Name: Carmel Angela G.

Lavador Date: November 23, 2022

Grade & Section: 12 STEM E Prudence Subject: English 3 (EAPP)
Instructor: Ms. Marivic Misa

“21st Century Female Bosses as Feminist Icons”

A ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ Movie Review

"Details of your incompetence do not interest me." is one of the hundreds of iconic lines
of Miranda Priestly, a character played by “The best actress of her generation”, Meryl Streep. In a
male-dominated industry, this film astonished many by having not just 90% of the main cast be
female, but also a cast made of iconic female actors of today's generation. This iconic film also
created a breakthrough in the film industry and opened the path for the portrayal of females as
effective leaders in an era when there are relatively few female leader representations. These
examples are one of the few note-worthy feminist representations expressed in the film. This
review paper contains a detailed emphasis on the feminist themes present throughout the comedy-
drama film, The Devil Wears Prada.

Women in films only made up 30% of all speaking characters and 29% of key characters
throughout the 2010s. These numbers show no change from 2013 but only very modest increases
from 2002 (Lauzen, 2015). These figures demonstrate the industry's white male dominance and
lack of diversity in terms of gender and even race (King, Ribeiro, Callahan, & Robinson, 2021).
When The Devil Wears Prada was released in 2006, it generated quite a stir in the industry due to
its unusual all-female casting. It was an uncommon scene in a western film to have females
dominating the main character roles. The film's employment of male characters as simply
"boyfriends" and "husbands", ex. Nate Cooper, the boyfriend (later ex-boyfriend) of Andy Sachs
(the female lead), (with the exception of Nigel Kipling, the art director's gay character) was an
unusual variation on the usual troupe of female characters as "wives" and supporting figures to the
male protagonist. Despite this unusual occurrence, several viewers already anticipated the casting
because the film's premise revolves around fashion. Surprisingly, despite fashion catering mainly
to female interests, women only make up 70% of the overall labor in the fashion sector, with the
remaining 30% being male professionals (Hall, Pirrie, & Godden, 2021). In comparison, Women
make up just 14.5% of all professional engineers in fields that are assumed to be male-dominated,
such as engineering (Arnold, 2022). Needless to say, gender disparity remains an irrefutable truth
in today's workforce, hence, films like 'The Devil Wears Prada,' which illustrate female domination
in a craft that may influence social norms, marked a significant step forward in the advancement
of gender equality and feminism in contemporary films.

Another point of contention in the film is the character Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief
of Runway magazine and a well-known fashion icon in the fictitious world of TDWP. Her
character was perceived by some viewers as an egotistic and nasty boss who does nothing but put
pressure on her employees. However, to feminist critics and viewers, Miranda's character is a
refreshing take on the typical "Women are emotional leaders" trope, which has been a source of
prejudice towards women in leadership positions. Men are still projected to take the lead in the
fashion sector, with male leaders accounting for up to 75% of fashion industry leaders, leaving
only 25% for women (Hall, Pirrie, & Godden, 2021). Notable fashion figures are also
predominantly men. The common misconception towards female leaders is women’s incapability
to make rational judgments that are said to be hindered by our “extremely” emotional nature.
Miranda Priestly's character, as well as that of many other renowned leaders, such as Kamala
Harris, the current Vice President of the United States, is tangible proof that women are just as
capable as men in leadership. In reality, being emotional is never the inverse of being rational,
implying that women's capacity to perceive emotions better than men is not a bad trait, but rather
generates an effective leadership style. According to studies, empathetic leaders are more likely to
have loyal followers than non-empathetic leaders (Kock, 2019). Although Miranda was not exactly
an emotional leader, she was a successful leader who could separate her personal life from her
professional life. Andrea Sachs' transformation from an inept individual at the start of the film to
an exceptional assistant at the end demonstrated her ability as a leader and an inspiring figure.

The Devil Wears Prada was such an iconic film that had prominent feminist themes. It
showed women’s efficiency in the workplace despite the continuous discrimination. Feminism is
such a powerful theme that addresses different issues and prejudice women unconsciously
encounter at least once in their lives. Furthermore, feminist films like The Devil Wears Prada are
one of the few leaps that humanity took to encourage equality in the world, not just for women but
also for minorities. Therefore, The Devil Wears Prada was such an iconic movie in this era and
will continue to inspire women.

References
Arnold, P. (2022). What Percent Of Engineers Are Female? Stevens Institute of Technology.

Hall, N., Pirrie, E., & Godden, J. A. (2021). Gender Equality and the Fashion Industry.

King, J., Ribeiro, S. L., Callahan, C., & Robinson, T. (2021). Representing race: the race
spectrum subjectivity of diversity in film. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 44(2), 334-351.

Kock, N. (2019). Empathetic leadership: How leader emotional support and understanding
influences follower performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 217-
236.

Lauzen, M. M. (2015). It’s a man’s (celluloid) world: On-screen representations of female

characters in the top 100 films of 2014. . Center for the Study of Women in Television and
Film at San Diego State University.