That's All
June 24, 2016 3:06 PM Subscribe
Well, this certainly gets my mind off Donald Trump, Brexit, and the crashing stock market. And it brings back the memory of this moment on the Academy Awards when Meryl morphed back into Miranda.
posted by Ber at 3:42 PM on June 24, 2016 [12 favorites]
posted by Ber at 3:42 PM on June 24, 2016 [12 favorites]
I've gotta say, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt, and a bitchy Emily Blunt at that? Perfect storm.
posted by signal at 3:42 PM on June 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by signal at 3:42 PM on June 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
Some great details in here! Love the bit about Meryl's vocal choices. Thanks for posting!
posted by Zephyrial at 3:44 PM on June 24, 2016
posted by Zephyrial at 3:44 PM on June 24, 2016
I'M SO ANGRY SO ALWAYS ANGRY ABOUT THIS MOVIE I HATE HER TERRIBLE UNSUPPORTIVE FRIENDS SO FUCKING MUCH OH MY GOD
i didn't even read the article i just want to shout about how awful and obnoxious and selfish her SHITTY BAD FRIENDS ARE UGH I HATE THEM
the scene where they're in the restaurant and she gives them a zillion gifts that they're delighted to snatch up greedily like VILE LOCUSTS FEEDING UPON ALL BEFORE THEM and then her boss calls, and they can PERFECTLY WELL SEE how anxious and unhappy andie is that her demanding awful boss is bothering her, so what do they do? do they support their friend in her time of need? NO, NO THEY DO NOT, instead like idiot shitty gradeschool bullies they play keep away with her phone, and her anger and frustration is HILARIOUS TO THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE AWFUL PEOPLE.
she has to have this terrible job for ONE YEAR, ONE FUCKING YEAR, in order to have an entire world of possibilities opened to her in her chosen career and instead of supporting her, all her godawful friends do is shit all over her life and her choices, i hate them all and i wish there was a sequel in which they all die.
like BOO FUCKING HOO SHE MISSED YOUR BIRTHDAY DUDE WHAT ARE YOU, 8? SHIT HAPPENS TO ADULTS IN THE GROWN UP WORLD.
ok i guess i can read the article now bye
posted by poffin boffin at 3:46 PM on June 24, 2016 [194 favorites]
i didn't even read the article i just want to shout about how awful and obnoxious and selfish her SHITTY BAD FRIENDS ARE UGH I HATE THEM
the scene where they're in the restaurant and she gives them a zillion gifts that they're delighted to snatch up greedily like VILE LOCUSTS FEEDING UPON ALL BEFORE THEM and then her boss calls, and they can PERFECTLY WELL SEE how anxious and unhappy andie is that her demanding awful boss is bothering her, so what do they do? do they support their friend in her time of need? NO, NO THEY DO NOT, instead like idiot shitty gradeschool bullies they play keep away with her phone, and her anger and frustration is HILARIOUS TO THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE AWFUL PEOPLE.
she has to have this terrible job for ONE YEAR, ONE FUCKING YEAR, in order to have an entire world of possibilities opened to her in her chosen career and instead of supporting her, all her godawful friends do is shit all over her life and her choices, i hate them all and i wish there was a sequel in which they all die.
like BOO FUCKING HOO SHE MISSED YOUR BIRTHDAY DUDE WHAT ARE YOU, 8? SHIT HAPPENS TO ADULTS IN THE GROWN UP WORLD.
ok i guess i can read the article now bye
posted by poffin boffin at 3:46 PM on June 24, 2016 [194 favorites]
no wait i wanna be angry for longer
posted by poffin boffin at 3:46 PM on June 24, 2016 [110 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 3:46 PM on June 24, 2016 [110 favorites]
I would love to participate i this discussion but I have a Hideous Skirt Convention I have to go to.
posted by pjsky at 3:47 PM on June 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
posted by pjsky at 3:47 PM on June 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
Supposedly this line was unscripted
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
SHE HAS THE WORST FRIENDS AND THE WORST BOYFRIEND
posted by The Whelk at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2016 [31 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2016 [31 favorites]
poffin boffin YES her friends are the WORST. My headcanon version of the movie has all those scenes removed.
posted by Zephyrial at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Zephyrial at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
It's the most mainstream homoerotic film centered on two women with real chemistry between them. Every scene with Miranda and Andrea has a sexual zing.
The ending hold so much promise - she's free and grown up, and Miranda is there....
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2016 [9 favorites]
The ending hold so much promise - she's free and grown up, and Miranda is there....
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2016 [9 favorites]
"Is it impossible to find a lovely, slender, female paratrooper? Am I reaching for the stars here?"
Oh, and Stanley Tucci is delightful
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:53 PM on June 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
Oh, and Stanley Tucci is delightful
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:53 PM on June 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
W(Simon Doonan tells a story about auditioning for this movie and they had all the "gay fashion guys" in town read for the character and then cast a straight guy which has always bugged him)
posted by The Whelk at 3:56 PM on June 24, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 3:56 PM on June 24, 2016 [8 favorites]
Supposedly this line was unscripted
In tfa it says that the end of the line was changed from "me" to "us" by Meryl Streep.
posted by pjenks at 3:57 PM on June 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
In tfa it says that the end of the line was changed from "me" to "us" by Meryl Streep.
posted by pjenks at 3:57 PM on June 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I was supposed to love this movie but found it annoying- Anne Hathaway as usual, Meryl so monotone, and ...even the lines that were supposed to be "FASHION IS IMPORTANT" (that cerulean, lapis whatever nonsense) just made me think, really? No. So maybe I'm not actually the target audience although I do usually love a good 'three word title' movie. Bitchy Emily Blunt and Stanely Tucci though, could watch all day...and I'm on team Adrian, sorry to all the 'haters' upthread!
posted by bquarters at 3:59 PM on June 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by bquarters at 3:59 PM on June 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
FLORALS? FOR SPRING? GROUNDBREAKING
sorry idk if i can stop shouting
posted by poffin boffin at 4:01 PM on June 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
sorry idk if i can stop shouting
posted by poffin boffin at 4:01 PM on June 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
It's interesting to me that I only saw it once and barely liked it, yet two months ago when I had a stomach virus I definitely found myself thinking, "I'm only one stomach virus away from my goal weight." (Alas, I discovered I am way more than one stomach virus away from my goal weight.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:29 PM on June 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:29 PM on June 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
I never liked the movie. I read it as being about a woman who gets a job in her chosen field, and though she does the job just fine, she is treated poorly because she doesn't share her employer's values. Her employer is absurdly demanding to the point of being abusive.
So her employer beats the woman down until she adopts her values and until she is somehow even grateful to the employer being so awesome in some weird Stockholm syndrome way. The woman abandons her personal life and destroys her relationships with the people she cared about in order to placate her demanding abusive boss, who in return belittles her for not knowing the history of the colour of her sweater.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:39 PM on June 24, 2016 [22 favorites]
So her employer beats the woman down until she adopts her values and until she is somehow even grateful to the employer being so awesome in some weird Stockholm syndrome way. The woman abandons her personal life and destroys her relationships with the people she cared about in order to placate her demanding abusive boss, who in return belittles her for not knowing the history of the colour of her sweater.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:39 PM on June 24, 2016 [22 favorites]
I love Meryl Streep, but when I read the book I imagined Tilda Swinton as Miranda.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:47 PM on June 24, 2016 [16 favorites]
posted by pxe2000 at 4:47 PM on June 24, 2016 [16 favorites]
I HATE that cerulean rant. Like designers are genius-gods who benevolently allow their 100% original fashion ideas to trickle down into the hands of the plebs, and not participants in a thoroughly problematic industry constantly ripping off young people and POC and artists and cultures they have no involvement in whatsoever. Please.
The rest of the movie is pretty good, though.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 4:51 PM on June 24, 2016 [9 favorites]
The rest of the movie is pretty good, though.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 4:51 PM on June 24, 2016 [9 favorites]
The 2 best parts of the Variety article are Meryl Streep relating the story of how she found the studio's original offer "slightly, if not insulting, not perhaps reflective of my actual value to the project,” and then there was what she describes as her "good-bye moment" and the studio doubled the offer. And, 2 - Emily Blunt saying “I never had any idea that my lines would get quoted to me every single week of my life since the movie has come out.”
posted by pjsky at 5:27 PM on June 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by pjsky at 5:27 PM on June 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
she has to have this terrible job for ONE YEAR, ONE FUCKING YEAR, in order to have an entire world of possibilities opened to her in her chosen career
And she pisses it all away at the end.
Movie inspired me to buy "The September Issue," which is awesome.
posted by Melismata at 5:28 PM on June 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
And she pisses it all away at the end.
Movie inspired me to buy "The September Issue," which is awesome.
posted by Melismata at 5:28 PM on June 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
I haven't seen this in forever, so I may be remembering this wring, but wasn't her boyfriend a sous chef? He most likely works until 2am and definitely works weekends, but he's giving her shit for working long hours and not being around? And then at the end he asks her relocate for his dream job, after making such a big stink about having to accommodate her career?
I was upset.
It has some great lines though.
posted by Garm at 5:31 PM on June 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
I was upset.
It has some great lines though.
posted by Garm at 5:31 PM on June 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
I love Meryl Streep, but when I read the book I imagined Tilda Swinton as Miranda.
You should see Amy Schumer's movie, Trainwreck, if you haven't already.
posted by clockzero at 5:36 PM on June 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
You should see Amy Schumer's movie, Trainwreck, if you haven't already.
posted by clockzero at 5:36 PM on June 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
(YES, someone in food service not understanding a stressful job? I naturally assumed Hathaway was friends with like some, werid obnoxious super rich clique who've never had to work and just spend all day at hobby resteraunts and being annoying. (Inspired by a boyfriend of a colledge friend who was horrifed when he found out she had to go to intern office from time to time and not indulge his every whim "like you have to ...punch in a clock or something?!" Was his horrifed response)
posted by The Whelk at 5:37 PM on June 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 5:37 PM on June 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
Grace Coddington's memoir had some delicious bits on this movie. The one I remember is that Anna Wintour and her daughter were invited to the premiere, and she wasn't going to go but decided that she would. She wore Prada.
posted by apricot at 5:57 PM on June 24, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by apricot at 5:57 PM on June 24, 2016 [9 favorites]
I'M SO ANGRY SO ALWAYS ANGRY ABOUT THIS MOVIE I HATE HER TERRIBLE UNSUPPORTIVE FRIENDS SO FUCKING MUCH OH MY GOD
That's because this one is actually canon, not the movie with those assholes that she thinks are people who care about her but are not.
posted by jeather at 6:01 PM on June 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
That's because this one is actually canon, not the movie with those assholes that she thinks are people who care about her but are not.
posted by jeather at 6:01 PM on June 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
Yeah, that so called 'validation of the importance of fashion' speech just ... did exactly the opposite: it highlighted the vain, empty, vacuousness of it's self-importance.
And this I say as someone who definitely thinks clothes can make a statement; clothes define a man/woman's first impression ... and anyone with any sense looks further than that and looks further, leaving the dumb majority to judge based on externalities.
It really bothered me, the self-importance placed on themselves/theirselves/their industry. And I know a few people in that industry.
And, yes, the vulture, un-interested and un-supportive friends bothered me, too.
I will watch the movie when it is on, as the acting is good, the story is enthralling enough and close enough to life to empathise with and the horrible due to sacrificing boss and the oblivious friends can be found in real life enough to resonate.
It's a good movie with good-to-great acting and if it pisses you off that means you can relate. And that's a good thing and something of an achievement. Plus the older 'gay assistant/right hand man' deserved awards.
posted by MacD at 6:11 PM on June 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
And this I say as someone who definitely thinks clothes can make a statement; clothes define a man/woman's first impression ... and anyone with any sense looks further than that and looks further, leaving the dumb majority to judge based on externalities.
It really bothered me, the self-importance placed on themselves/theirselves/their industry. And I know a few people in that industry.
And, yes, the vulture, un-interested and un-supportive friends bothered me, too.
I will watch the movie when it is on, as the acting is good, the story is enthralling enough and close enough to life to empathise with and the horrible due to sacrificing boss and the oblivious friends can be found in real life enough to resonate.
It's a good movie with good-to-great acting and if it pisses you off that means you can relate. And that's a good thing and something of an achievement. Plus the older 'gay assistant/right hand man' deserved awards.
posted by MacD at 6:11 PM on June 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
I just saw this movie for the first time about three weeks ago, and I had already forgotten the stomach flu line. But I loved the cerulean rant. Otherwise, it's not really my kind of movie. Have you seen The Lobster? I thought it was fantastic. Totally my kind of picture.
posted by janey47 at 6:30 PM on June 24, 2016
posted by janey47 at 6:30 PM on June 24, 2016
Yeah, that so called 'validation of the importance of fashion' speech just ... did exactly the opposite: it highlighted the vain, empty, vacuousness of it's self-importance.
Maybe I'm misreading the Cerulean scene, but I always thought that's exactly what that speech was supposed to do. I might be influenced by the fact that I was introduced to this movie by my thesis advisor, an old-school Marxist who would hold that scene up as a microcosm of capitalism. Like, when Streep says "You're wearing a sweater that was selected for you" she's talking about the illusion of consumer choice, and how a select few call the shots and invent demand from behind closed doors. About how even when we don't want to participate, we participate.
It's entirely possible that's giving the movie too much credit, but when I watched it I didn't get "fashion czars are so cool." I got "czars are czars."
posted by joechip at 6:32 PM on June 24, 2016 [47 favorites]
Maybe I'm misreading the Cerulean scene, but I always thought that's exactly what that speech was supposed to do. I might be influenced by the fact that I was introduced to this movie by my thesis advisor, an old-school Marxist who would hold that scene up as a microcosm of capitalism. Like, when Streep says "You're wearing a sweater that was selected for you" she's talking about the illusion of consumer choice, and how a select few call the shots and invent demand from behind closed doors. About how even when we don't want to participate, we participate.
It's entirely possible that's giving the movie too much credit, but when I watched it I didn't get "fashion czars are so cool." I got "czars are czars."
posted by joechip at 6:32 PM on June 24, 2016 [47 favorites]
Miranda Priestly is basically my template for parenting my tweens. Trust me on this one.
posted by padraigin at 6:44 PM on June 24, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by padraigin at 6:44 PM on June 24, 2016 [17 favorites]
I was completely unimpressed by the cerulean rant as well. If Yves St Laurent had made a line of emerald green gowns instead, in what way would anybodies life been materially affected?
Did you know that the width of train tracks can be traced back to the average width of a Roman horse butt? Romans built a lot of roads and drove on them in vehicles designed to be drawn by two horses, thus the axle length was determined by how wide a cart or chariot should be to best fit behind 2 horse-butt-widths. Over the years, they left grooves, so everybody after them made carts the same width because otherwise you got a bumpy ride over the old grooves. When train cars were designed, the engineers naturally used existing carts as a model and then placed the rails at that standard distance apart. So the size of the subway car our heroine took to that interview was a result of horse breeding decisions made thousands of years ago. This is mildly interesting, and a demonstration of how small things can propagate across time. It does not, however, make ancient Roman horse butts inherently important.
posted by Karmakaze at 7:07 PM on June 24, 2016 [34 favorites]
Did you know that the width of train tracks can be traced back to the average width of a Roman horse butt? Romans built a lot of roads and drove on them in vehicles designed to be drawn by two horses, thus the axle length was determined by how wide a cart or chariot should be to best fit behind 2 horse-butt-widths. Over the years, they left grooves, so everybody after them made carts the same width because otherwise you got a bumpy ride over the old grooves. When train cars were designed, the engineers naturally used existing carts as a model and then placed the rails at that standard distance apart. So the size of the subway car our heroine took to that interview was a result of horse breeding decisions made thousands of years ago. This is mildly interesting, and a demonstration of how small things can propagate across time. It does not, however, make ancient Roman horse butts inherently important.
posted by Karmakaze at 7:07 PM on June 24, 2016 [34 favorites]
The film that normalized crotch-high stiletto heeled boots as office wear. I know a number of kinksters who are pissed off at that still.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:33 PM on June 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:33 PM on June 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
The cerulean rant to me was about the business of fashion. How taste makers can make money and how you have to maintain the enviability of a lifestyle to make all the money. It's not about whether the color of your sweater affects your life, it's about how it doesn't at all but the business of fashion is making you want it anyway enough to purchase it.
posted by fshgrl at 8:32 PM on June 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by fshgrl at 8:32 PM on June 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
The cerulean rant was also effective foreshadowing of the superhuman control one person had over an entire international industry. It was an incredibly funny/wry setup for the ultimate win over seemingly impossible odds that Miranda orchestrated at the luncheon. A script worth studying.
posted by sammyo at 9:01 PM on June 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 9:01 PM on June 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
but wasn't her boyfriend a sous chef? He most likely works until 2am and definitely works weekends, but he's giving her shit for working long hours and not being around? And then at the end he asks her relocate for his dream job, after making such a big stink about having to accommodate her career?
YES I WANT TO SHOVE HIS HEAD IN A VAT OF BECHAMEL AND HOLD IT DOWN UNTIL HE DROWNS
posted by poffin boffin at 10:25 PM on June 24, 2016 [32 favorites]
YES I WANT TO SHOVE HIS HEAD IN A VAT OF BECHAMEL AND HOLD IT DOWN UNTIL HE DROWNS
posted by poffin boffin at 10:25 PM on June 24, 2016 [32 favorites]
Meryl Streep is perhaps the most magnetic actor in the world--even today, even in shitty movies. When she's on screen you can't not watch what she--her character--is doing. And so it is with TDWP. The problem with this movie, then, is the fact that Streep's character is in about 10-15 minutes of the film, leaving the viewer to spend most of the time with Anne Hathaway and her boring friends and her boring boyfriend. The film was supposed to sell the idea that her friends and her boyfriend were "the real world," yet they're just as insufferable and obnoxious as the fashionistas.
posted by zardoz at 10:32 PM on June 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by zardoz at 10:32 PM on June 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
If this movie did nothing else (which is a lie, it is a joy), it is responsible for introducing me to the woman I'm going to marry next year. Our household is firmly Team Miranda and also Team Friends DIAF.
posted by komlord at 10:41 PM on June 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by komlord at 10:41 PM on June 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
I think the real point of the cerulean rant is that you cannot, simultaneously, expect a single year of work to open the whole world to you, and look down on the people and field of that work as though you don't understand how capitalist power-mongering works. Fashion as rags doesn't matter; what matters is the rag *trade* and to trade in rags you need to understand how the market works at every level.
posted by gingerest at 11:15 PM on June 24, 2016 [22 favorites]
posted by gingerest at 11:15 PM on June 24, 2016 [22 favorites]
Also that rant doesn't exist in the book and Lauren Weisberger would be a better person and her book would have been less irritating if it had.
posted by gingerest at 11:17 PM on June 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by gingerest at 11:17 PM on June 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
Sometimes pop-culture is like going to the zoo.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:50 AM on June 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by From Bklyn at 12:50 AM on June 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'M SO ANGRY SO ALWAYS ANGRY ABOUT THIS MOVIE I HATE HER TERRIBLE UNSUPPORTIVE FRIENDS SO FUCKING MUCH OH MY GODThis, so much this.
Her boyfriend is an absolute cockwomble of a manbaby and she should feel bad about his tantrums, really?.
Her friend who's known her for 16 years sees her find someone better to make her happy and her first reaction is "oh noooes what about Douchey McToddler"
They even have a delightful "he knows about fashion he must be gay" moment about the one friend who is happy for her.
A powerful and brilliant woman mentors another woman to growth and self-worth and she's the villain? quelle fucking surprise.
And the fucking ending, oh my god I hate the ending. It came so close to being great and just bottles it hard so the boys can come and play. Yeah right, she is remotely interested about following her negging fuckstick of an ex to Boston? Oh please.
posted by fullerine at 4:39 AM on June 25, 2016 [16 favorites]
Greg what about Princess Diaries 2
posted by beerperson at 6:10 AM on June 25, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by beerperson at 6:10 AM on June 25, 2016 [6 favorites]
Devil Wears Prada rules. I'm one of the cable re-airing groupies the article talks about-- I was also dismissive of the movie because it was heavily advertised as a fluff piece, and then caught it on cable while home sick one day. The article is fascinating because the final film came out so nearly flawless that it's hard to imagine there were so many behind the scenes near-misses on what ended up being so powerful.
The cerulean rant hits the mark really hard, IMO. The intention is never "wow, fashion", but a wake-up call to Andy that fashion, which she dismisses as whatever, pretty clothes, is a deliberate and heavily conceived part of culture, curated by people like Miranda, and whether or not you care about fashion it ends up influencing your life in some way. Not being aware of the chain backwards doesn't make it non-existent, just invisible. It's the catalyst Andy needs to take her serious job seriously.
posted by girih knot at 6:38 AM on June 25, 2016 [25 favorites]
The cerulean rant hits the mark really hard, IMO. The intention is never "wow, fashion", but a wake-up call to Andy that fashion, which she dismisses as whatever, pretty clothes, is a deliberate and heavily conceived part of culture, curated by people like Miranda, and whether or not you care about fashion it ends up influencing your life in some way. Not being aware of the chain backwards doesn't make it non-existent, just invisible. It's the catalyst Andy needs to take her serious job seriously.
posted by girih knot at 6:38 AM on June 25, 2016 [25 favorites]
"There was a lot of conflict that ended with Miranda being humiliated . . . My view was that we should be grateful for excellence. Why do the excellent people have to be nice?”
In all the world of movie director interviews, is there any line that's more John Galtian than this? The unspoken assumption is that tyrants should be forgiven for abusing underlings, because success in business--no matter how many feelings (and human rights) are trampled on--is to be championed, in an "end-justifies-the-means" fashion.
Like many Hollywood movies, "Prada" begins with a revolutionary tone, but ends in propping up all of the idols that it set out to destroy, as Anne Hathaway character--initially a fashion skeptic and luddite--packs away her cerulean sweater, undergoes a fashion make-over, and commits herself to appeasing (well, at least until the final, cellphone-disposal scene) her dictatorial boss.
I'm guessing that Zack Snyder is a "Prada" fan.
posted by Gordion Knott at 7:10 AM on June 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
In all the world of movie director interviews, is there any line that's more John Galtian than this? The unspoken assumption is that tyrants should be forgiven for abusing underlings, because success in business--no matter how many feelings (and human rights) are trampled on--is to be championed, in an "end-justifies-the-means" fashion.
Like many Hollywood movies, "Prada" begins with a revolutionary tone, but ends in propping up all of the idols that it set out to destroy, as Anne Hathaway character--initially a fashion skeptic and luddite--packs away her cerulean sweater, undergoes a fashion make-over, and commits herself to appeasing (well, at least until the final, cellphone-disposal scene) her dictatorial boss.
I'm guessing that Zack Snyder is a "Prada" fan.
posted by Gordion Knott at 7:10 AM on June 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
I love this movie.
The woman abandons her unfulfilling personal life and destroys her relationships with the people she cared about who don't seem to know or appreciate who she is, and who treat her like absolute shit and don't give one care for what she's trying to accomplish because all they seem to care about is themselves in order to placate her demanding abusive talented and hella connected and willing to mentor her boss because she matures, discovers she has ambition, learns the world is not black and white but shades of gray, and grows enough in a single year to figure out her career goals and how to set some boundaries.
posted by sallybrown at 8:17 AM on June 25, 2016 [5 favorites]
The woman abandons her unfulfilling personal life and destroys her relationships with the people she cared about who don't seem to know or appreciate who she is, and who treat her like absolute shit and don't give one care for what she's trying to accomplish because all they seem to care about is themselves in order to placate her demanding abusive talented and hella connected and willing to mentor her boss because she matures, discovers she has ambition, learns the world is not black and white but shades of gray, and grows enough in a single year to figure out her career goals and how to set some boundaries.
posted by sallybrown at 8:17 AM on June 25, 2016 [5 favorites]
Like others in this thread, this wasn't a film I particularly wanted to see or sought out, but it was the available entertainment option while I was on a 3hour intercity bus trip, so I watched it, and was so pleasantly surprised at what it was - not a stupid bit of fluff, but about a young woman finding herself and learning from a problematic mentor.
So the size of the subway car our heroine took to that interview was a result of horse breeding decisions made thousands of years ago. This is mildly interesting, and a demonstration of how small things can propagate across time. It does not, however, make ancient Roman horse butts inherently important.
That was not the point of the cerulean rant, though. The point was that decisions are being made by people, people that he is ridiculing, that are influencing his life in ways he is completely unaware of - the choices available to him, the products to select from - he can poo-poo it all he wants, but this stuff is impacting him. Similarly, the fact that our roads and rail lines are influenced by the width of ancient horse butts has impacts on us and how we move both ourselves and our goods around. It's not just a small thing that has propagated across time, it's a small thing that has influenced millions of design specifications and decisions across time around vehicles, train cars, shipping, packaging, and onwards.
posted by nubs at 8:28 AM on June 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
So the size of the subway car our heroine took to that interview was a result of horse breeding decisions made thousands of years ago. This is mildly interesting, and a demonstration of how small things can propagate across time. It does not, however, make ancient Roman horse butts inherently important.
That was not the point of the cerulean rant, though. The point was that decisions are being made by people, people that he is ridiculing, that are influencing his life in ways he is completely unaware of - the choices available to him, the products to select from - he can poo-poo it all he wants, but this stuff is impacting him. Similarly, the fact that our roads and rail lines are influenced by the width of ancient horse butts has impacts on us and how we move both ourselves and our goods around. It's not just a small thing that has propagated across time, it's a small thing that has influenced millions of design specifications and decisions across time around vehicles, train cars, shipping, packaging, and onwards.
posted by nubs at 8:28 AM on June 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
This was an example of the movie being so much better than the book. The book has a lot of terribly written parts explaining how great a writer Andrea is, for instance... which sounds sort of brilliant, but it's not.
posted by queensissy at 9:44 AM on June 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by queensissy at 9:44 AM on June 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
Part of me hated Andrea as one of the first examples of a millennial who just wants constant positive feedback and a pat on the head for trying her best BUT I also had two abusive bosses in my early 20s and something about the movie made me feel less alone.
posted by kat518 at 10:03 AM on June 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by kat518 at 10:03 AM on June 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I love love this movie so much (though I always stop it right before the getting-back-together-with-the-douchebag-boyfriend scene).
posted by rtha at 10:11 AM on June 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by rtha at 10:11 AM on June 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
Andy's so-called friends are all douchebags and, ugh, the bf. I think she should have stuck with the guy who helped her do the impossible to impress her demanding boss and keep her job.
I see the movie as part of the ongoing cultural struggle of women trying to figure out how, as a group, to transition from homemakers every one to serious career people. Unsurprisingly, Andy (and so many other women) snatches defeat from the jaws of victory and goes back to the douchebag bf in order to meet some societal expectation of female morality and goodness. And it makes me want to hurl.
But Miranda is one of very few good female role models for how to be a powerhouse woman in a man's world and I think the world is so much richer for it. She did something brilliant there. I love that she is soft spoken and plays hardball.
Thanks for posting this article.
posted by Michele in California at 10:13 AM on June 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
I see the movie as part of the ongoing cultural struggle of women trying to figure out how, as a group, to transition from homemakers every one to serious career people. Unsurprisingly, Andy (and so many other women) snatches defeat from the jaws of victory and goes back to the douchebag bf in order to meet some societal expectation of female morality and goodness. And it makes me want to hurl.
But Miranda is one of very few good female role models for how to be a powerhouse woman in a man's world and I think the world is so much richer for it. She did something brilliant there. I love that she is soft spoken and plays hardball.
Thanks for posting this article.
posted by Michele in California at 10:13 AM on June 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
The Devil Wears Prada had a trailer I saw, somewhere in some theater before some other movie, that was just ... a scene from the film. Not a montage, no extra soundtrack, just an intense Andrea-Miranda scene from early in the film. It captivated me and made me want to watch the movie (which I did) and I thought it was a brilliant choice, and I wish more movie trailers were like that.
I would love to see more TV and movies that showed people of all genders facing the kinds of conflicts and sometimes-poisonous career & personal opportunities Andrea faces (a bit like Patterns), and deadly-quiet most-skilled-in-the-room women scheming in a corporate environment. Like, I'd love an all-women remake of Executive Suite where Anna Gunn played the CFO -- relatedly, I plan to see Equity when it comes out next month. (I haven't yet tried How to Get Away With Murder or Scandal or Borgen -- part of what I like about The Devil Wears Prada is that it's about private industry.)
Also now I'm imagining a cross between The Devil Wears Prada and Philip K. Dick's short story "Paycheck". In the world of "Paycheck" you can take a job for a time-limited contract, knowing that, just before the contract ends, your memory of that time doing the job will be erased. It is as though you never learned those skills or experienced any job-related pain or frustration at all. Dick approaches this premise asking how someone could take such a contract with an isolated, secretive company and nonetheless manage to keep enough data to conduct industrial espionage afterwards. What bits of the fashion publishing industry would be easier to manage if the laborers couldn't keep their memories? (Genevieve Valentine is the first candidate who comes to mind to write this...)
posted by brainwane at 11:58 AM on June 25, 2016
I would love to see more TV and movies that showed people of all genders facing the kinds of conflicts and sometimes-poisonous career & personal opportunities Andrea faces (a bit like Patterns), and deadly-quiet most-skilled-in-the-room women scheming in a corporate environment. Like, I'd love an all-women remake of Executive Suite where Anna Gunn played the CFO -- relatedly, I plan to see Equity when it comes out next month. (I haven't yet tried How to Get Away With Murder or Scandal or Borgen -- part of what I like about The Devil Wears Prada is that it's about private industry.)
Also now I'm imagining a cross between The Devil Wears Prada and Philip K. Dick's short story "Paycheck". In the world of "Paycheck" you can take a job for a time-limited contract, knowing that, just before the contract ends, your memory of that time doing the job will be erased. It is as though you never learned those skills or experienced any job-related pain or frustration at all. Dick approaches this premise asking how someone could take such a contract with an isolated, secretive company and nonetheless manage to keep enough data to conduct industrial espionage afterwards. What bits of the fashion publishing industry would be easier to manage if the laborers couldn't keep their memories? (Genevieve Valentine is the first candidate who comes to mind to write this...)
posted by brainwane at 11:58 AM on June 25, 2016
Why do the excellent people have to be nice?”
..... is there any line that's more John Galtian than this?
I think the quote from the director/storyteller is more about the construction of characters and story than a naive observation of human nature. There are many examples in real life of folks that do amazing work/art/science not exactly being "nice" but rather quite wretched awful in many ways other than their one celebrated accomplishment.
On the other hand Miranda was close to being more of a superhuman comicbook superhero than a successful business person, that story needed the balance of failed marriages to give a sense of humanity as well as setting up the final challenge, the chance she would loose everything, she's alone in her hotel room, no make up, no partner, all her peers about to stab her the next day, every element against her. (now who is the protagonist in this story ;-)
posted by sammyo at 12:12 PM on June 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
..... is there any line that's more John Galtian than this?
I think the quote from the director/storyteller is more about the construction of characters and story than a naive observation of human nature. There are many examples in real life of folks that do amazing work/art/science not exactly being "nice" but rather quite wretched awful in many ways other than their one celebrated accomplishment.
On the other hand Miranda was close to being more of a superhuman comicbook superhero than a successful business person, that story needed the balance of failed marriages to give a sense of humanity as well as setting up the final challenge, the chance she would loose everything, she's alone in her hotel room, no make up, no partner, all her peers about to stab her the next day, every element against her. (now who is the protagonist in this story ;-)
posted by sammyo at 12:12 PM on June 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
It does not, however, make ancient Roman horse butts inherently important.
They were to the horses...
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:54 PM on June 25, 2016
They were to the horses...
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:54 PM on June 25, 2016
I haven't seen this in forever, so I may be remembering this wring, but wasn't her boyfriend a sous chef? He most likely works until 2am and definitely works weekends, but he's giving her shit for working long hours and not being around? And then at the end he asks her relocate for his dream job, after making such a big stink about having to accommodate her career?
Yes, I've always hated that too. Like, why are the sacrifices she's making for her job insulted by her friends, but the sacrifices the friends make, like moving to Boston, are somehow noble and good? Makes no sense.
I don't think that last scene is them getting back together, though. He doesn't ask her to move with him, he's just telling her he's going. I think they're pretty well split, that's just a one last goodbye lunch or something.
Other thing that's also bugged me: Andy is said to be a graduate of Northwestern U's Medill School of Journalism. Now, perhaps I have an inflated opinion of my alma mater (I was theater/School of Communications, not Medill) but it has always seemed to me that a person with that degree, with the credentials she says she has, should have been able to find a job as an actual reporter at some newspaper or magazine somewhere in the country. No recent grad is going to become the next star writer for The New Yorker overnight, which is apparently what Andy assumes is supposed to happen for her. It's really unclear to me how being someone's secretary is going to make her a better writer or editor. To me she's just going about her career path all wrong in the first place. Go write for some magazine in a smaller city for a while first - someplace that will actually hire her to write, not fetch Starbucks.
posted by dnash at 1:28 PM on June 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
Yes, I've always hated that too. Like, why are the sacrifices she's making for her job insulted by her friends, but the sacrifices the friends make, like moving to Boston, are somehow noble and good? Makes no sense.
I don't think that last scene is them getting back together, though. He doesn't ask her to move with him, he's just telling her he's going. I think they're pretty well split, that's just a one last goodbye lunch or something.
Other thing that's also bugged me: Andy is said to be a graduate of Northwestern U's Medill School of Journalism. Now, perhaps I have an inflated opinion of my alma mater (I was theater/School of Communications, not Medill) but it has always seemed to me that a person with that degree, with the credentials she says she has, should have been able to find a job as an actual reporter at some newspaper or magazine somewhere in the country. No recent grad is going to become the next star writer for The New Yorker overnight, which is apparently what Andy assumes is supposed to happen for her. It's really unclear to me how being someone's secretary is going to make her a better writer or editor. To me she's just going about her career path all wrong in the first place. Go write for some magazine in a smaller city for a while first - someplace that will actually hire her to write, not fetch Starbucks.
posted by dnash at 1:28 PM on June 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
What makes me so angry about the shitty unsupportive friends in the movie is that the drama in the book is that her best fucking friend in the world has been hit by a car and is lying in a hospital bed while Andy is in Paris (or something like that, she might have also fallen back into the throes of alcoholism as well). Miranda doesn't let Andy leave Paris and that's when Andy is says "fuck this shit. wtf is important in life anyway?"
The whole boyfriend bday meltdown happens when she has canceled on every other fucking event since she started and job and says that she's cleared her schedule and will make it happen to be at his birthday. Shit happens in life, understandable but she doesn't call or text to say she'll miss him and ghosts him on his bday which is pretty shitty.
In the book Andy is the shitty friend who can't comprehend that even a really demanding job means there's still ways to be good to the people around you. In the movie the friends are shitty and and whine "buuuuuuut whhhhhyyyyyy?! Working is haaaaaaaaaard!!"
posted by raccoon409 at 2:34 PM on June 25, 2016 [7 favorites]
The whole boyfriend bday meltdown happens when she has canceled on every other fucking event since she started and job and says that she's cleared her schedule and will make it happen to be at his birthday. Shit happens in life, understandable but she doesn't call or text to say she'll miss him and ghosts him on his bday which is pretty shitty.
In the book Andy is the shitty friend who can't comprehend that even a really demanding job means there's still ways to be good to the people around you. In the movie the friends are shitty and and whine "buuuuuuut whhhhhyyyyyy?! Working is haaaaaaaaaard!!"
posted by raccoon409 at 2:34 PM on June 25, 2016 [7 favorites]
The descriptions here make me think it's like w fashion version of Swimming with Sharks. I love SWS. Think I need to rent this suckah.
As for "working for a year for entree into ..." Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
posted by tilde at 5:41 PM on June 25, 2016
As for "working for a year for entree into ..." Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
posted by tilde at 5:41 PM on June 25, 2016
It's the most mainstream homoerotic film centered on two women with real chemistry between them. Every scene with Miranda and Andrea has a sexual zing.
The ending hold so much promise - she's free and grown up, and Miranda is there....
So is there Miranda/Andrea fanfic out there?
posted by aka burlap at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2016
The ending hold so much promise - she's free and grown up, and Miranda is there....
So is there Miranda/Andrea fanfic out there?
posted by aka burlap at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2016
I really hate the genre of "young woman works for abusive boss who asks ridiculous things of her, we watch young woman get abused for 2 hours or 399 pages until she finally quits." You're just waiting for her to quit while you read about emotional torture. Funsies!
And I nth that a professional chef is pretty much rarely seen because he's always at work, so ain't no way he can judge. I used to hang out with one and he was pretty much passing out at parties any time he sat still.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:53 AM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
And I nth that a professional chef is pretty much rarely seen because he's always at work, so ain't no way he can judge. I used to hang out with one and he was pretty much passing out at parties any time he sat still.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:53 AM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
So is there Miranda/Andrea fanfic out there?
MirAndy, according to the comments on the article.
posted by lazuli at 11:40 AM on June 26, 2016
MirAndy, according to the comments on the article.
posted by lazuli at 11:40 AM on June 26, 2016
he's a pro chef and his signature dish is a grilled cheese sandwich that is just jarlsberg and bread, wow he's sooo quirky, he's not like those OTHER sous chefs you've dated, girls!
posted by poffin boffin at 12:29 PM on June 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 12:29 PM on June 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
So is there Miranda/Andrea fanfic out there?
Yep.
Also, the answer to "Is there _____ / _____ fanfic?" is pretty much always going to be yes.
I wonder if there's a rule/law for this fact. I guess it may fall under the umbrella of Rule 34, because if there is fanfic out there for some particular pairing, there is like a 99% chance that some of it will be porn/erotica.
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:11 PM on June 26, 2016
Yep.
Also, the answer to "Is there _____ / _____ fanfic?" is pretty much always going to be yes.
I wonder if there's a rule/law for this fact. I guess it may fall under the umbrella of Rule 34, because if there is fanfic out there for some particular pairing, there is like a 99% chance that some of it will be porn/erotica.
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:11 PM on June 26, 2016
It really bothered me, the self-importance placed on themselves/theirselves/their industry.
In my modest experience most industries are self-important, if only because people are generally happier believing that what they do is important, and you're not aware of just how many things an industry touches until you're in it. And of course there are always some people who hang their identity on what they do and crank the importance-inflation several notches beyond.
Billboard advertisements - those giant roadside eyesores that everyone hates? Billboard groups talk like they're one of the most glamorous industries out there (and they would have gone all the way too if it wasn't for those meddlin' NIMBY's with their no appreciation for ART!)
But of course unlike those suckers, the industry that I work in is the real-deal super important stuff! :)
posted by -harlequin- at 10:01 PM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
In my modest experience most industries are self-important, if only because people are generally happier believing that what they do is important, and you're not aware of just how many things an industry touches until you're in it. And of course there are always some people who hang their identity on what they do and crank the importance-inflation several notches beyond.
Billboard advertisements - those giant roadside eyesores that everyone hates? Billboard groups talk like they're one of the most glamorous industries out there (and they would have gone all the way too if it wasn't for those meddlin' NIMBY's with their no appreciation for ART!)
But of course unlike those suckers, the industry that I work in is the real-deal super important stuff! :)
posted by -harlequin- at 10:01 PM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
The only tolerable bit : "You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. "
But its a lie , look at countries that dont have these fashion/cultural gatekeepers - look at a street scene , and all those vibrant clashing colours . Not engineered by anyone . Better than NY London Paris and its uniformity.
posted by dprs75 at 6:42 AM on June 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
But its a lie , look at countries that dont have these fashion/cultural gatekeepers - look at a street scene , and all those vibrant clashing colours . Not engineered by anyone . Better than NY London Paris and its uniformity.
posted by dprs75 at 6:42 AM on June 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
So is there Miranda/Andrea fanfic out there?
I guess one of my Metafilter niches is just going to be dropping by with fic recs, but whatever: all of Telanu's Miranda/Andy fic is good and well worth your time.
posted by yasaman at 5:05 PM on June 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
I guess one of my Metafilter niches is just going to be dropping by with fic recs, but whatever: all of Telanu's Miranda/Andy fic is good and well worth your time.
posted by yasaman at 5:05 PM on June 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also, the answer to "Is there _____ / _____ fanfic?" is pretty much always going to be yes.
is there trotsky/pikachu fanfic
is there quetzalcoatl/abe vigoda fanfic
is there winston (overwatch)/vladimir putin fanfic
what about my needs
posted by poffin boffin at 11:45 PM on June 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
is there trotsky/pikachu fanfic
is there quetzalcoatl/abe vigoda fanfic
is there winston (overwatch)/vladimir putin fanfic
what about my needs
posted by poffin boffin at 11:45 PM on June 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
The cerulean rant hits the mark really hard, IMO. The intention is never "wow, fashion", but a wake-up call to Andy that fashion, which she dismisses as whatever, pretty clothes, is a deliberate and heavily conceived part of culture, curated by people like Miranda, and whether or not you care about fashion it ends up influencing your life in some way. Not being aware of the chain backwards doesn't make it non-existent, just invisible. It's the catalyst Andy needs to take her serious job seriously.
The idea that some designer somewhere choosing this shade of green instead of that shade of green for some item of clothing I'm wearing counts as "influencing my life" is hilariously ridiculous and self-important. It's so disappointing that Hathaway doesn't snort or smirk or laugh out loud at that silly rant.
posted by straight at 9:03 PM on June 28, 2016
The idea that some designer somewhere choosing this shade of green instead of that shade of green for some item of clothing I'm wearing counts as "influencing my life" is hilariously ridiculous and self-important. It's so disappointing that Hathaway doesn't snort or smirk or laugh out loud at that silly rant.
posted by straight at 9:03 PM on June 28, 2016
« Older Le Corndog Royale. | It's just The Tank to us.... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
No... no, that can't be right...
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:22 PM on June 24, 2016 [25 favorites]