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'Devil Wears Prada' review, Fluff or tough |
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Written by asap
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Friday, 30 June 2006 |
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 CARYN: You ready? You ready to talk “The Devil Wears Prada?” You know, that movie about an assistant to a high-powered fashion editor that’s based on a book about an assistant to a high-powered fashion editor wrriten by a woman who used to the assistant to a high-powered fashion editor. I know you’re like, MY boss and everything, but sometimes the little guy...or girl needs to rise up. Let’s get to it.
LISA: OK, hit me. We’ll see if you still have a job by the end of this.
CARYN: TDWP -- Fluff or tough?
LISA: I think the two coexist well. Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway are both tough broads with great clothes. The ultimate chick flick.
CARYN: I think this is an important movie. Maybe not Important but important nonetheless. Why? Why you ask?
LISA: I do ask why, really.
CARYN: Because the film’s whole backdrop is women in the workplace. And for once, it isn’t women and men battling it out in the workplace, it’s women and women. Kinda revolutionary. The logical next step after the ladies of “9 to 5” tied up their boss.
LISA: I see where you’re coming from. But are catfights really that revolutionary? I mean, couldn’t we watch “Prison Vixens 3” for that?
CARYN: I think it was more than a mere catfight. Catfights usually denote fighting over men. In this instance they’re fighting over power, over position, over prestige and over legacy. All things MEN fight over all the time. It’s the battle drum of equality. Let freedom ring!
LISA: But you could also say it didn’t resolve itself in the most girl-empowering way. The powerful woman comes off as the one rhyming with witch and her assistant learns that she’s sacrificed her romantic dreams for cold, cold power. We could have heard that message decades ago, couldn’t we?
CARYN: I think that there are elements of the workplace that remain the same. If you want to be on top you must sacrifice something. And, still, after all these years, women often have to sacrifice their romantic relationships to be the boss. I think it’s still relevant.
LISA: You’re right. I’m going to go quietly sob now.
CARYN: I don’t think you have to. The film shows that there are options. But yes, if you want to be a top-flight CEO type or, maybe secretary of state, you will have to leave something behind. Thing is, men lose something, too, I think. They also lose time with their families. And I think more and more that’s becoming an issue for them (but that’s a whole other movie. Or, please listen to the Harry Chapin song “Cats in the Cradle” for a refresher.)
LISA: War of the sexes aside, I have to say the movie was a vast improvement over the book by Lauren Weisberger. In the movie, I was really rooting for Anne Hathaway’s character. In the book, I just wanted her to quit whining and do her job. Maybe I have some sympathy for the devil.
CARYN: I haven’t read the book. Is there really a devil in “The Devil Wears Prada?” Do you really think the character played by Meryl Streep was all that awful? Isn’t she like some people you admire: so good at what they do that earthly human things bounce off of them? Geniuses with no human compatibility?
LISA: She was good at what she did, but she was also willing to jam an icepick into anyone who stood in her way. Of course, what’s left unsaid is that her young protege did the same thing by turning around and writing a tell-all book about the woman who gave her a foot in the door.
CARYN: What about the backdrop of the film: a fashion magazine. Would any of this be nearly as compelling if it were taking place in a law firm?
LISA: It’s hard not to be dazzled by high fashion and the beautiful people who float in that world. But I think women can have pretty dramatic power struggles at the local TCBY if you watch closely enough. It just wouldn’t make you want to shop afterward.
CARYN: Well, obviously there’s some interesting symbolic significance. Little girls are raised to chase shiny baubles and creamy velvets. Are we also being raised to chase a different kind of power? The way that both commingle here are satisfying in a knowing way: what makes you sick can also heal you.
LISA: I think the fashion magazine setting is especially combustible because it combines two significant sources of power for women: their sexuality and their prowess in the boardroom.
CARYN: Right, that’s what I was saying. Do I not speak English? God, my boss is a doddering...uh..I mean...
LISA: Watch it.
CARYN: But I must raise this question: why does the gay guy always get to be the sage? Stanley Tucci, as the second-in-command to Streep’s Miranda, was amazing, but I am sort of over that construct.
LISA: The gay sage -- I think a gay man can fit into that world without being threatening, unlike all the fabulous women. Maybe gay has replaced fat as the sidekick trait du jour.
CARYN: Right, because today people hate fat people more than gay people. And gay people are easier on the eyes.
LISA: It can’t be a matter of hate or we wouldn’t keep sticking them in movies. I just think the sidekick is always non-threatening. The sidekick can be both thin and heterosexual if the sidekick is also unattractive.
LISA: Did you believe Anne Hathaway as the ugly duckling?
CARYN: The Anna Hathaway character is presented in the beginning as having no style and being a plain jane. But truthfully, she looks like those hipster models off-the-job hanging out in Brooklyn with their indie rocker boyfriends.
LISA: She’s a little too pretty to seem out of place in that world. But we know that she is unfashionable because she eats garlic bagels and rides the subway.
CARYN: And wears shoes with no heel.
LISA: I have a confession: I wore stilettos the day after we saw this because it made me feel so unhip.
CARYN: You are so in the grip. Get out!
CARYN: OK, so this movie. Would you tell your friends to go see it?
LISA: I would, if they’re bored. But I wouldn’t tell them to run.
CARYN: I would definitely recommend it. I think it’s an interesting film: funny, socially intriguing, well-acted. Plus, I like thinking that those fashion mag people are supremely ridiculous, which they are in this film, and it makes me feel better about being a schlub. I don’t know what it says about how different we are that it inspired you to wear stilettos. So, thumb and pinkie up for me.
LISA: I think it says I’m susceptible to the tyranny of the beautiful. Which is why I hate fashion magazines in the first place.
CARYN: Thank you very much for your time. Now, may I pick up your dry-cleaning and latte?
LISA: By my watch, you’re already 15 minutes late with that.
CARYN: Right on it.
Click here to watch the trailer!
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Caryn Brooks is asap’s arts and entertainment editor. Lisa Tolin is asap’s sections editor.
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