The Thinner, The Better

     In the movie, The Devil Wears Prada character, Emily Charlton is the ideal model of fashion perfection. The director portrays her as the fashion forward assistant of the famed Runway editor Miranda Priestly. As protagonist Andrea receives her new job, to follow in the footsteps of Emily, Emily teaches her the ropes, presenting herself as the dominant one. Emily is extremely thin, yet extremely fashionable. Throughout the movie all Emily does is rave about her trip to Paris with Miranda. In preparation for this trip Emily says, "See, I'm on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything. And right before I feel I'm going to faint, I eat a cube of cheese. I'm one stomach flu away from my goal weight." This quote embodies the very fashion industry and the culture that we live in. Character, Emily Charlton who was probably no more than 100 pounds found that she should starve herself in order to be picture perfect in Paris. Here arises the stigma for those who want to be in the fashion industry or be beautiful even to be thin. 

     Today's society glorifies the slimmer woman and the muscular man. These things have become ideal and have shaped the minds and bodies of many. Emily is one of many girls starving themselves to find perfection. The media shapes what we as a society considers acceptable and beautiful and for years what is acceptable and beautiful has been small and thin.

     Not only does this quote show society's dire need to be thin but also portrays the extremes people will go to in order to please other people. Both characters in The Devil Wears Prada Emily and Andrea were willing to somehow alter their appearance in order to fit the role Miranda saw for them. Although the movie is fictional it goes to show that people of our culture go to extreme measures in order to appease those around if they are bosses, or family etc...

       A discourse analysis of this quote brings the reality that our society will do just about anything to fit into a stigma set by people we don't even know personally.

To Wear Prada or Not to Wear Prada

     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.