unsuccessful in its original purpose but as he says, “like communism, neoliberalism is the God that failed. But the zombie doctrine staggers on” (32). One reason it is still prevalent in today’s society is because people lack awareness of this ideology, it is an unnamed disease that will continue to run rampage until we can find a cure. Instead of acknowledging the root behind the problem, people began to rationalize the forces at work and see it as part of our society. We have been programed to believe that the results of this failure are our own wrong doings. By keeping individualism, we have now diverted the problem and solutions to the individual responsibility.
Emily in Paris
The main character Emily, played by Lily Collins, is given the opportunity to move to Paris after her boss finds out that she is pregnant and unable to fill the position. Emily eagerly takes the position and moves to Paris without knowing any French and leaving her longtime boyfriend behind in hopes of a long-distance relationship. The ideal world she had in mind was flipped upside down when she realizes her boyfriend doesn’t want to work around the distance and her workplace doesn’t accept her American arrogance. In America, Emily’s hard work and overzealous work ethic was seen as something commendable but, in Paris she is seen as an outsider who pushes American ideas over the French culture.
Emily turns to her social media as a space to express herself when feeling lonely and to show the beauty of living in Paris. As she begins to start making friends in Paris, such as Mindy and Gabriel, she slowly starts to gain respect at her job and rapidly begins to acquire many followers on her Instagram page. Emily’s perseverance led her to bring in new and successful clients while also becoming a social influencer, but things take a turn for the worse when she gets fired from her job and her love interest Gabriel is dating a new friend of hers, Camille. In the end, Emily finally has her dream night with Gabriel and she saves a client’s fashion show leading to her being rehired at her job, but the cliff hanger at the end promises a next season awaits.
Emily in Paris as a Neoliberal Fairytale
Throughout the show the audience is given insight into who Emily is as an American worker, and how she is perceived through the French eye. On her first official day of work Emily shows up at 8:30, two hours before the building even opens and almost three hours before her boss arrives to work. Eager to begin her mission at the company, expanding their social media engagement, Emily starts right away while other people in the office seem more relaxed and laid back with regards to their work. Later in the day Emily runs into her coworker, Luc, who apologies for her new nickname at work (the hick) but also comments on her idea of work. After Emily reassures Luc that there must be a balance between working hard and enjoying work Luc replies “Americans have the wrong balance, you live to work, we work to live”. Of course, Emily defends herself by saying “I enjoy work and accomplishment, it makes me happy!” but what this show is idealizing is something Americans are struggling with.
From a very young age, children in America are “trained, tailored, primed, and optimized for the workplace” (Petersen, 17). In the article “Millennials Became the Burnout Generation”, Anne Petersen discusses the new phenomenon spreading across the American workforce. People are no longer doing small errands like returning clothes or making appointments because of “burnout”, instead they rather spend their time contributing to their work because they were made to believe they should be working all the time. Petersen explains “as American business became more efficient, better at turning a profit, the next generation needed to be positioned to compete” (16). Parents decided to prepare for their children to be the best and brightest workers in order to receive a job in a neoliberal economy, they needed to learn from a young age that they must always continue to strive forward. In Paris, no body judges you for doing nothing, pointed out by carefree Mindy, but in America people are seen as lazy if they’re not working. For Emily her hard work led her to a job that markets luxury items but her constant need to work is a result of neoliberalism and the enjoyment of doing such labor is the shows way of rationalizing it.
Along with Emily’s strive and perseverance, we see that she also has this need to be liked by everyone. When she realizes that her boss, Sylvie, doesn’t like her, she tries to win over her approval multiple times. This idea of needing to be liked is a result of American’s idolization of social media and social influencers. Kayleigh Donaldson talks about the influence of social media and how this culture led to branding, marketing, and advertising. The article “Rachel Hollis and The Problem of Influencer Culture When Everything is Content” focuses on how Rachel profits off of her divorce by selling a book dedicated to telling how her perfect relationship got to this but also how she and anyone, can get through it. Donaldson uses this to argue that everything put on social media is content used to promote one’s brand, “one of the most insidious aspects of capitalism is its ability to turn every single aspect of our lives and selves into a commodity. When you live under this system, it’s hard to ignore that thrall, especially when the benefits seem so strong”. Although Emily turns down the offer to be a social influencer for a top makeup brand, we see the effects from this type of culture.
When the show begins Emily’s Instagram account, Emily in Paris, is at 48 followers but then within a couple of days she is up to a few hundred followers. By the end of the season Emily has over 25 thousand followers and multiple opportunities due to her influence on social media. One of these opportunities is to go to a cosmetic launch for a makeup company she has always admired. There we get a glimpse into the influencer lifestyle and how they are driven by their own self-promotion and self-brand. Given “swag bags”, the influencers are responsible to post at least five different times to advertise the product to their followers and depending on how many followers you currently have you will receive more of the product. Emily stands out for her creativity and appreciation for the product but is really there to persuade the company to use her work agency to market the product. After being told that social influencers are now the future of marketing, Emily is told she would be more successful in life if her primary job was a social influencer and that she is “high on Paris and your followers are falling in love with it”. What Emily created within her Instagram is a picturesque world of Paris and something people aspire to have, something Emily herself desperately wants and when faced with the thought of deleting the account she says, “who am I without Emily in Paris”.
Conclusion: The Happy Ending
While the Emily in Paris Instagram account was giving its followers a life to aspire for, the show Emily in Paris gave the real-life viewers something to dream of, except they made this dream plausible. For the majority of American’s, this dream that everyone comes to this country in search of is only available through immense amount of hard work. This show provides us with a character who has worked hard for her accomplishments but lives a life that is, realistically, unreachable for many. The outcome of all of her problems have always turned in her favor and in the end, she is given an American ending oppose to a French ending as discussed in the show. In episode seven Emily talks romantically about the typical American ending as hopeful and optimistic, but her coworkers, Luc and Julien, remind her that they’re not realistic endings. Emily counters by saying “but don’t you go to the movies to escape life” and Luc responds, “you can never escape life.”
Our inescapable fate has been sealed by the forces of neoliberal capitalism, in the end we will be part of the society who has rationalized the failure instead of ending it. As a result, we have come to accept that we must work and be focused on work at almost all hours of the day, up until we are in our 70s. Hobbies are no longer seen as hobbies but rather market schemes that can make us money and we ourselves are just brands that can be paid for advertisements and influence. Those that are poor are only there because of their own wrong decision making and aren’t trying hard enough to take advantage of enterprising, instead of seeking government help they have to be more competitive. No longer is it about what you can do, it is what you can buy and those at the top are the ones with all the power. To escape this fight for survival and never-ending grind, we watch movies and shows that highlight these realties in a way that makes it all seem possible. The fictional fairytales present us a “realistic” dream that one day we can be the American living in a beautiful country because working hard will always lead to a happy ending, right?
Work Cited
Donaldson, Kayleigh. “Rachel Hollis and The Problem of Influencer Culture When Everything Is Content.” Pajiba, 6 Aug. 2020, www.pajiba.com/celebrities_are_better_than_you/rachel-hollis-and-the-problem-of-influencer-culture-when-everything-is-content.php.
Monbiot, George. “Neoliberalism — the Ideology at the Root of All Our Problems.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Apr. 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot.
Petersen, Anne Helen. “How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation.” BuzzFeed News, BuzzFeed News, 2 Aug. 2020, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennials-burnout-generation-debt-work.
Star, Darren. Emily in Paris, Season Season one, Netflix, 2020.
