“Emily in Paris” is a Netflix original drama series, which shows the 3rd season now (Jan 9, 2023).
The story is: Emily suddenly needed to go to Paris because her company in Chicago assigned her to go instead of the original people who became pregnant, though she didn’t speak French. At first, she was confused about how to spend her life in Paris. She tried to get accustomed to her new life.
Many people need to work in a different country because of their work or studying abroad, so we understand how characters think to some extent. Also, the city of Paris is beautiful and each character’s fashion is awesome.
I want to focus on cultural differences.
“American” workstyle
In some scenes, a French worker, Julian complains about Emily’s work style. From his perspective, Emily always interrupts his work. After Julian’s presentation, Emily proposed her opinion, and clients liked her ideas.
I understand Julian’s opinion as a Japanese. In work, responsibility is important. But Julian tried to deal with this problem in a polite way. He claimed his complaint to his boss, Sylvie. This is really logical.
On the other hand, Emily works normally. She didn’t notice which part he felt hurt. In reality, when people think of the word “teamwork”, Emily’s way seems to be a global standard.
I understand Emily’s way now, but if I needed to work with Emily before I studied abroad, I would be confused because I didn’t know what Emily thought.
In addition, the Japanese way isn’t polite. If similar situations occur several times, many Japanese ignore the person when he or she speaks to them. I thought this is the reason for the difficulties in appearing as star players in Japan.
Still, there is one thing Japan is definitely better at; there are few water or elevator problems.
Romance affairs
I am surprised by how many love affairs are in this drama series, especially in the third season. It’s like kissing is a greeting.
And also, I felt their communication style was really aggressive. I felt they talked about everything. Once Emily knows a fact, she told it her friends soon. She pointed out her friend’s problem although she did something bad for her beforehand.
The relationship between work and life
In this drama, there is a value: Americans like work; French like life.
I was a workaholic in the past, so I understand the American way more. When I drink something, I always talked about my work topics.
I thought the French way was interesting. They attend the party to enjoy chatting. I don’t know if this is true, but it was a good culture to enjoy my life.