When one is looking up personal accounts of visits to the famed ‘City of Lights’, a common trait is a whelming sense of disappointment in the writer. Many who visit Paris find themselves pressed by the reality of the city breaking their preconceived notions of Paris as a romantic destination, picturesque, and clean, so much so, that this feeling has gained its own name: Paris Syndrome.
Paris syndrome, which commonly occurs in tourists to the city, primarily those from Asian countries, is defined as a sense of disappointment among visitors to the famed city, who find the city not meeting their own expectations. This can manifest through several symptoms:
“Paris Syndrome manifests itself differently in different people, but amongst the most common symptoms are acute delusions, hallucinations, dizziness, sweating, and feelings of persecution.”
Overall, Paris Syndrome is primarily overwhelming feelings of homesickness or culture shock. Much of this is a result of media portrayals of the city; when Paris is portrayed in tv, movies, and other media, as it commonly is, they rarely showcase the seedier sides of Paris, usually restraining themselves to depicting picturesque scenes by the Seine, dimly lit empty streets clear of debris or crowds, popular tourist areas like Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower absent of any tourists or scam artists, or a postcard picture of daily life, complete with a complementary baguette, beret, and mime.
In reality, Paris is a living city, continually expanding and growing. The city is so much more beyond historical sites, complete with the hiccups and bumps urban life grants you. As an urban city, Paris is not safe from crime, litter, and congestion, and sufferers of Paris Syndrome seem to forget this in their own ideas of the city.
When browsing personal accounts of visits to Paris online, the overall gist of reactions was extremely mixed. Many tourists, as I have seen, seem to suffer from this Paris Syndrome and seem to take no precautions against it; many seem to visit Paris and expect it to be easy to handle and navigate, and as such, take a generic touristic approach to their visit, hopping from site to site, without attempting to explore or blend in. This method of visit limits their own perspective of the city, as well as only exposing them to the worst aspects of it: crowds, smells, and through negligible attempts to adapt, makes them targets of scams, cheap tourist services, and subpar vendors. Afterward, these tourists rant online about how Paris is an actual city with crowds, trash, and god-forbid, non-white people. In actuality, their own accounts expose the flaws in their own approach, with little attempts to experience the city beyond the basic tourist traits. Yes, this may be limited by budget and time constraints, but even with these, there are alternative ways to experience even the most generic Paris destinations.
When I first embarked on this trip, I expected myself to suffer from Paris Syndrome to such a degree that I am now adamantly in the opposite camp. My own negative preconceptions of Paris have helped improve my current view of the city. Paris, so far, is great, warts and all. Even the negative aspects, the trash, the annoying vendors, the crowds, and the constant smells of piss and cigarettes, add to my own view of the city; they make the city feel alive and like an actual living area. People live in Paris, it goes beyond the nice architecture and historical sites.
Instead, I argue that the only reason Paris Syndrome exists is because of the city’s greatness. The only reason Paris Syndrome is so prevalent is that much of it warrants the beneficial reputation it has gained: the beautiful architecture, countless museums and historical sites, long-spanning history, food, art, transit, and much more. Note how no other city on earth has gained such a reputation (besides Jersusalem but that’s a whole other thing); other well-known cities, New York, Tokyo, Berlin, London, etc., are popular but are often portrayed with their negative natures intact, substantial but endearing grime covering their more attractive aspects. Paris on the other hand, lacks this same portrayal due to its unique nature among these cities; I would argue that Paris is the only city on earth able to balance being both a living organism and a well-aged locale. Yes, Paris is overwhelmingly portrayed as romantic-esque in media, but deservedly so.
This is such a great depiction of the realities of such a romanticized destination! You really put into words the same wonder that I feel at how all of the moving parts of Paris make it much better and more real. Beautiful!!
Hey Eric, thank you for acknowledging Paris syndrome because honestly whenever I mention to someone that I’m abroad right now they’re all like “Do you have Paris syndrome? Is it really as underwhelming as they say?” and honestly I haven’t even had that feeling yet! I’m glad you were able to put into words that the only reason the syndrome exists is because Paris is always changing and evolving, in the words of Ratatouille, “Change is nature, the part that we can influence.” If we never change Paris, eventually it would fade into obscurity, forgotten by everyone
Thank you for writing this Eric. I think I have had a little bit of the Paris Syndrome. The movies and tv shows, like Emily in Paris, portray it as a place to fall in love, in reality if I smile at a guy its an invitation to be flirtatious but that is not my intention. I had the notion that all f Paris and surrounding localities are beautiful and historical, but that is not the case. The outskirts of Paris are not the most attractive, some parts are quaint. The first few days I felt like I was on another planet, but just like anywhere, Paris, though grand, is a normal place where people live and work. To tourists, like us it is new and exciting, but it even after a couple weeks here, I have gotten into a routine and have made Paris my home for this month of July.