The Reception of ‘Emily in Paris’ by Parisian Spectators An Imagological Approach into Attitudes toward the Representation of Paris

Abstract

Literature suggests that representations of cultural groups in the media are often inaccurate, not in line with real life and tend to reflect the ideas of the culturally dominant group. This study examined to what extend this theory is applicable to the series ‘Emily in Paris’ by mapping Parisians’ attitudes toward the stereotypes that were presented in the series. To study this, ten Youtube videos recorded by Parisian spectators were analyzed. Two different types of spectators could be distinguished; people who were born in France and people who moved to Paris as an expat. Accordingly, the attitudes of the two groups were compared to each other. The results revealed that the majority of the Parisian spectators perceived the discussed representations as simplistic. Although, in general expats perceived the representations more frequently as realistic. This can possibly be explained by the fact that expats can identify with the series’ protagonist. To conclude, Parisians predominantly have a negative attitude toward the representation of life in Paris, however, expats have a more positive attitude toward the series.