8 Lessons That ‘The Devil Wears Prada Taught Us’
5. Competition and work challenges can make people mean
Miranda doesn’t want to break the Paris news to Emily herself, so she asks Andrea to do the dirty job. Soon, Miranda’s mean nature trickles down quite unknowingly to Andrea, who on her part has to do it without having a choice. Later, Miranda also saves her own job by not letting Nigel get his dream job, and manipulating her competitor into going for James Holt’s company’s business partnership rather than replacing her. Her insecurity makes her mean. And somewhere we realize how we all become mean in the process of chasing success. Miranda also points out how Andrea has done the same to Emily, in a way.
6. Success sometimes comes at the cost of your loved ones’ happiness
Andrea misses her boyfriend Nate’s birthday party when she is called to an event last minute by her boss. She can’t afford to refuse her boss’ orders. Later, because of her demanding job, she is found drifting apart from her friends, boyfriend and family, and even ends up breaking up with Nate. As Nigel tells her, when someone’s whole life blows up into smoke, it means it’s time for a promotion. Even though Paris comes as a bonus to her, Andrea loses out on a lot of people in her personal life. That’s the price we all have to pay sometimes when chasing our career dreams.
7. You must stand for yourself and what you believe in
Towards the end, Andrea realizes that she is turning into someone she doesn’t want to be. She had come to New York to do serious journalism, and Runway was pulling her away from her actual dream. So she stands up for what she really wants to do in life and walks out on Miranda. After all, when you’ve had enough of something, it’s perhaps okay (and also brave!) to go ahead and pursue what you really want to do. Your own dignity and integrity matters more, any day.
8. Your true nature will always precede you as your reputation
Andrea moves on to looking for a new job at offices of her choice, and she is told at her interview that though disappointed by her, Miranda had sent a fax to her potential new boss that he’d be an idiot if he didn’t hire her. Moreover, Emily realizes Andrea’s true nature and warns the new assistant that she has some really large shoes to fill in. Andy, after all, had won everyone’s heart and respect with her hard work and dedication.
‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is a beautiful, light, heart-touching film with a great repeat value. You can watch it every time you are feeling a little low in life, and it will surely cheer you up. These lessons that the film has taught us hold true for almost every person’s life, especially when we are young and finding our feet with our first jobs.
