Textual Analysis – The Devil Wears Prada
Directed by David Frankel
Based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger, which is mainly based around the main character’s career and the film does do this to some extent but also tries to convey the relationships which become ruined by her demanding job. This includes her family, in the scene with her father and her and her friends and boyfriend, Nate. The film has been specifically adapted from the novel to become a romantic comedy, but still maintains dignity in doing so.
The film begins demonstrating a happy, independent looking woman who is living with her boyfriend in New York and getting ready for a job interview. The sequence is intercut with model-looking women who are also getting up and performing their morning routine, which is quite opposite to Andy’s. We see a concentration of make-up, clothes and attention to what they are eating with the model-looking females, whereas in Andy’s case we see her fling on drab and less thought-out clothes to putting on chap-stick instead of carefully applying lipstick as the other women do. The director achieves this distinct contrast through mise en scene and lighting creating a more affluent and appealing looks for the models, then a messier and rougher light on shots of Andy. The representation of the female lead, in comparison to the other women, demonstrates a normal person as opposed to preened and perfect model-looking females. This sequence also sets up the indifference and rejection she faces when acquiring her job at Runway magazine. Also the sequence uses shots of mainly clothes and make-up and food which are obsessed over by these fashion women, but Andy does not even consider them until she realises she has to.
When Andy does decide to change her appearance she becomes accepted more by her colleagues and by her boss. In one way her transformation is clever on her part, demonstrating empowerment, but there is an underlining issue of conformity and stereotypes to receive acceptance. Although the plot seems to spur the reasoning for her change as she is in the fashion world and working for a very important magazine and boss, the change in herself is not accounted for.
It seems during the course of the film as she becomes more interested in Runway, the magazine, and taking her job more seriously she begins to loose her relationships. The segregation is apparent in a scene where she meets her friends after being late from work and apologizes by giving them expensive gifts that ‘Miranda didn’t want’. When her boss rings her, as we see her cell phone make that awful beeping that is identifiable as Miranda, her boyfriend and friends decide to snatch the phone from her. They look and Nate exclaims, ‘Oh yep, it’s the dragon lady’. Andy meanwhile is constantly trying to grab the phone back getting angrier and angrier. Finally she retrieves the phone and says, ‘why do you all have to be such jerks’ then walks away on an errand for Miranda. This segregation in herself and her friends is then apparent and although in later scenes they seem fine, cracks begin to show in all of her relationships from that point. Her dedication to her job and boss is also shown when she is in Paris and discovers that Miranda’s job is in jeopardy. Her determination to find and tell Miranda, are demonstrated and she is shown as a committed employee. This representation of women as hard working goes against early stereotypes and modernises the ideologies of women in the home, far from it her boyfriend is in fact a chef when she works in an office.
Andy’s progression as Miranda’s assistant continues as she becomes responsible for more and more things. We also see Andy’s positive attitude and consistent need for approval, almost contrasting the idea of empowerment as she progresses in her job. The change in Andy is also recognised by her friends and boyfriend as Lily admits she doesn’t know who she is anymore and Nate says that se has become one of the Runway girls. In these scenes Andy tries to deny this assumption but knows that it is true.
The relationship between Andy and Nate seems mainly based on sex as we see many of their scenes containing sexual references towards one another. For example, Nate is angry due to the fact that Andy has not quit her job and she seduces him with her new lingerie to make everything good again. Although we do discover after this that her ‘personal life is hanging by a thread’ as she tells a colleague at work, their relationship seems very sexually based. The directors and writers could have used this to demonstrate the passion and love they feel for one another, or just to demonstrate the nature of their relationship. These disintegrating relationships are due to her job and although she knows this she continues to keep it. This career enforces the idea of a job as a priority for the lead female in the film. Although it is an obvious strain and sadness she feels form her loss of relationships. But it seems her priorities change at the end of her journey and we discover that she puts her relationships ahead of her career to some extent.
When we see Andy’s fling with Christian we see her need for sexual attention as she is complimented by his chat up lines which before she rejected with a laugh. This then demonstrates a vulnerability which is common in the representation of women in romantic comedies. Although she is seemingly under the influence she does sleep with him, giving her lead a sexual empowerment. She also becomes empowered near the end of the film as we see her fling her phone into the large fountain in Paris as it ring same tone that you can tell its Miranda. The phone is a key part as it has been a constant annoyance for Andy and her relationships during the film, so throwing it in the fountain is almost the ultimate empowerment and release from her demanding job and boss that has destroyed her relationships.
