S01.E03: Sexy or Sexist

[Door County Cherry]

Airs 10/02/20

Quote

Emily voices her concerns over a risqué new ad campaign while juggling plumbing problems, language lessons and disagreeable co-workers.

 

[Door County Cherry]

Naked woman walking on a bridge is a very French ad.  Odds are, they'd create something different for the American market so the whole discussion was silly.

Random dude peeing?  That tracks--although my experience is that he wouldn't necessarily do it in such a high trafficked area.  He'd try to sneak off to a corner (or hide behind his car door---that's a real life experience).  

[Whimsy]

4 minutes ago, Door County Cherry said:

Naked woman walking on a bridge if a very French ad.  Odds are, they'd create something different for the American market so the whole discussion was silly.

Random dude peeing?  That tracks--although my experience is that he wouldn't necessarily do it in such a high trafficked area.  He'd try to sneak off to a corner (or hide behind his car door---that's a real life experience).  

Emily said “that’s a urinal!”, so, do they have outdoor urinals in France?  I’ve never been, so I thought that’s what she was saying. 

[Door County Cherry]

19 minutes ago, Whimsy said:

Emily said “that’s a urinal!”, so, do they have outdoor urinals in France?  I’ve never been, so I thought that’s what she was saying. 

Hmm. Are you sure?  I'll have to go back and watch. 

No.  They don't have outdoor urinals.  Or at least I never saw one. 

[Whimsy]

1 hour ago, Door County Cherry said:

Hmm. Are you sure?  I'll have to go back and watch. 

No.  They don't have outdoor urinals.  Or at least I never saw one. 

I didn’t think there would be lol, but I swore that’s what she said. Maybe she said “that’s NOT a urinal” 

[JAYJAY1979]

Emily is just...well...not likable 

[Door County Cherry]

50 minutes ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

Emily is just...well...not likable 

And it's a problem that the show is pretty much all about her.  The supporting characters are only built out in relation to her. 

[Prairie Fire]

44 minutes ago, Door County Cherry said:

And it's a problem that the show is pretty much all about her.  The supporting characters are only built out in relation to her. 

Either they're going for some kind of redemption arc, or they're trying to connect with a target audience of incredibly narcissistic young Americans.

[Door County Cherry]

3 minutes ago, Prairie Fire said:

Either they're going for some kind of redemption arc, or they're trying to connect with a target audience of incredibly narcissistic young Americans.

I don't think they realize that she's kind of awful.  For instance, Sylvie and Antoine are involved in an adulterous affair.  They throw in the wife every now and then to remind us of that, as well as the subtle disapproval of others. 

But there's just too much cutesiness with Emily and even Gabriel to make me think they see their awfulness. I  suspect it's more "tortured."

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Whimsy said:

Emily said “that’s a urinal!”, so, do they have outdoor urinals in France?  I’ve never been, so I thought that’s what she was saying. 

They do in Paris.

6 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

I don't think they realize that she's kind of awful.  For instance, Sylvie and Antoine are involved in an adulterous affair.  They throw in the wife every now and then to remind us of that, as well as the subtle disapproval of others. 

But there's just too much cutesiness with Emily and even Gabriel to make me think they see their awfulness. I  suspect it's more "tortured."

Her conversation with Luc in the first episode makes me think it was supposed to be somewhat intentional. Unfortunately they have mostly dropped that and turned her into the plucky heroine who wins over the mean French. 
 

I think Lily Collins is extremely charming but is a little miscast here. Or maybe it’s just a writing issue? She’s just coming across to poised to be believable as the naive outcast. They keep putting Emily into awkward situations but she never really comes across as socially awkward. 

Edited October 4, 2020 by Guest

[Whimsy]

2 hours ago, Dani said:

They do in Paris.

 

Thanks. That’s exactly what it looked like, so it WAS a urinal!

[Door County Cherry]

5 hours ago, Dani said:

They do in Paris.

Wow.  I stand corrected.   

[EdnasEdibles]

There is no way that the urinal wouldn't overwhelmingly smell like piss. I have two children that pee in the flushable toilet in my bathroom every day or my whole bathroom smells. So there's no way she'd just be casually lounging there without the overwhelming pee smell.

[tennisgurl]

I would think that they would have created a different commercial for the American market, I dont need to be a marketing type like Emily supposedly is to know that that wouldn't sell in the states. I did think the whole thing with the culture clash and applying Me Too in such a sexually explicit culture is interesting, I wanted to know what the poll on Twitter said and why people in the states didn't like what she wrote. 

[zenithwit]

On 10/3/2020 at 6:05 PM, Door County Cherry said:

Naked woman walking on a bridge if a very French ad.  Odds are, they'd create something different for the American market so the whole discussion was silly.

This really highlights how the whole premise of this show is silly.  If a "big" American business is buying a "small" French business, it is likely a means for the American company to tap into the French (and European) market and probably something the American company can't do in its own.  So the American company would need the local expertise of the French company to gain traction there and (hopefully) would not micro-manage them. 

So it makes no sense why they sent someone to "teach them the American way".  Sure maybe they would send someone to help with operational efficiency or take over administrative items so that the French office could focus more on the creative work.  Or send an "up and coming"/future executive type there for their mandatory international assignment in order to be promoted.  Actually, the latter scenario could work for this show.  Most of the elements are there already.  They would just need to get rid of Emily's supposed mandate of cultural imperialism.

On a different topic: there is no way any brand (no matter how risqué it is) would want to be associated with a negative term like "sexist".  Creating a Twitter poll asking if the ad was sexist just seems like a PR disaster in the works.  Are focus groups no longer a thing?

[buttersister]

On 10/5/2020 at 2:31 PM, zenithwit said:

They would just need to get rid of Emily's supposed mandate of cultural imperialism.

I believe that’s 100% Emily. For lack of a lick of knowledge of French culture. Can’t quite imagine her Chicago boss pulling that. 

[Bunnyette]

It’s pretty easy to see why the French don’t like Emily...no effort to understand their way of life and force her way on them.

[dubbel zout]

Not to mention her limited attempts to learn the language. One class a week and little effort to really try to speak French doesn't cut it.

[Door County Cherry]

I forgot to mention that her French teacher is one of my favorite characters for saying she'd charge her for hanging out outside of class.  I suppose we're supposed to find that obnoxious but I was so proud of that teacher. 

[Aulty]

Based on appearance and the carefree approach to life I was tempted to compare Emiliy to Zosia Mamet's character in Girls.  Then I remembered Shoshanna's Japanese adventure and how she - alhtough still quite superficial on some levels - totally immersed herself because she was open and curious.

[SeanC]

On 10/5/2020 at 4:19 PM, tennisgurl said:

I would think that they would have created a different commercial for the American market, I dont need to be a marketing type like Emily supposedly is to know that that wouldn't sell in the states.

The most obvious point to raise about it would be that it couldn't air on US TV.

[dubbel zout]

13 hours ago, SeanC said:

The most obvious point to raise about it would be that it couldn't air on US TV.

It could be re-edited/reshot so only the model's back showed, but I think the approach was wrong for the US regardless.

[methodwriter85]

4 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

It could be re-edited/reshot so only the model's back showed, but I think the approach was wrong for the US regardless.

She was right that this would have been ripped to shreds by US culture.

[marny]

The problem I had with Emily’s objections to the commercial is that she (and apparently the writers) didn’t know how to articulate why the commercial was a problem. She threw out buzzwords like “male gaze” and “sexist” but didn’t actually explain why it was more a man’s belief of a what a woman’s fantasy would be, but not actually a woman’s fantasy. If you want your protagonist to be effective, write her that way. Instead she seemed like she had just learned about feminism yesterday and was excited to try to use it. 

[Cramps]

On 10/3/2020 at 8:47 PM, JAYJAY1979 said:

Emily is just...well...not likable 

The problem is that Emily is supposed to annoy her boss, but we are supposed to like and root for her. But she really annoys me too. (I don’t care much for the boss either). But I watched the entire series because -1. Paris! 2. Clothing! 

I feel like this series was made so Darren Star has an excuse to get to work in Paris again. 

[JasonCC]

Paris is starting to get some of those "on the go" urinals, but not as many as Amsterdam.

[aghst]

I like that they didn't put her in some palatial apt. that she couldn't afford, though it has a nice view.

Though maybe if the company is rich, they'd  give her a generous housing allowance like you see in HHI sometimes.

They spent some money on the outdoor shots, including the gorgeous night shots.

As for the series, well Emily is pretty to look at.  Give her credit for putting up with all the resistance at the office.  Yeah she doesn't speak the language or "get" the culture but she had this assignment dumped on her at the last minute.

I've only watched 3 episodes, I gather she will have her triumphs in the end, to show the snooty French what's up.

I'll keep watching for the pretty photography, especially of beautiful places since we can't travel right now.

[HerkyJerky]

On 12/3/2020 at 1:53 AM, aghst said:

Though maybe if the company is rich, they'd  give her a generous housing allowance like you see in HHI sometimes.

HHI?

[Door County Cherry]

45 minutes ago, HerkyJerky said:

HHI?

House Hunters International

[Hanahope]

On 10/7/2020 at 10:02 AM, dubbel zout said:

Not to mention her limited attempts to learn the language. One class a week and little effort to really try to speak French doesn't cut it.

did i miss that this was only once a week?  I would think she would find classes that were at least 3 times a week.  I agree that she needs more french work, but not everyone grasps a new language quickly.  

I don't know how much she makes, but agree that maybe she needs to invest an extra 50 Euros a week or more for some private lessons.

[Inquisitionist]

On 12/3/2020 at 1:53 AM, aghst said:

As for the series, well Emily is pretty to look at.  Give her credit for putting up with all the resistance at the office.  Yeah she doesn't speak the language or "get" the culture but she had this assignment dumped on her at the last minute.

And there's no one back in the home office to check in with her regularly?  The woman she replaced at the last minute (who actually spoke French) is pregnant, not brain-dead.