Analyzing "The Devil Wears Prada" Movie

            Have you ever heard of a movie called The Devil Wears Prada? The Devil Wears Prada is a romantic/comedy film directed by David Frankel and produced by Wendy Finerman. The movie is an adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s novel with the same title, “The Devil Wears Prada”. The Devil Wears Prada is released by 20^th Century Fox and rated PG-13 for some sensuality. Before being released in movie theatres, The Devil Wears Prada first premiered at LA Film Festival. The storyline is based on Weisberger’s work experience as an assistant at Vogue magazine. Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, the two most brilliant American actresses played the main characters in this movie. Initially, Rachel McAdams (a successful actress in movies The Notebook and Mean Girls) was supposed to play in the movie instead of Hathaway but McAdams refused and the role landed on Hathaway. However, Hathaway and Streep managed to portray their roles really well and charmingly. Streep’s scored her 14^th Oscar Bid because of this movie. Emily Blunt, who played the important support character in the movie, also gained quite nominations. The Devil Wears Prada achieved the 20^th rank in All-Time Worldwide Box Office for Comedy Movies with a 41 million USD budget and 326.7 million USD income. The shot of this movie took 57 days placed in New York and Paris. “Prada”, as stated in the movie title, is a high-end designer brand. The Devil Wears Prada is a movie about the fashion industry and its workers. The costuming of the movie, adjusted to the theme of the film, featured their wardrobe with high-end brands such as Chanel, Calvin Klein, and Dolce Gabbana. This 109-minute movie shows us three American values that I would like to discuss in this essay which are hard work, competition, and material wealth.

Figure 1. Vogue's Article: 43 Outfits that cemented The Devil Wears Prada in fashion history.

            Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is a fresh graduate journalist from Northwestern University. Andy thought that the fashion industry is shallow and she does not get into the fashion industry. Despite her opinion on the fashion industry, she applies for a job in Runway magazine as a personal assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) the editor-in-chief of Runway. Miranda’s personality is extraordinarily cruel, she is a cold person, very demanding, and has a collection of sharp words in her vocabulary. At first, Andy struggles with her job as a personal assistant, though Miranda only gives Andie simple tasks (receiving calls, getting coffee, hanging Miranda’s coat, etc). Andy’s co-worker, Emily Charlton, does not help with her current situation because of her constant snarky remark and condescending attitude toward Andy. In a dress trial meeting, Miranda holds two different blue belts, weighing which one fits the dress more. Andy laughs accidentally because she thinks it is ridiculous, that the color of the belts is exactly the same. Miranda coldly explains that this cerulean blue she will pick would be the influence of Andie’s wardrobe, especially the blue cerulean sweater that she is wearing. From then on, Andie starts putting effort into her job. She begins to master handling the non-stop calls, Miranda's demands, and most importantly her appearance since she is working at a fashion magazine. Miranda starts to acknowledge Andy’s new appearance and dedication to Runway magazine. Miranda then gives Andy complicated tasks and important responsibilities. In this part of the movie, one of the aspects of American values is presented: hard work. Andie’s thought about how shallow the fashion industry vanished and she starts taking her job seriously, Andie realizes that Miranda’s saying that millions of girls would kill for this job is true. Besides that, she also wants to get Miranda’s approval and recognition. “Land of Opportunities” is what America is known for but not everyone could get the same, great opportunity. People have to do hard work to achieve those great opportunities, to have a content and comfortable life, and importantly, to just survive living in America. That is why hard work is a very important American value because hard work is one of the things to keep people living.

            Next, I would like to discuss the second American value in The Devil Wears Prada, competition. Following the journey of Andy in Runway magazine, Andy surpasses Emily’s performance at work. One day, Miranda, Andy, and Emily attend a charity event that lots of Miranda’s acquaintances go to. Usually, Emily whispers to Miranda about the names of Miranda’s acquaintances yet Emily cannot remember this one name, Andy jumps in to help Emily and Miranda has an approval look on her face for Andy. Miranda is impressed because Andy effectively memorized all Miranda’s acquaintances in one night. A while later, Miranda asks Andy to be Miranda’s assistant, replacing Emily. This means that Emily would not go to Paris for Paris Fashion Week which Emily was anticipating. Andy has to break the news to Emily while Emily is in the hospital (Emily got hit by a car earlier). Emily melts down saying that Andy does not even care about the fashion industry but instead gets everything. American values competition, they can be competitive since they want to achieve certain goals and keep up with those around them, particularly at work. Americans believe that competition brings out people’s best ability and Andy proves that point right unconsciously. Andy does not want to upset Emily but deep-down Andy is proud of herself.

            Lastly, material wealth. Andy becomes this whole new person with all her designer brand clothes, going to Paris, and hanging out with elite/Upper Side people in New York. However, this new glamourous life Andy is having does not make her happy completely. Her relationship with her boyfriend is crashing down, and she starts to drift apart from her friends and starts to forget about her true self, her simple self. The same thing happened with Miranda, alongside her wealth, fancy clothes, and reputation, her tight schedule, handling Runway magazine, and deciding pieces for a fashion show, she got extremely busy. Miranda does not have strong bonds with her children and her marriage is falling apart considering she is rarely home to spend time with her family. In my opinion, it is a good thing and a bad thing when it comes to material wealth. Material wealth became a value to the American people because they want to improve their standard of living but in that process there, they tend to forget and neglect the most important thing in life which is family or the people who are very close to us. The Devil Wears Prada shows us that if you are wealthy, it does not mean you are happy or feel whole as a person.

            In conclusion, The Devil Wears Prada wraps a few American values into a witty and entertaining story. As an individual, we have to balance hard work, competition, and material wealth because it can backfire. Mainly for the American values of material wealth. Seeking material values to live a good life is good but do not get caught up in it and become materialistic. I think The Devil Wears Prada is a joy to watch and I really recommend it.

References 

Nash Information Services LLC, The Number of The Devil Wears Prada, accessed 19 November 2021, https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Devil-Wears-Prada-The#tab=summary

USA Hello, What Are the Most Important American Values, accessed 19 November 2021, https://usahello.org/life-in-usa/culture/american-values/#gref

Cady Lang, Time Magazine, 13 Things You Never Knew About The Devil Wears Prada, accessed 19 November 2021, https://time.com/4388732/devil-wears-prada-unknown-facts/