By: Steve Patterson
Submitted: 2010-04-08 21:28:27 | Word Count: 436
Women’s social statuses and roles have been changed dramatically for several decades; however, women still have many obstacles to achieve their professional careers and difficulties to balance professional careers and their personal lives concurrently. Most women have to decide what they pursue between careers and personal lives at some moment. The film The Devil Wears Prada describes women’s struggling to balance their private lives and careers as well as shows how society views and evaluates career oriented women.
Miranda is a strong, successful, and a superior woman in her career, but like general women, she has difficulties to obtain success and to maintain her career and personal life at the same time. Her statement, “People think that success just happens to you. It doesn’t… want this life (success)… the decision is yours”, issues that no matter how much women are career oriented, women have to face a point in life to make a decision what they pursue between their career and their personal life. (The Devil Wears Prada) Women need to destroy personal lives to be promoted as well as to success in careers. It is also implied in Nigel’s comment to Andy: “that’s what happens when you start doing well at work…I mean all your life starts going up in smoke. It means that there is time for a promotion” (The Devil Wears Prada)
Moreover, the issue of the glass ceiling is raised in this film. To get over the glass ceiling, women should show strong images which society demands women for career success. Society regards that women are unacceptable in workplace because women are too emotional to manage businesses or to make hard decisions. Miranda’s manner of speaking and behaviors might arise from this society’s assumption. For example, she never yells, curses, or smiles not to show any emotion. She is actually quite weak and feeble, but she has to hide all feelings to reach society’s expectation. She pretends to be an emotionally- vacant woman, and society calls her “Dragon lady”.
Mirand
[ advertisement ]
a pursues professional life and becomes a top editor in Runway magazine. Unlike her professional life, her personal life is not successful. Her husband wants to divorce from her even though she shows good manners which are totally different behaviors in workplace. She wants to maintain marriage, but circumstance in male dominated society does not allow her take both. When women pursue careers or do not fulfill traditional roles, society classifies them as morally contempt; then society evaluates them in critical and disparaging way. In the film, she is punished as her unhappy and troublous personal life.
