The Devil Wears Prada
Feb. 20th, 2017 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luckykaaI seem to be the one in the relationship who likes "Chick Flicks". A lot of films are unfairly maligned by this label. I thought Mean girls was great, Clueless is hilarious. Last night's movie was The Devil Wears Prada. Not everyone's cup of tea but certainly one of my not-so-guilty pleasures.
Oddly, I only watched it because it was an in-flight movie option. When flying, I always go for the films that seem interesting but I probably wouldn't otherwise watch. A tiny screen is not how to get a full cinematic experience.
The part that hooked me, and pretty much every critic was the speech from Miranda (Meryl Streep) about how the fashion industry affects everything people wear. It's possibly a bit of an exaggeration, but there's a lot of tuth to it. The black jeans I'm wearing right made it to Next's product line because a few years ago someone decided black jeans are cool. Even the fact that I wear boxers was influenced by a Levis ad (probably more of an advertising decision than a fashion decision but it's all part of the fashion/publishing/popular-culture empire). Surprisingly, this was actually removed from an early draft. Meryl Streep insisted it was put back.
I have some issues with part of the message this seems to be pushing though. Essentially, Andy's friends are awful!
Her friends are shallow and a little hypocritical "We used to laugh at these people" says Nate, her boyfriend. He's pretty damn pretentious when it comes to food, and he's a chef, so it's not like he's curing cancer ether. Lily is shallow as they come "Yes, we hate these fashion obsessed people, but squee!!! Designer handbag". So, after handing out expensive toys to her friends, she gets a call from her boss - and do what do they do? They play keep-away with her phone! Their playful game could literally cost Andy her career!
Andy wants to work as a writer in New York. This is an insanely competitive industry. Any way in at all is like gold dust! Even Andy has trouble working this out. Sure, she doesn't wear the high fashion, but she could at least wear a suit and go for smart professionalism. She's customer facing! It finally takes some tough love from Nigel "Because this place, where so many people would die to work you only deign to work". To her credit, she pays attention. She listens. She changes her appearance and actually starts taking this heaven sent opportunity seriously. And it works! No idea why the art director is actually helping her at all, but maybe he felt he wanted a puppy.
Perhaps, though, he should have given this speech to Nate. Nate bitches because she misses his birthday. He damn well knew what he was signing up for when she took this position. She's going to be a slave for a year! The year will include his birthday! He just spends most of the film bitching because Andy is giving her life over to the job. They knew it was going to go this way. She gets an opportunity to go to Paris! This is obviously a big deal. Is Nate happy for her? No! He bitches about it.
She then hooks up with Christian - a well known writer who she's been flirting with for most of the movie. Christan gets it. He understands that she wants a career in journalism. He knows what you need to go through for that. And he's cool with it. His social life and his working life are merged. They actually get to spend time together while on the job. He knows how to make it work.
Christian is portrayed as a bit of a villain towards the end for trying to oust Miranda. This is an nasty underhand trick of the sort that Miranda wouldn't hestitate to play. She's knows the rules and plays the game well. She's ruined countless lives, often for trivial reasons. The only life that would be harmed here would be hers, as though she wouldn't bounce back immediately. Even if she didn't, her retirement would be a better life than about 99% of New Yorkers enjoy.
People don't move to New York for work life balance. Especially in their early 20's! They go there because they want a career. The moral here is trying to be "don't lose yourself to your career", but the messages that comes across is "give up on your dreams", because it's too hard.
I feel I'm being too critical. I enjoy the film. Meryl Streep is excellent, and I rather like Stanley Tucci. I just wanted Andy to ditch that loser boyfriend for good.
Oddly, I only watched it because it was an in-flight movie option. When flying, I always go for the films that seem interesting but I probably wouldn't otherwise watch. A tiny screen is not how to get a full cinematic experience.
The part that hooked me, and pretty much every critic was the speech from Miranda (Meryl Streep) about how the fashion industry affects everything people wear. It's possibly a bit of an exaggeration, but there's a lot of tuth to it. The black jeans I'm wearing right made it to Next's product line because a few years ago someone decided black jeans are cool. Even the fact that I wear boxers was influenced by a Levis ad (probably more of an advertising decision than a fashion decision but it's all part of the fashion/publishing/popular-culture empire). Surprisingly, this was actually removed from an early draft. Meryl Streep insisted it was put back.
I have some issues with part of the message this seems to be pushing though. Essentially, Andy's friends are awful!
Her friends are shallow and a little hypocritical "We used to laugh at these people" says Nate, her boyfriend. He's pretty damn pretentious when it comes to food, and he's a chef, so it's not like he's curing cancer ether. Lily is shallow as they come "Yes, we hate these fashion obsessed people, but squee!!! Designer handbag". So, after handing out expensive toys to her friends, she gets a call from her boss - and do what do they do? They play keep-away with her phone! Their playful game could literally cost Andy her career!
Andy wants to work as a writer in New York. This is an insanely competitive industry. Any way in at all is like gold dust! Even Andy has trouble working this out. Sure, she doesn't wear the high fashion, but she could at least wear a suit and go for smart professionalism. She's customer facing! It finally takes some tough love from Nigel "Because this place, where so many people would die to work you only deign to work". To her credit, she pays attention. She listens. She changes her appearance and actually starts taking this heaven sent opportunity seriously. And it works! No idea why the art director is actually helping her at all, but maybe he felt he wanted a puppy.
Perhaps, though, he should have given this speech to Nate. Nate bitches because she misses his birthday. He damn well knew what he was signing up for when she took this position. She's going to be a slave for a year! The year will include his birthday! He just spends most of the film bitching because Andy is giving her life over to the job. They knew it was going to go this way. She gets an opportunity to go to Paris! This is obviously a big deal. Is Nate happy for her? No! He bitches about it.
She then hooks up with Christian - a well known writer who she's been flirting with for most of the movie. Christan gets it. He understands that she wants a career in journalism. He knows what you need to go through for that. And he's cool with it. His social life and his working life are merged. They actually get to spend time together while on the job. He knows how to make it work.
Christian is portrayed as a bit of a villain towards the end for trying to oust Miranda. This is an nasty underhand trick of the sort that Miranda wouldn't hestitate to play. She's knows the rules and plays the game well. She's ruined countless lives, often for trivial reasons. The only life that would be harmed here would be hers, as though she wouldn't bounce back immediately. Even if she didn't, her retirement would be a better life than about 99% of New Yorkers enjoy.
People don't move to New York for work life balance. Especially in their early 20's! They go there because they want a career. The moral here is trying to be "don't lose yourself to your career", but the messages that comes across is "give up on your dreams", because it's too hard.
I feel I'm being too critical. I enjoy the film. Meryl Streep is excellent, and I rather like Stanley Tucci. I just wanted Andy to ditch that loser boyfriend for good.
