Life Lessons that ‘Devil Wears Prada’ taught me…
So before you start thinking how and why I would culminate life lessons from a classic ‘chick flick’, let me tell you that ‘Devil Wears Prada’ wasn't just a movie. It served as a reminder of things I didn't want to be reminded about. So lets put it this way. Since I’m such a stupid head, this movie seems to blatantly tell me, ‘ The signs are all out there but you’re not doing what you have to do (you dumb fuck)!”
1) You need to do something you never thought you would do, to realize what you really want!
You know how one year as Miranda Priestley’s (Meryl Streep) assistant at ‘Runway’ magazine can get you a job at any place you want? So there are these jobs that have supposedly great brand names that help you improve your portfolio. Sadly, your interest towards such a job and the weightage it carries for your resume can be very inversely proportional! But guess what?! Working at such a job even for a little while can make you realize what you really crave for.
It says to me “You don’t give a fuck about this spreadsheet, you’re thinking about the aurora borealis effect right now! So who are you kidding?”
Working as Miranda Priestley’s assistant was necessary for Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway) to truly realize who she really was as a person and as a professional. I have a feeling this applies in real life too.
2) Trendy clothes (read superficialities) cannot solve your problems
We all know this already, but end up falling into the trap of a ‘fabulous lifestyle’ where you look great, wear great clothes and are going to great places in those great clothes. So once Andrea shifts her attention towards wearing the perfect clothes and getting the right look, there is no looking back. She starts doing great at her job and starts fitting in with her ultra glam colleagues. But there is also a void in her that starts expanding. A void which she never realized existed, until it was a little too late.
In my head this is what goes on “I get that you like being neatly turned out to work but you are actually supposed to be in distressed jeans and an old flannel shirt doing many more important things"
Now, if you have ever worn a lovely Van Huesen blouse and some neat Carlton London pumps to work, yet have a 5 minute existential crisis everyday at 11.07 AM, as to what you are doing with your skills and energy….then you know exactly what I mean by ‘void’.
3) Snooty and over achieving employees are a real deal
If you have ever worked, hell even interned at a corporate you would know by now that very real and lifelike versions of Emily (etched in our memories with a great performance by Emily Blunt) do exist! Yes dear people, it is possible to live your job. Such individuals simply modify their personalities over time to ensure that they are compatible with their manager’s. No matter what you do, these people will always make you remember that you’ll never be as good as them, because lets face it…you don’t love your job and they do!
4) Knowingly or unknowingly, wittingly or unwittingly all of us might have to trample somebody else’s aspirations
It’s not like Andrea wanted to steal away Emily’s dream opportunity of travelling to Paris for fashion week with Miranda, but she ends up doing it.
Though I hope this isn't always true, I have known the nicest colleagues who have been who have clobbered on somebody’s plans and/or the victims of clobbering.
This probably doesn't qualify as clobbering but the other day the security guard told me to sign and then swipe my id card but now I do it the opposite way! Totally badass.
5) They are all learning curves and not mistakes if you are trying to find yourself
So Andrea ends up landing that job at the newspaper house like she always wanted. That's more than a fairytale ending…But the best part is that it isn’t an impossible one!
It is so difficult to even understand what we want from life, but once we do all the mistakes we made, or we thought we made become such great learning curves.
Above all, it is important to pursue what you think you deserve to pursue. If a movie tells me the story of somebody who made her share of mistakes, yet is eventually chasing her dreams…that movie is an inspiring account in my books.
