The Devil Wears Prada

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about The Devil Wears Prada's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of The Devil Wears Prada completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 22 September 2006.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie The Devil Wears Prada contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) has recently graduated from college and has been struggling to find work as a journalist in New York . Without any interest in or knowledge about the world of fashion, she lands a job working as second assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the feared and revered Editor in Chief of the high fashion magazine ‘Runway'.

Initially, Andy looks upon the job as a ‘means to an end', with the plan of surviving a year with Runway before securing a ‘real' journalist job. She trivializes the world of fashion and refuses to change her look to fit in with the supermodels around her. But after dealing with Miranda's constant put downs about her dress sense, appearance and finally her work ethic, Andy makes the decision to transform herself into the perfect assistant, image and all.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

None

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under eight

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations. Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened. Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

There is one scene, depicted as humorous, in which Miranda's first assistant, Emily, is hit by a car (accident not actually shown, but Emily is later seen in hospital with bruises and a broken leg).

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Mercedes Benz
• Prada bags
• Dolce and Gabana shoes
• Pelligrino water
• Calvin Klein
• Starbucks
• Manalo Blahnik shoes
• Chanel
• Jimmy Choo shoes
• Nancy Gonzales clothes
• Bang and Olafsson phones
• Clinique
• Marc Jacobs
• Smith and Wollensky (steak house)
• Dean and Deluca (coffee)
• Valentino
• Fendi
• Hermes
• Azzaro.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Nate tries to cheer up Andy after a bad day at work by saying “I can think of something to do that doesn't require any clothes”
• Andy tries to coax Nate into a good mood, by showing him the bra she is wearing under her shirt. He then kisses her as they walk into their bedroom.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some partial nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• Andy is shown getting dressed in the morning, contrasting how she does so with other more fashionable women, who are deciding what to wear while in their lingerie
• behind the scenes at fashion week in Paris , models are shown in their underwear between walks on the catwalk
• while in Paris for fashion week, Andy goes on a date with journalist Christian Thompson. They kiss and the next scene shows her waking up in his bed the next morning, naked under the sheets. Christian comes out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• alcohol is consumed at various parties and bars that Andy attends
• Andy and Nate drink beer and wine at home after work
• after drinking too much wine, Andy ends up somewhat drunk during her date with another journalist.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• bloody
• bloody hell
• shit
• ‘frickin'
• ass
• bollocks
• for Christ's sake.

The movie's message

The Devil Wears Prada is a ‘fish out of water' comedy, centred in the high pressure and superficial world of producing high fashion magazines. Young children may find this movie dull, given the adult themes and humour. Older children (particularly girls) and adults will enjoy the good character depictions and acting, the clothes and locations associated with the fashion industry, and the barbed comments and humour.

The main messages from this movie are about the choices people make between career and personal life, and the benefits gained and price paid for these choices.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• working hard
• integrity in the workplace and home life
• staying true to your beliefs and getting your priorities right
• loyalty.

Parents may wish to note that throughout the film, there are comments about the way people look and a focus on weight and dieting (even directed at the already slender Andy). While this is shown in a comic fashion, it may reinforce stereotypes that being very thin is desirable. Parents could talk to older teenagers about the pressure to make career decisions at the expense of other people and one's own personal life.