The Panel-Discussion-Before-the-Panel-Discussion

Authors Janet Hulstrand, Harriet Welty Rochefort, Mark Greenside and I are preparing for a panel discussion, “Demystifying the French” (a take-off on Janet’s recent book) that will take place on Zoom January 29th sponsored by the Federation of Alliances Françaises USA. The webinar is free and is our second one. The first one was so successful, the Federation invited us back.

We had our own panel-discussion-before-the-panel-discussion about how important it would be to discuss Season 2 of Emily in Paris (Netflix). As a result of our panel-discussion-before-the-panel-discussion, we’ve extended the session by 15 minutes, and will likely even go longer if the audience is so inclined.

The panel-discussion-before-the-panel-discussion happened because I suggested we make the American comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star the focus of our cultural debate. If you haven’t seen it, it’s set and filmed in a perfect Paris (no garbage on the streets, no masks on the faces, no scooters running people over, etc.) all about a young and gorgeous woman (played Lily Collins) who was sent to Paris to work for a French marketing firm (even though she is way too young and inexperienced for such a plum job), and her struggles experiencing culture clash after culture clash after culture clash. She and everyone she knows is dressed as if they came right out of a runway fashion show of the eccentric and extreme by a badass fashion designer—clothing that not only costs a large fortune, but one that Parisians wouldn’t be caught dead wearing. (Not real Parisians, anyway, who have no money for such frivolities and love their understated black, brown, gray, taupe, navy and khaki.)

It’s impossible to be indifferent about Emily. You either love it or hate it. The French hate it for negatively stereotyping Parisians and the French. Americans who live in Paris hate it for negatively stereotyping Americans, Parisians and the French. But starry-eyed Americans who dream of living in Paris love it for all its stylized perfection and and ability to put you in Emily‘s shoes. I became incensed when in Episode 2 she goes to Saint-Tropez by way of Villefranche-sur-Mer, and stays in a hotel in Cap Ferrat…do they think we’re really that stupid that we don’t know that her hotel is 122 kilometers away from her event in Saint-Tropez?

The panel-discussion-before-the-panel-discussion decided that the panel discussion shouldn’t be ALL about Emily, but that Emily would be impossible to ignore, so she will be included if given the time. The real focus will be on specific questions posed to each of us panelists based on who we are and what we do, plus a few general questions we will each have time to answer. There’s nothing more fun than talking about the famous culture clash between Americans and the French…because there are simply so many that none of us can even begin to make a list—the reason so many books have been written on the subject and why there is room for so many more.

In one of our panel-discussions-before-the-panel-discussion, Janet wrote “I think it’s going to be really fun, and interesting too. (Demystifying the French, Chapter 7: The Importance of Being Interesting)”

No joke. There is no way for it not to be. So be sure to mark your calendars for January 29th! I’ll be in Los Angeles when we Zoom it—an 11 day visit with my daughter and brief repose after an intense 2021 and holiday season tying up all the loose ends…but more about that later…

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Demystifying the French FREE
Saturday, January 29, 2022
10am PST/ 1am MST/12pm CST/1pm EST

A la prochaine…