The film ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ explores a range of sociological issues. These issues include class, gender, identity and power which are all explored throughout the film. It will explore how the film represents hierarchy in the workplace, expectations of those who work there, how personal lives can be affected by a demanding job and the overall way of how ‘Runway’ the fashion place has become such a success. This analysis will aim to uncover the key social concepts within the film.
The film begins with Andrea who is a woman that just wants this job to pay her rent, she doesn’t have an interest in fashion and is shocked to see how ‘tight shipped’ it is ran, especially when she sees the panic on the assistant’s face when she gets notified of Miranda arriving, who is the editor in chief. It is soon revealed how everyone fears Miranda and by the time she arrives everything must be perfect. The film portrays Miranda as a very powerful woman who no one dares to question. This begins to show the societal change that is happening as it is has always been men who are the dominant ones, and the women are the submissive, but this film is quite the opposite. However, we do see two opposite women trying to achieve their own goals in different ways. Andrea tries to manage everything in her life which include her boyfriend, her friends, and her job whereas Miranda is someone that will do anything to keep her power even if it means losing her family and friends. This also goes against what society class as ‘normal’ as you see women portrayed as maternal, family orientated, have a basic job or no job at all, so they can concentrate on looking after the children, and cook for their ‘hardworking’ husband.
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Power is a key theme throughout the film. Some would argue that power is the main theme portrayed all the way from the beginning until the end. Miranda being the editor in chief has all the power when it comes to how ‘Runway’ is managed. She makes all the decisions, decides who gets promotions and who to fire. She is a mean boss with one goal in mind and that is to be the best. She wants everything perfect and with this comes responsibility that she puts on her staff which can been seen as excessive. For example, on Andrea’s first day she is told a countless number of duties which needed to be completed by the end of the day without being told twice as she is expected to remember everything. Miranda also abused her power on many occasions with one of them being setting Andrea the impossible task of retrieving two copies of the unreleased Harry Potter books for her daughters, or when Miranda had Andy make an order for a steak that had to be ready for when she was back at the office for her to then decide she no longer wanted it after it was already there. She was also cruel with her power when she decided at the last minute that Andrea was to go to Paris with her when Emily had been preparing for months to go.
Identity is another sociological theme that is shown throughout the film. As the film progresses it reveals how Andrea is losing her identity to the fashion industry. She begins to work at any time of day whether she is out with friends or at home. Andrea is consumed with the need to always please Miranda because when she does Miranda treats her better. Marx’s theory focuses on the struggle between capitalists and the working class. His theory highlights the reason Andrea is so keen to please her boss as she is at the bottom of the capitalist system, Miranda sees her as a ‘nobody’ because her status is so high, this is evident when she keeps calling Andrea ‘Emily’, she knew it wasn’t her name, but she didn’t care. This is also a reason Andrea started to push herself in her job so she could start making a name for herself instead of being called someone else. In the beginning of the film Andrea is talking to a fellow employee about the job and she reveals what size clothes she wears; the employee was shocked when she said she was a size 6 as he said, “no one eats since size two became the new four and zero the new two”. This highlights the severity of problems that the fashion world can cause, everyone wants to be as skinny as the next person, so it inevitably causes eating disorders simply, so they fit into a ‘trend’ and not be labelled fat as Andrea’s size was the ‘new 14’ conveying she wasn’t skinny. As Andrea progressively loses herself to the fashion industry, she is happy to announce she is no longer a size 6, but a size 4, this clearly shows just how much she is changing because it wasn’t for herself but for the job. This is an important message what the film brings to light, as this can happen to anyone who is eager to impress or is willing to put their career before anything else, you can either become like Miranda who cares about her job over everything or like Andrea who realizes her friends and family are worth more than her job.
Throughout the film you begin to see Solomon Asch’s theory of conformity being introduced. At the beginning of the film Andrea would finish work and go home to her boyfriend where she would mock the people, she worked with about how they dressed, acted and their overall personality. She swore she would not become like one of them as she was just an assistant therefore, she didn’t need to prove anything. However, as the film progresses, Andrea realizes that no one respected her and dismissed her solely due to what she worn. Therefore, she inevitably starts to change her outfits reinforcing the theme that she is conforming to the social norms that surround her. She also begins to act differently and becomes someone that she first despised as she was always working even on her off days or spending time with friends and family. Ultimately, she has become what she once hated and laughed at without noticing it herself. This change also caused problems within her relationship as she was spending less time with her boyfriend causing a strain, this was evidently shown when she chooses to attend an event for work rather than her boyfriend’s birthday party. This results in the two finally taking a ‘break’ as they go their separate ways.
Furthermore, the film it highlights just how important the fashion industry is and even if we believe we are not into fashion, we make fashion choices every day when we pick what outfit to wear, or what furniture to buy, and even where to have your picture taken, so it shows off the best angles of yourself and what you are wearing. Fashion has dated all the way back to the 1800s, when Charles Frederick Worth is believed to be the first fashion designer of the world (Sarina, 2022). However, fashion has always been around, and it was once and still is a factor in deciding whether someone is rich or poor. For example, throughout history when the royal courts dictated fashion, aristocratic people dressed elaborately and stylish, but the poor people could not afford to change their clothes to the whims of fashion (Sarina, 2022). Fashion trends also change drastically over time as women used to wear corsets which were often made from whale bone to keep the woman’s body upright and straight, then a long dress that would touch the floor covering them from the chest downwards. This type of outfit was introduced by Catherine de Medici back in the 1500s. However, the industry has developed since then as corsets are no longer as popular as what they once were. This shows how fashion is and will always be important in the world just as Miranda Priestly reminds Andy that she is “wearing a sweater that was selected by the people in this room from a pile of stuff”, when Andy laughs at them trying to decide between two belts that look almost identical as she refers to it as ‘stuff’.
In conclusion, the film evidently shows us how people can be so quickly consumed by their work that they dt even notice they are changing and becoming someone else whilst they are pushing everyone, they acre about away. The film shows that power has a very important role in being able to brain wash people into believing they are doing the right thing just because it’s what they believe to be right. In the beginning Miranda did not respect Andrea because she was different and didn’t dress to her standards however when Andrea realized this and started to change Miranda started to treat her with more respect. This psychological abuse delivered by someone with a much higher social status than you can be unbearable therefore they have no option but to change to fir to the social norms, in this case the fashion industry. The results from this essay have concluded that even today Marx’s theory is still relevant and how the lower class still fear the higher-class people.
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