meta rec - The Devil Wears Prada as feminist manifesto

[cimorene]

thelastgoodname has a brilliant analysis of The Devil Wears Prada as a feminist movie/manifesto here that I'm 100% wordy-mcword behind.

This is why I love this movie even though the actual writing, on surface level (eg dialogue) is pretty bad: the fully-rounded female characters and their excellent acting, the fact that they drive and control the plot in all directions, the fact that Meryl Streep as a ball-busting villain is sympathetic and sexy and ultimately comes out on top. Unlike so many chick flicks, DWP doesn't ultimately subject the female characters to traditional roles and their morals or to male desire. There are hardly even any male characters, and they exist as two-dimensional props only: the movie is 100% about the ways in which women negotiate successful careers in modern society vs. their identities.

Because in this movie lots of women talk to each other about many things other than men, and a woman is in charge of everyone and triumphs over the man who wants to replace her with a younger version of herself because he says she's old and dried up, and said woman is dumped by her male significant other for being successful and competent and advancing in her career and not placating his every whim and a completely different woman is also dumped by her male significant other for wanting to be successful and competent and advance in her career and not placate his every whim and all the women in the movie are complicated characters--the bitches cry and the good girls get bitchy--and there are a tiny handful of named male characters (even the dog is female) and two of them only exist to be romantic foils for the protagonist and her antagonist, and....