The movie, The Devil Wears Prada deems itself a cool medium in McLuhan's terms due to the high audience participation it received following the movie's premiere. However this audience participation was more so negative than positive. During the making of the movie, many designers as well as other "fashion notables" refused to play a role as themselves in the movie because of its depiction of the fashion industry. These designers also feared displeasing the editor of U.S Vogue, Anna Wintour because she is believed to be the inspiration for the main character Miranda Priestly.
Newspaper fashion writer, Hadley Freeman suggested that The Devil Wears Prada is filled with sexism and mostly cliches about the fashion industry. Some others said that the movie was on the fashion tip is too safe, and the beauty too over stated. Others including Ginia Bellafonte, former fashion writer for the New York Times, argued that it is "the truest portrayal of fashion culture since Unzipped". Although the movie may have been getting a lot of hate for not properly depicting the fashion industry, that did not stop ticket sales.The film grossed almost forty million dollars in the first week of airing on 2,847 screens. In total the movie grossed $125 million in the United States and $325 in Canada and worldwide.
McLuhan is likely to find The Devil Wears Prada as beneficial to all audiences because it allows the audience to view the "real" fashion industry through media, aside from what we hear on the news or in books. Critics including Postman would likely argue that Movies such as this are only dumbing audiences down rather than educating us on the fashion industry which should be done without the use of media. This movie would be considered a cool medium because the portrayal of the fashion industry caused a lot of designers not to participate in the movie and the hate the movie received also allowed for more viewers to want to see this movie including Anna Wintour herself.
All in all, the movie The Devil Wears Prada received much prejudice as a fashion based film but it was all benefit the movie makers and the actors in the end.
