Unlike Emily, I Will Be Robbed in Paris.

Read also on The Rutgers Review Spring 2023 Edition "Mirage."

“Why hasn’t Netflix canceled this stupid show?” perhaps all of us want to ask. “Emily in Paris” has been running for two years, and the third season only escalates its foolish plots and characters. Nonetheless, the show remains popular.

An ongoing theme throughout the show is social media. Emily’s absurd but glamorous life in Paris certainly brings attention to her social media account, but on social media, she never shares her outrageous behavior. Her followers only see carefully selected aspects of her life. We as an audience see Emily's life without a social media filter. Still, it's hard to find anything reasonable about her as a terribly flawed person. She seems to work very well all the time. All of her difficulties can be solved miraculously with a snap. Camille is still willing to be Emily’s friend even after realizing Emily has slept with her boyfriend. And the only trouble in her life seems to be deciding between two handsome guys.

Season 3 makes an interesting echo of Emily's love interests, Gabriel and Alfie, and her choice of whether to return to America or stay in Paris. It's still an unrealistic choice, but it's the idea of the third season, which is "not choosing.” The episodes are likely to give the audience an escape route from reality. We tend to make careful choices when faced with two job offers and reject the date that we are not very interested in. But Emily, in the plot arrangement, does not need it. She never needs to choose between her options, but simply sinks into the beautiful and bizarre city of Paris.

After Season One, many people responded on social media by making videos showing “real Paris life.“ Emily never encounters pick-pocketers in the show, but this is what you might face in Paris. And it's likely that your neighbor won't be a handsome chef who runs a restaurant downstairs. You also won't meet a crazy rich Asian girl who happens to speak English in the park. It's as if people know Emily's life isn't real, but they are still caught up in an adult fashion fairy tale.

As we browse through exciting moments on social media, we also see the unrealistic world it has created for us. Social media has empowered us to edit our lives. We can ignore actual problems by focusing only on our highlighted moments. You only see other people's glamorous or hilarious reels and believe these are real. But even the most fantastic bubble will always pop, burst, and barely leave a trace on the ground.

I may travel to Paris one day, but I will turn off my social media. I won't try to collage a life that isn't true to me, and I won't be browsing and scrolling through thousands of Emily versions of “Paris.”