Film: The Devil Wears Prada
Written by: Aline Brosh McKenna, Lauren Weisberger (based on Weisberger’s book of the same name)
Directed by: David Frankel
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier, and other cute people
Dear Movie Watchers,
Do you know what joy is? Mmm. I love it.
Once, a guy said something to me that was totally crazy. I felt I needed to go to Paris to write my book, Letters to a Young Woman, from Paris (though it didn’t yet have the title), and this guy said, “What makes you think you have anything worth saying?”
This guy has a messy brain. He’s funny, and I guess he’s got that “rizz” thing the kids go on about, so he gets away with saying a lot of dumb stuff. But he’s one of those guys who can’t meet you in the dark places. He’s too scared.
Well, I got pretty sassy with him after he made that patronizing statement. This is probably why I’m single. I don’t put up with trash talk, especially when it’s about women having voice and expression in a world that thinks we are meant to pose and look pretty and not have any say over the choices we make with our bodies.
Consent, boundaries. These issues matter. Unfortunately, we have been reduced to a mass disservice of political discourse that says the topic is “abortion,” and you have people of faith looking for leadership and “what God wants,” and all these liberal ladies sound like they just want to kill babies.
The issue is bigger, and that’s why I wrote my book Letters to a Young Woman, from Paris. I wrote it because the religious right was making their platform about Christianity—supposedly—and Catholic people voted for whatever leader was going to stop abortion, and I wanted to know directly from Jesus Christ what he thought about my body and women’s bodies and what we were supposed to do with this debacle in an age of porn addiction and human trafficking and sex abuse and domestic violence that goes ignored. Hmm? Do you wonder this, too?
I went to the Source. I read his gospels. I listened to his words. And I didn’t let any guy who doesn’t know anything (like the one mentioned above) tell me that he knew better what I should be thinking. And I didn’t let any woman tell me what to think either, because some ladies can be even worse than men. They operate from resentment and scarcity. They had to fit into a box to “make it” in life, and they’re angry about it, and they hate their own woman parts, and they try to cast their demon spells on other ladies and girls. Polecats, is what Shakespeare woulda called ‘em.
What does this have to do with the movie The Devil Wears Prada?
Well, young women finding their way, with helpful role models and mentorship, matters, if we are going to see a change in our society. And if we look at the way our systems were built—and I’m talking pretty much all the systems, including psychology—they were built by men. Some of these men were lovely people, and some of them were dirty dogs. Still, they created a fabric that we need to uncover and know if we want fresh, healthy energy. And those guys used the name of Jesus to do it, in the Western world. They created this religious persecution complex and did atrocious things in the name of God, and they hang this image of “Christ” in the churches, and we are all subject to these frameworks and ideologies, whether we like it or not.
My favorite part in The Devil Wears Prada is when the main character Andie (played by Anne Hathaway) comes home from work at the fashion magazine Runway (which is secretly Vogue), and she is complaining, and her boyfriend is making her a grilled cheese. Oh my goodness, how I love this boyfriend of hers. He is my favorite boyfriend in romantic comedy girl-movie history. I can’t remember his name in the movie and I don’t feel like looking it up now, but I do know he is played by Adrian Grenier. He’s such a great boyfriend in this movie. Andie is constantly tempted by the power of money and approval of people at her job, who believe fashion and name-dropping to be terribly important, yet her boyfriend is at home hanging out and being nice and natural and making her grilled cheeses when she finally shows up. Then, sometimes, she sees him and her friends at a local bar, and they laugh and talk, and she runs off again for work.
How can anyone know who they are unless they go through trials and tribulations, temptations and discovery?
As human beings, we cannot be robots. Adulthood—growing up and recognizing you matter because you’re here—is about testing things out on your own and seeing what works. Thoughts and ideologies are not usually the answer. Someone could operate from theories all their life and have a stomach that eats itself from the inside. Or someone can live freely (and freely does not mean full of vice), and feel peace, and experience a range of emotions, and keep adjusting and flowing with the tides of life.
The Devil Wears Prada is fun to watch, because it’s a real person trying to fit in to a different kind of world, where the values are different. How much will we change for money? How much will we change to get approval from strangers, or people “in the know”?
At the end of the day, how does it all feel?
And in the adrenaline of any process, or fighting with ourselves, or confusion, do we ignore the people who love us and show up for us? Will they wait around while we figure ourselves out?
Andie’s boyfriend does show up for her, and he forgives her. He’s so great.
I just love this movie for young women. It makes me believe in the power of love and boyfriends. And grilled cheese.
I am a real sucker for a good grilled cheese. I always have been.
Blessings,
Ms. Wonderful
Saturday’s Playlist on Vinyl
If you’re in or around Philadelphia, check out women celebrating women for International Women’s Day on March 7th and March 8th. I will be performing the poem “Daddy” from Sylvia Plath. Tickets here for this Nee Danse Theater event. Proceeds go to the Women’s Law Project.
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Credits:
(Oh, and there’s that groundbreaking book I wrote which you may or may not like or agree with…. Hmm.)