Cult brands, self-made woman, a career at any cost and other ideas of the movie “The Devil Wears Prada”
Country: USA, France
Genre: comedy, adaptation
Year of production: 2006
Directed by: David Frankel
Actors: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci
tagline: “This season, the devil will come in heels…”
Awards and nominations: In 2007, the picture received several nominations for the Golden Globe. As a result, the award for “Best Actress” went to Meryl Streep.
The plot and meaning of The Devil Wears Prada is not original: director David Frankel tells a simple story about the importance of prioritizing. And in this picture, all the stupidity and absurdity of a glamorous life is clearly shown, the main motto of which was the principle “To live with wolves – howl like a wolf”.
What is the movie about
A brief description of the content of the picture. Young Andrea Sachs (for friends – Andy) dreams of a career as a journalist. However, not a single decent publishing house has yet taken her, yesterday’s graduate. Therefore, stepping on the throat of his own pride, Andy gets a job in the Podium fashion magazine as a junior assistant to the editor-in-chief, the legendary Miranda Priestley.
The role of Andrea was played by Anne Hathaway. Frame from the film.
The girl is infinitely far from brands, trends and fashion shows, and her sense of style is unfamiliar. However, her soft self-confidence and courage (before her, no one dared to object to “Miranda herself”) impresses her potential boss, and she takes her on the staff.
At first, Andy thinks she is in hell. Miranda is not only demanding and despotic, but also capricious. She never explains or repeats her orders, but at the same time she demands that her colleagues fulfill all her whims. Andy works hard and often literally disappears in the office for days.
Friends and relatives of the girl are surprised: why does she not change jobs? After all, she is paid little, and what she does is the least like journalism. But Andy has a fixed idea: if she stays with Miranda for a year, she will give her recommendations with which she will get a job in any publishing house in New York. The answer is simple: recommendations from “Miranda herself” are a happy ticket to life.
Life in the office is not sugar. In addition to the boss, Andy’s brain is taken out by the head assistant, the swaggering and arrogant Emily, who is obsessed with the idea of u200bu200bdriving with her boss to a fashion show in Paris and getting a bunch of branded items for nothing. Stylist Nigel, who is generally sympathetic to the girl, constantly puts pressure on her, reminding her that she got into the Runway by pure chance. It is from him that the tired, exhausted Andy most often hears the refrain “Millions of girls dream of this position” – and feels guilty, because it seems to her that she is not trying hard enough.
Further in the story, Andy finds himself at one of the fashion parties and meets the writer Christian Thompson there. Andy has a boyfriend with whom she has serious feelings, but a strong spark flares up between her and Christian. One day, when Miranda demands to get the unpublished manuscript of the seventh Harry Potter, he helps her out and jokingly hints that Andy is now in his debt.
Simon Baker as Christian Thompson. Frame from the film.
Putting a book on the boss’s table, the girl for the first time bothers to give a mean praise. Since then, her business has been on the upswing. Befriending Nigel, she asks him to let her in on the finer points of fashion, and a pleased stylist helps her transform. Even Emily warms up to her over time. Meanwhile, the girl’s personal life is going downhill: her boyfriend Nate is jealous of her work, her friends are trolling that now they are not her company. The young man encourages Andy to come down from heaven to earth and admit that her priorities have changed a lot. But she does not want to listen to him.
Emily, meanwhile, is preparing for the trip, but recently her “rating” at work has fallen sharply – she failed several Miranda assignments, and Andy, having rescued a friend, coped with them brilliantly. In the end, the boss, in her usual manner, informs the girl that she will go to Paris instead of Emily and makes it clear that she will not accept refusal.
Andy is at a crossroads: to agree is to lose Emily’s sympathy and trust, to refuse is to lose everything. Tragic case solves: Emily gets hit by a car and gets several fractures. Of course, there can be no question of any trip, however, when she learns that Andy is going to Paris, the girl is expected to be furious.
Before leaving for Paris, the main character of The Devil Wears Prada finally quarrels with Nate. Believing that she broke up with him, she becomes close to Christian and learns from him about the conspiracy against Miranda. The meaning of the upcoming “palace coup” is to remove the “ice queen” from the post of editor-in-chief of “Podium”.
Amazed, Andy tries to inform her boss about this, for whom she has managed to feel sincere sympathy for all this time. But she knows everything for a long time. Moreover, she makes a masterful move with a knight, offering a potential rival the position that she promised Nigel.
Ending explanation
Explanation of the ending of The Devil Wears Prada. Andrea, unpleasantly surprised by Miranda’s act, dares to tell her that this is not fair. In response to this, Mrs. Priestley objects that head-butting is the norm for someone who wants to achieve something. She says to Andy that she sees in her a “second self”, to which the girl again objects: she is not like that. Miranda retorts: so-so, because she beat Emily. Andy has nothing to say to that…
Nevertheless, it is at this moment that the girl clearly understands: there is no point in working in the “Podium” further: she does not want and does not agree to turn into a cynical, ruthless “shark”.
In the finale, Andy leaves Miranda. When she tries to call her, the girl resolutely throws out her mobile phone.
Closer to the final, Andrea returns to Nate and gets a job in one of the capital’s newspapers. The new boss informs the girl that he received recommendations from “Miranda Priestley herself”, in which she categorically declares that if he does not hire Andy, then he is an idiot.
Everything fell into place. Having finally broken with her former ambitions, Andrea calls up Emily and invites her to pick up all the outfits that she brought from Paris. She, having broken down, agrees.
Meryl Streep played the role of Miranda Priestley and Emily Blunt played the role of Emily. Frame from the film.
In the last scene, Andy briefly meets Miranda. Sitting in the car, the editor-in-chief of Podium for the first time sincerely, warmly smiles.
The point of the Devil Wears Prada ending is that Miranda is pleased that Andy has remained true to herself. Despite the strong temptation, she did not sell her soul to the devil, did not betray her dream, and even (unlike Miranda herself) maintained a relationship with her loved one. Not everyone can go through temptations and remain themselves. That is, Miranda really saw herself in Andy – herself, who confidently took a different path.
The meaning of the film
The film, based on the autobiographical book of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, clearly reflects the type of career building according to the “boss/subordinate/team” scheme of the early 2000s. Like a novel, The Devil Wears Prada has no hidden meaning, its main purpose is to entertain. At the same time, this is not a stupid and very ironic work that makes you think about many things.
When Andy comes to hire, she is told that they need a person “who will survive here.” This was the main principle of work in large corporations of the early 2000s, which can be paraphrased as: “Flap your wings or you’re done.” Getting into a large corporation for the sake of a career line and surviving at any cost in the 2000s was the norm. Success had to be earned through pain, sweat and blood.
Stanley Tucci starred as Nigel. Frame from the film.
One of the main values is expressed in chorus by Andy’s friends when she meets them in a cafe and celebrates her induction. When making a toast, they say: “To work that pays.” The point is that if a worker is paid, he will endure anything – any extravagant demand from a despotic boss, any humiliation, and perhaps even harassment. That’s the only way he can survive in this world.
Miranda and Andy’s relationship is a lot like an overbearing, devaluing parent and a child who wants to earn praise and love. One day, the boss tells the girl that she disappointed her. She goes to complain to Nigel, and he rather harshly lowers her from heaven to earth: the corporation is a big family, and the boss is its head. Please her – and you will be granted freedom of choice, and a little later you will be released into life with a lucky ticket in your hand.
Indeed, in the 2000s, the boss’s praise had to be earned. Humiliation and insults on his part were perceived only as part of the notorious “adult life”. A person who worked at that time in a large company knows perfectly well what it means to recognize authority and sacrifice your comfort for the sake of business.
And yet, who is Miranda? This is not just a demonic boss. She really loves her job, which is of great value to her. For her, the work of fashion designers and stylists is important, who create, invent – in a word, they create. Andy constantly devalues the world of fashion, because for her work with Miranda is just a springboard. She, perfectly understanding this, in a few minutes teaches the girl the most important lesson: there is no need to humiliate someone else’s work.
Meryl Streep as Miranda. Frame from the film.
However, after working with Miranda, Andy realized not only that. She realized what real freedom is and learned to appreciate it. By exchanging Podium with a toxic boss for a modest newspaper and the opportunity to finally apply her skills, she anticipated the emergence of a new type of employee on the labor market – a person for whom the main thing is not earnings, but their own value and acceptance of the team.
So what’s the point of the movie? On the one hand, this is a light, sweet story with a classic plot of Cinderella’s transformation into a real Princess – a person with self-esteem, able to make a free choice and go to a better life. On the other hand, the painting by David Frankel, revealing the age-old truth “not all that glitters is gold”, tells the story of an ugly duckling, which, having gained invaluable experience, turned into a beautiful swan…
The meaning of the name
Why The Devil Wears Prada? Most viewers who have analyzed the picture offer the following interpretation: PRADA is a cult brand. The main “function” of the devil is to tempt and seduce. And few people can resist the chance to become rich and influential.
Instead of “PRADA”, there could be any other brand, but for some reason, the name brand is attributed to the connection with the unclean …
Adrian Grenier as Nate. Frame from the film.
Similar films
Here are a few films similar in plot and meaning to The Devil Wears Prada:
- “Shopaholic” (USA, 2009). A young journalist from a major financial publication is obsessed with shopping.
- “Offer” (USA, 2009). The head of a large firm faces serious sanctions. To avoid them, she is ready for anything – even to get married.
- “Good morning” (USA, 2010). Producer Becky Fuller’s career is on the verge of collapse. Trying to rehabilitate her, she suddenly realizes that love has come into her life …
- “Intern” (USA, 2015). When Ben Whitaker retired, he got bored. To cope with the oncoming depression, he decided to get a job as an intern at an online fashion store.
