Season Two of Emily in Paris comes out just in time to binge watch it before the holidays. And joining it, after a break of eleven years, is the return of Sex and the City (SATC). Both were created by Darren Star, and both have quite a lot in common.
When ‘Emily’ arrived last October, just like SATC it was an instant success, and climbed quickly into the Netflix top 10 of most-streamed original shows.
Viewers loved the escapism that Emily – a marketing executive turned influencer – offered them as she cheerfully negotiated the challenges of trying to survive in Paris – all the while looking very trendy.
Not that everybody loved it. Some complained that ‘Emily’ presented us with an unrealistic portrayal of the city and of the character.
How could someone in her position afford to own such expensive designer clothes and accessories? The same questions were asked about the main Carrie Bradshaw character in SATC. How could she afford her wardrobe when she was just a weekly columnist?
But there is a more problematic similarity between the two shows as well. As Fashion Magazine reported soon after the release of Emily in Paris, for a story set in such a multicultural city, why was ‘Emily’ so ‘white’? SATC was also called out for amongst other things slut-shaming and the stereotypical representation of the LBTQ+ community and people of colour.
It’s a comparison that Lily Collins, who plays Emily, hopes the next season will extinguish. In the latest issue of Elle, she tells writer Alice Wignall that she is happy that changes are being made for series two because hiring “…new people in front of the camera, also giving new storylines to different characters” is “really important.”
Meanwhile SATC returns under the title And Just Like That, but only for ten episodes. A lot of the original cast will be there including Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie, Kristin Davis as Charlotte and Cynthia Nixon as Miranda – though Kim Cattrall who played Samantha won’t be joining them.
Because of the similarities between the two shows, many have written ‘Emily’ off as a knock off. But whereas the SATC return will be a kind of swansong for a former hit show, ‘Emily’ has the potential to grow into something more significant.
It all depends on whether its characters, and the issues it engages with, get more real – but without of course losing that escapism completely!
