I’ll admit, when I attended the Assistants Screening of The Devil Wears Prada in Hollywood I spent a solid three months referencing the film. Being tossed curveball assignments without adequate information or driving $100,000+ cars—that weren’t mine— to get washed and waxed—all of these moments of impossibility resonated with me, as well as the other hundred or so fledgling assistants in the seats next to me. But we had every right to identify with the characters, we were, on all accounts, nearly-superfluous limbs hanging onto media’s mangled body. We were flotsam in a cesspool of bespoke suits and stilettos. We were making less than $28,000 a year, working 60-hour weeks. We knew the Devil well.
But now it’s 2009. That movie came out light years ago, and while it was an engaging film that has put cerulean on the map, I’m beyond tired of hearing people say, “…blah blah my company is soooo Devil Wears Prada.” So what you’re saying is that it’s completely outdated? Your company is soooo 2006?
Let Anna be Anna, and let Meryl Street be, well, Meryl. Tell your friend the assistant to stop whining about her thorny (nope, that doesn’t say horny) boss and to pipe down and sit behind her computer. Her turn will come. Under no circumstances is she allowed to find similarities between her boss and an on-screen character.
Not even if your friend is/was/knows Claiborne Swanson.
