The Devil Wears Prada (film)/Headscratchers


 * Why exactly are we supposed to hate/resent Christian? Because he took a once-in-a-lifetime job offer? Seriously, who wouldn't jump at that. Because he's not sympathetic toward Miranda? Andy is pretty much the only person in the world with any sympathy for her, and only because she'd just seen her at her worst. Because he took Andy to bed on their first date? It was their first official date but they'd known each other for months before. IMHO Christian would have been a much more suitable boyfriend for Andy than Nate: he's mature, successful, has a lot in common with Andy, seems genuinely interested in her (you don't put that kind of effort into getting a girl for just one night), and most of all he understands what her work entails and doesn't reprehend her for it. He didn't deserve to be cast in such a negative light at the end.
 * Entirely true. Christian actually seemed to be looking out for Andy and trying to help her with her career, yet we're apparently meant to see him as a playboy enticing her away from her dull friends. Then he gets shafted by Miranda and just disappears from the film.
 * I found it ironic that the boyfriend who tells Andy that it's just clothes was earlier pontificating about French fries.
 * Ah, but he knows this! You see, he makes port wine reductions all day! He's not exactly in the Peace Corps! He wouldn't care if she was a poledancer as long as she did it with a little integrity! You have to appreciate those lines, because that's where the movie pretty much tells you that it measures "integrity" by the sole criterion of not growing away from your social circle for any reason, and that what you decide to do for a living doesn't even enter into it.
 * Not to mention that, at the end of the movie, he moves to Boston to become a sous-chef. Apparently, embracing new horizons (while still appreciating old ones) to further your carreer is a big no-no, but physically distancing yourself from your friends is A-OK.
 * Seriously, her friends all suck. In that scene where they play keep-away with her phone when they know it's her legendarily unforgiving boss calling (right after she gave them all that free stuff!), how is it that she's supposed to be the asshole for not finding it hilarious? (Not to mention, I bet the rest of the restaurant enjoyed listening to that godawful ringtone for way longer than necessary.)
 * It always bugged me that they branded her the bad friend for that. If she had done that to any of them they would've been angry and potentially lost their job for not answering the phone to a bad boss. Everyone's had a shitty boss; wouldn't they understand that this was a job dangling problem? Really, her friends came off as immature and overly idealistic, while she was the one who matured and understood that sometimes you work jobs that aren't 100% perfect because they get you where you need go to.
 * I kind of lost interest in the film at that point because they seemed to be playing the "She's becoming a bad person who needs to give up her successful career and get back in touch with her roots" card. Thankfully they managed to avoid completely undoing her character development by having her go back to her non-entity friends and dull boyfriend, even if she does give all her clothes away. And seriously, her friends are on screen for about ten minutes in the entire film, why are we meant to care that she isn't spending time with them?
 * This issue is that Andy completely changes who she is in order to fit in at Runway and becomes a fashionista b**ch and mini-Miranda. Yes, she wants to be a journalist and yes working at Runway is a prestige job, but you should never do a complete 180 turn for a job. It seems like at the end she's at the sort of liberal muckracking paper which fits her personality and is a place where she would actually get to write something (i.e. city council meetings and the police blotter) rather than just picking up dry cleaning and answering phones.
 * I was actually on the side of her friends. No seriously. The opening scenes establish Andy as close to her friends, happy with her boyfriend, and most of all, nonchalant about her big job opportunity. It is after all a means to an end ... not her dream job, and certianly not in her ultimate field. In short order she learns that her coworkers uniformly loathe her, her boss is the most evil woman in the world, and that her schedule is entirely fluid and at the at the mercy of the whims of the wicked fashionista-in-chief. Rather then consider "there must be a better way to start a journalisim career", she decides to endure the ritualistic humiliations, wisecracks about her weight (This is Anne Hathaway, folks), servile menial tasks, casual cruelty from co-workers and lack of free time, ultimately worshiping at the altar of Them What Make Clothes. .... and we the audience are supposed to dislike her friends for not embracing all the changes in her life this entails. Clearly YMMV,. In fact I think mileage varies on what each audience member brings to the table, such as preexisting opinion on the fashion industry, and a Y chromosome or lack thereof.
 * I've never understood what the writers were going for, with this. Can you help me? What is it that her friends are objecting to? What exactly is wrong with taking a job you're not crazy about in order to get where you want to go? Even if her friends don't understand it, I really fail to see how that choice has anything to do with them. Sometimes our friends are too busy to see us, because of things beyond their control, and it isn't personal. The job sucks, but it's not like Andy's dragging her friends along with her to the office each day -- she's the on who has to deal with it. If I were her friend I would be sympathetic, or possibly concerned by the bags under her eyes; I would not act like she'd killed my cat just because she couldn't join us at happy hour every day. (Also, just so you know: I have no Y chromosome, and I've never felt that fashion was stupid or whatever.)
 * It is made very clear very early on that Andy wants to be a journalist very badly -- she gave up a place at Stanford Law and moved to New York for this very purpose. Also, don't forget that she could easily have gotten a position at Auto Universe, where she probably wouldn't have had to change her appearance at all; but in her interview speech she clearly dismisses it as an even worse option than Runway because it wouldn't give the same boost to her career. So she practically begs Miranda to hire her, promises to work very hard, and yet she still acts as if she's somehow above it all -- with that kind of attitude it's understandable that her colleagues take jabs at her. After all, she's supposed to represent the world's most influential fashion magazine every day -- how can she expect them to take her seriously if she so stubbornly refuses to acclimatize?
 * Her friends are a much bigger issue in the book. In the book, Nate (whose name is Alex) is an saintlike, uber-patient inner-city elementary school teacher who goes out of his way to apologize for being late when one of his students slashes another student with a box cutter. Meanwhile, Lily is an alcoholic, slutty, self-destructive PHD candidate in Russian literature, who Andy needs to take care of on a daily basis. The whole subplot about isn't there- instead, the reasons Andy is "supposed" to stay home are that her sister was having a baby and . So the crucial nature of her loyalty is somewhat less ambiguous in the novel.
 * I didn't see the movie, but I read the book, and I thought Andy's family and friends were being completely unreasonable. Yes, Lily got into a, and that's terrible. But you know what? Lily's not a child, and Andy's not her mother. Lily was completely responsible for what happened, and there's no reason Andy should have had to throw away a huge career opportunity to take care of her. Lily's not a friend; she's a parasite. And in any case, there was nothing Andy could do for her by coming back from Paris. Likewise, Andy's sister is having a baby, and yes, the birth of a niece or nephew is a very big deal, and if at all possible, you'd want to be there for that. But you know what? Andy's sister has a husband and parents who can all be there. Expecting Andy to quit this job, so close to the finish line, and throw away everything she had suffered for over this horrible year, just to be a cheerleader in the hospital, for Lily or her sister, is completely unreasonable.
 * I don't get how the whole clothes are a big deal and took effort speech, that's supposed to be a reason Andy sucks speech, matters. So it takes some effort by some people to do it? It's not like the alternative, not wearing clothes, is viable.