Critically panned Netflix series Emily in Paris sparks photoshopped memes from Perlis to Pasir Ris

The latest meme-worthy sensation on Netflix is a series called Emily in Paris, a show that veers into trashy indulgence territory for being ridiculously bad but extremely watchable. 

Derided for being culturally tone-deaf, the new Netflix series sees Lily Collins (yes, Phil Collins’ daughter) as the titular Emily, a so-called social media marketing maven deployed to Paris to handle French clients for a luxury marketing firm. So far it has pissed off real social media marketers, French people, and generally everyone else who likes good TV. 

And yet, people are bingeing through the entire season out of anger. At the very least, the memes that have sprung up from the hate-watched phenomenon are pretty good, and even local humour pages have jumped on the bandwagon. 

On Saturday (Oct 17), SGAG put up some photoshopped images of Emily in Pasir Ris as a play on the name. 

Jose Raymond, the Singapore People’s Party leader who ran for the Member of Parliament seat in Potong Pasir, followed up with his own takes on Emily romping around the quaint residential neighbourhood. 

In one of the better ones, Reddit user u/cktnoktpls put up a well-edited photo of Emily in Pasir Ris, but this time among the National Servicemen waiting for their transport at Pasir Ris Bus Interchange.

Emily in Pasir Ris from r/singapore

Twitter user @izzraifharz had jokes too with Emily in Perlis, where the social media marketer took selfies among the hoi polloi in the smallest state in Malaysia. 

Emily in Perlis pic.twitter.com/664ILeC936

— izzi (@IzzRaifHarz) October 16, 2020

Regardless of the worldwide ire over the series, it’s likely that it would get a second season. Emily in Paris has trended into Netflix’s Top 10 in Singapore chart and is the third-most watched show on the streaming platform in America. It’s pure escapist fantasy with little substance, and perhaps that’s prime fodder for troubled times such as these.  

ilyas@asiaone.com