You may have heard about Emily in Paris, a new TV series that has taken Netflix by storm. The show is total eye candy in that the outfits are amazing, it was filmed at some of the most beautiful locations in Paris, and it overall just looks like a Pinterest board. Everything about it makes me want to move to Paris and throw away my entire wardrobe. However, the plot and what the show stands for is even more appealing.     

     The show is a 10-episode series about an American girl named Emily who moves to Paris for her job at a marketing firm. While in Paris, Emily accumulates a following on her Instagram account called Emily in Paris, hence the title of the show. However, don’t worry, this isn’t a show about an influencer getting famous because of selfies, expensive clothes, and a seemingly “perfect” life, whatever that means. Emily actually at one point deletes her account because of a work conflict, which in today’s age is an important message that often is not heard: your phone should not control your life. However, my favorite thing about the series is that Emily is an amazing role model, especially for teenage girls, because of her fearlessness to be herself and her feminist point of view on life.

     Emily has nonstop grit and fearlessness in the show when it comes to her work life. When Emily arrives at her job, she is immediately faced with adversity because her boss hates her because she is too “American.” This is essentially criticizing her whole identity. Emily wears loud and vibrant outfits, has a terrible French accent, and is never afraid to be loud and speak up when she has an idea or an opinion which sets her apart from her colleagues. And let’s be honest, if we were in Emily’s position where our identity and what brings us joy causes unnecessary hardships that could be avoided if we just “fit in,” so many of us would be tempted to change ourselves. We might quit our jobs, start wearing more basic “French” clothes, and become quieter to please our boss. However, Emily does not change any part of herself for one second. She continues to be herself because at the end of the day, fitting in is not a sustainable solution for long term happiness and success.   

     Another reason why I love Emily is because she is a feminist. In an early episode, Emily stops an entire advertisement shoot for an important client because she thinks the meaning behind the advertisement is sexist. The concept of the advertisement is a beautiful woman would be walking down a street naked being stared at by men as she walks by. Emily says the idea won’t resonate with women and girls who don’t seek the validation of the male gaze. Of course her idea is heard, and they scrap the whole shoot because of Emily’s idea because it is a cheesy Netflix show. However, this message is so powerful for two reasons: not only does Emily speak up for herself in a crucial moment that could put her job on the line, but she does it for the greater good rather than herself. She does not want to preach a message to women that life is about what men think of you, because there is so much more to life than that.

     One last thing that I love about Emily is her fearlessness to step out of her comfort zone to network for her job and to be social outside of a work environment. Emily never lets a long shot stop her from reaching out to someone for work. Also, if she does get an opportunity to speak to someone and they are not interested, Emily keeps talking to them until they finally listen. Of course, this does not work in every real-life situation, but sometimes you have to be persistent to be heard. In addition to this, Emily is very social with friends outside of work. This goes to show that going the extra mile to spark a conversation or just to say hi to someone can lead to a friendship, or just a nice encounter that could change the whole aptitude of your day. I have a hard time with this personally because I get scared what someone will think of me if I reach out or say hi, but at the end of the day, everyone is happy to have an extra friend. Plus, if it doesn’t go well, is it really the end of the world? (The answer is no, both of you will probably forget all about the whole encounter.)

     And there you have it! Emily in Paris is officially one of my new favorite shows for the outfits, the romance, the beautiful scenic setting, but most importantly the message behind the character of Emily. If you take away anything from this blog post, it should be that feminism and being authentically yourself is COOL, as proved by Emily!

Images via Pinterest and Google