The Devil Wears Prada (film)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The Devil Wears Prada is a 2006 film version of the book of the same name, starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. It tells the story of a young woman named Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway). Her first job out of college is for a merciless fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). It is loosely based on the real editor for Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour (sometimes called "Nuclear Wintour" by her detractors); see The September Issue for a documentary about the real Wintour.

Tropes used in The Devil Wears Prada (film) include:
  • Adaptation Dye Job: Andrea, blonde (like author Lauren Weisberger) in the book, is played by the dark-haired Anne Hathaway in the film.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Doug. He was gay in Fanon until Word of God stated otherwise.
  • An Aesop: Emily's arc contains the harsh reality that it is not worth sacrificing your entire existence for a workplace. She is good at her job as Miranda's senior assistant...until her latest starvation "diet" leads to her developing a bad cold at work and messes with her cognitive memory, when she has to memorize names and faces for a special event at the Met. Miranda notices and makes Andy go with Emily to provide backup at the benefit the same night at Nate's birthday, just as Andy was leaving work to get cake and a present for her boyfriend. Andy is not as dedicated, but stays on the ball as Miranda becomes more demanding. Eventually, Miranda demotes Emily and says she wants to take Andy to Paris instead for Fashion Week, steamrolling Andy's natural protests by threatening to fire Andy for refusing. Thanks to Miranda making Andy deliver the news over the phone while Emily is running a Miranda errand, a taxi hits Emily when she runs across the street and doesn't look both ways. This may have ironically saved Emily's life from starvation, as she finally eats for the first time in the film while recuperating in her hospital bed, and it's implied she gets treatment for her eating disorder.
  • At Least I Admit It: Miranda knows she is a bad boss and a controlling woman. But she says at the end of the movie that you have to be cutthroat to have a career in fashion.
  • Bad Boss: Miranda, so so much.
  • Bald of Awesome: Nigel.
  • The Beautiful Elite
  • Becoming the Mask: Andy takes the job as a means to higher goals but is seduced by the fashion industry. And/or by her boss, depending on what you see in the subtext.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: Andy and Emily.
  • Be Yourself
  • Black Best Friend: Lily.
  • Blond Guys Are Evil: Christian Thompson.
  • Catch Phrase: "That's all."
  • Chick Flick
  • Costume Porn
  • Cutting the Electronic Leash
  • The Danza: Emily Blunt as Emily Charlton (of the coincidental variety).
  • Deadpan Snarker: Miranda and Emily, especially Miranda.

By all means, move at a glacial pace; you know how that thrills me.

  • Death Glare: Miranda.
  • Double Standards: After she warms up to Miranda, Andy points out that if Miranda were a man, people wouldn't care about her sadistic ways, only what a great job she does.
  • Enforced Method Acting: On the first day of shooting, Streep went up to a nervous Hathaway and told her, "I think you're perfect for the role and I'm so happy we're going to be working on this together. Keep this in mind, because this is the last nice thing you'll hear from me."
  • Friends Rent Control: Mostly averted. Andy and Nate are two recent college graduates and their apartment is only slightly nicer than what someone of their income level could realistically afford.
    • Andy's father is also helping her out with rent.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Hey, what's Harry Crane doing in 2006? Shouldn't he be like, 70?
  • High Turnover Rate: Andy's last two predecessors were fired after a couple of weeks.
  • Hollywood Pudgy: In-universe, as a pot-shot to the fashion industry in general. Size-six Andy is considered fat at work and has to lose weight. It's also implied at one point that Miranda has postponed a photo shoot with Gwyneth Paltrow until she's lost some weight. The Gwyneth mention was due to the fact that at the time, she'd just had one of her children.
  • Humble Pie: After being chewed out by her boss, Andy storms out of the office and goes down to Nigel to complain. Nigel answers with a thorough The Reason You Suck Speech, forcing Andrea to admit that she doesn't appreciate her position enough.
  • Informed Judaism: Andy as well as Miranda, who changed her name to not sound Jewish in the book. These aspects are not mentioned in the film though.
  • In with the In Crowd: Andy after she "drinks the kool-aid" and neglects her old friends.
  • Iron Lady: Miranda.
  • Les Yay/Foe Yay: Let's just say that what fandom the book/movie has centers around shipping Miranda/Andy. Also, the movie is crawling with subtext; Meryl Streep's performance was extremely seductive.
  • Lonely at the Top: Miranda Priestly.
  • Makeover Montage
  • Morning Routine: Shows Andy's morning routine, contrasted with other women's, to show how different she is.
  • My Name Is Not Durwood: Andy considers it a great breakthrough when Miranda starts calling her by her own name.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Miranda Priestly is very obviously based on Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
    • Anna was a good sport about this and even showed up to the premiere of the movie... wearing Prada from head-to-toe.
  • No Sympathy: Miranda is this in spades. When Andy accidentally overhears a fight between her and her husband, thanks to the twins sabotaging Andy, Miranda doesn't care that Andy has put it out of mind and would rather move on with her workweek. She sets an Impossible Task and expects it either shame Andy into quitting or have an excuse to fire her.
  • Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Miranda Priestly.
  • Not So Different: Miranda gives Andy this speech at the end of the film.
    • Specifically, she says "I see a great deal of myself in you." The beautiful irony is that she means it as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming (or at least a "Well Done, Son" Guy moment), whereas Andy interprets this as a sign that she has crossed the Moral Event Horizon.
      • To expand on the above: Andy calls Miranda out on ruining Nigel's promotion to save her own ass and that she'll never do such a thing. Miranda tells her that she already did when she went to Paris in Emily's place.
  • Pet the Dog: Andy calls Emily at the end of the movie to offer her the clothes she brought from Paris, the fashions that Emily was coveting.
  • Pet Homosexual: Averted with the film's version of Nigel. He does give Andy a makeover, thereby saving her from herself, and he is Tall, Dark and Snarky, but he's also much higher up the ladder than she is, as well as legitimately older and wiser, offers guidance in her career only, and doesn't hover around her like he has nothing better to do than make sure her life is running like clockwork.
  • Plucky Office Girl: Andy herself is this.
  • Power Hair: Miranda, again.
  • Precision F-Strike: coupled with a Crowning Moment of Awesome. In the book this is essentially how Andy hands her resignation to Miranda.
    • Except that Andy's not doing something righteous or standing up for some lofty principle by quitting her job, which is totally how the movie presents it.
  • Pretty in Mink/Fur and Loathing: The fur coats and wraps Miranda wears could go either way with this trope and might even depend on your interpretation.
  • Product Placement: Roughly 60% of the movie -- 90% if you watch it with the DVD commentary.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Andy seems to get nothing but these -- first from her coworkers for not taking her job seriously, then from her friends for taking her job seriously.
  • Sadistic Choice: Miranda frames Andy replacing Emily for Fashion Week as this. Either Andy agrees to go and delivers the news to Emily over the phone, or Miranda fires Andy. Andy is not thrilled about this, as she tries to first argue that Emily has been working so hard to go to Paris, but Miranda shuts her up by reminding her who is writing her paychecks.
  • "There and Back" Story: In a metaphorical sense, this applies. Andy enters a new world in the form of her job at the magazine, finds her normal behavior patterns won't work and successfully adapts. But then discovers that the job isn't worth her integrity and quits.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Andy and Nigel become this eventually. At first, she's put out by how he comments on her fashion choices and heinous decision to eat lunch on her first day, but Nigel consistently has her back while also berating her. They have a sweet conversation in Paris when he reveals that Miranda pulled strings for him to get his dream job, only for them to have mutual looks of horror when Miranda yanks away that promotion to save her editor position.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: "I'm sorry, it's just, those belts look exactly the same to me..."
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Andy starts out as one, fresh out of Northwestern.
  • The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask: Miranda regrets how her high-stress lifestyle is negatively affecting the lives of her children, but acknowledges that it's a result of the choices she's made and won't complain about her own problems.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: Poor Nigel; after being loyal to Miranda, she screws over his promotion with James Holt to save her job.
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: See Not So Different above.
    • Nevertheless Miranda does give Andy the recommendation
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/The_Devil_Wears_Prada_(film)?oldid=1985706"