ESSAY 1ST DRAFT

To what extent has the representation of women in contemporary Hollywood films changed for the better, with particular reference to ‘The Devil Wears Prada’?

What is representation? This is a common question asked, which indicates that it is a concept that is difficult to define and sometimes explain. Representation is the mediated versions of people, in the form of a re-presentation. “Films have been a mirror held up to society’s porous face. They therefore reflect the changing societal image of women—which, until recently, has not been taken seriously enough.”[1] This is a quotation which shows that what we see in the media is an attempt to show the reality. Women in society have been perceived very differently throughout history and their representation has changed dramatically over the year. In many contemporary films women have started to being represented as being more independent and confident however this was not the case in the past. It is important to evaluate how women were portrayed in the past in order to see how and when these changes occurred. The text which will be explored is The Devil Wears Prada (2006) this film can be identified as a contemporary film which represents women as being independent however some elements of the film promote traditional ideologies and forms of patriarchy which oppress women as suggested by Gunter that ‘marriage, parenthood and domesticity were shown on television to be more important for women’[2].

Women prior 1920 were represented in the media as being the typical women, this means that they were seen as undertaking the usual expressive role in the family. However after the 1920’s there was a defining moment in the history of women’s representation and women were portrayed differently. "Movies during the 1920s depicted what a new “modern” woman should be and served as an instructional manual for young women of the time”[3]. This was due to social issues during that era which were reflected in the media. Socially women were now able to vote in the 1920’s which was a great step towards women’s independence, and was a major transformation in the media because this social alteration was being portrayed in movies notably by the motion pictures industry. “The motion picture industry not only depicted what as going on in the lives of women at the time; it also trained women in new fashions and social roles that were being promoted at the time”[4]. Motion pictures portrayed the birth of the new modern women in film, these women were shown to be portrayed quiet differently from the conservative attitudes normally expected to be present in women’s representations. An example includes the movie It (1927) featuring Clara Bow who indicated this change towards modernity through the way she appeared and looked; she had short hair and wore heavy make-up alongside the dresses and skirts having to be shorter. This new variation in the appearance of women brought along the male gaze theory suggested by Laura Mulvey in her essay claiming that ‘In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness’[5]. Mulvey’s theory could also be seen as taking action in The Devil Wears Prada, this is when Andy employs her new look and is depicted as being sexy she tends to leave her boyfriend Nate stunned and also she tends to lure Christian Thompson who she first considered as a friend. Movies were most popular amongst the women audience during this era, the reason for this may well be that they tend to have gained escapism and aspired to be like the women in the movies who were shown to be independent, “A Photoplay article in 1924 suggests that 75 percent of the audiences were women, and in 1927 Moving Pictures World stated that 83 percent of the audiences were women”[6]. These independent women would typically be shown as smoking, dancing, etc and would be referred as ‘Flappers’. Women are also the primary target audience for The Devil Wears Prada they would mainly be young females aged between 18-25 years and mainly belonging to the C2, D and E social groups. This may be the target due to the film dealing with issues such as women’s achievements and women audience tend to gain escapism through associating themselves with the character and adapting themselves with the representation that is conveyed through the film. The main protagonist of The Devil Wears Prada which is Andy would be the character that the audience would most aspire to resemble. This woman is depicted as being very independent, modern and career orientated showing the difference in the representation of women in this film compared to how majority of women in the 1920s represented as being housewives. However there were a great number of films that represented women as being profession orientated “The American Film Institute Catalog lists 49 sale clerks, 28 stenographers, and no less than 114 secretaries who appeared on the screen between 1921 and 1930. These films tended to glorify these professions…”[7] again this representation of women during this era provided them with escapism and many women in film were shown moving into the workforce influencing women in society Bertha the Sewing Machine Girl (1926) is an example that promotes the idea of women joining the workforce and gaining success.

End of World War II was during the 1940s this also affected what was shown in the media; there was a dramatic change in society which again was reflected in the media. During this period men were returning from the war and there was an urge to return to the traditional conjugal roles, this was also exposed in the media, “After four years of wartime instability, both women and men seemed to want to return to a patriarchal order, with women in the home”[8]. Women were taking the expressive roles by doing the housework whilst went out to earn money and fulfilled the role of an instrumental leader. “The women who were featured were limited to family roles. Women were shown doing housework and men were the beneficiaries of their work. On the other hand, men were employed, had careers, and were doing something outside the home”[9]. During this phase there was a great amount of influence on marriage it was a women’s priority to get married in order to feel secure with a man, Picnic (1956) is a film that perfectly indicates this ‘Howard, meanwhile, drives a dejected Rosemary home, and she pleads with him to marry her, explaining that her life is utterly empty. When he refuses and asks for things to remain the same between them, Rosemary declares they cannot see each other again unless he intends to marry her’[10].


The 1950s was an era which again brought in a slight change to the representation of women from the 1940s; the shift towards traditional roles from the 1940s still was maintaining and these roles were being conformed to. This meant that patriarchy was reinforced as the traditional roles consisted of the male being more dominant over the female and male having more of a superior position to women. ‘Many have claimed that pictures in the 1950s reaffirmed male dominance and female subservience, that women's roles were confined to sex role stereotypes of pretty, amusing or child-like’[11] The African Queen is a film which could be seen to portray this ideology as Charlie the hero puts his life in danger to save Rose this is also illustrated on the poster for the movie where again we see the hero saving the heroine whilst being surrounded by danger, the fact that the male protagonist is positioned over the female emphasis the dominance and superiority and also suggests that he is providing her with protection promoting the idea that women can not protect themselves and need a man to defend themselves. This representation of women being in an inferior position to men in the media was imitated in real life, leading to men having a dominant role whilst women were adapting to housewife roles and motivation for women to join the workforce was lacking. The idea that women should be dependent on the male was being reinforced by the media. Ultimately women during this time returned to the more conservative role. However the 1950s did bring a remarkable change in the representation of women ‘The way a woman could be portrayed in a film became more open’[12]. This was due to the Hays code loosening ‘In the early fifties the restrictions of the Hays code were loosened’[13]; there was a code before the 1950s which was called the Hays code which specified how women should be represented in media, and these representations had women portrayed as housewives, maternal and inferior to the male stereotype. However this code brought about change and women’s representation transformed they were now shown to be more independent. The portrayal of women as being independent is also reflected in The Devil Wears Prada as the character of Andy Sachs mirrors this representation through her commitment to her job and her being so career orientated.

The Devil Wears Prada is a movie where the audience experiences different types of representations of women as there are mainly two different female characters portraying the different representations of women in the media. ‘Finally in the Devil Wears Prada clip it shows several different women getting ready, by accesorizing, there is a lot of high fashion, which promotes the icon like status of the industry’[14]. The character of Miranda Priestley is shown as being extremely career driven that she has passed the stage where she has to choose between her personal and professional life because she has already made her choice and that is her career being her priority. She may be shown to be powerful and a superior women in the film but she is not as independent as shown, she mostly orders Andy to do most of her tasks for her ‘I need the new Harry Potter book for the twins’[15]. Due to this choice she has made which goes against the conservative expectations her character is shown to have lost liveliness, joy and has a sense of emptiness which only a man can fulfil. In order to fill this emptiness she has to sacrifice her career but she eventually is being divorced by her husband ‘her boss let down her guard for the first time as she worries about the effect an impending divorce will have on her twin daughters’[16]. There is an issue reflected in the film that shows that women who are successful in their career are actually not able to cope with their personal life as it is seen through the consequences that Miranda has to face. Moreover this problem could certainly also be applied to the character of Andy as we get to see that when she is experiencing increased success in her career she starts to get drifted away from her live in boyfriend Miranda in the film makes comment that could be applied to women in general and make them think ‘people think that success just happens to you… it doesn’t… want this life (success)… the decision is yours’[17]. The issue of the glass ceiling is raised in this film and this subject is presented accurately as in many cases this idea of the glass ceiling have been raised in real life situations for many women. Andy in the film can’t balance both her personal and professional life one always becomes an obstacle for another ‘my personal life is hanging by a threat’[18] Nigel her colleague replies to this comment by saying ‘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’[19] the meaning that is being picked out of the film is quite literally being said that when women have problems in their personal life it is due to them doing well at work. He also adds that when your life goes up in smoke it means that it is time for a promotion suggesting that women need to destroy their personal life in order to pursue their professional life. However the film also influences positive feminist ideology when Andy has a job in the most famous fashion magazine whilst her boyfriend is working as a chef at a restaurant showing the different job status with Andy having a better job. Streep’s character also fulfils the expectation of genre, the film is partially characterised as a comedy and through Miranda Priestley’s sarcastic and unwise comments she introduces a sense of comedy for the audience. For example when there is a bad storm and her fight home is cancelled leading to no flights flying out, she expects to get home no matter what happens she also calls the heavy storms drizzling ‘Oh, please... it's just- I don't know- drizzling’[20]. This also influence the representation of women as they are represented as ridiculous and insensible bringing in the term bimbo giving women a negative representation. Women who are involved in the fashion industry are also being represented in the film, they’re presented as being devil like and evil, they show that these women start to build a harsh personality. This is also illustrated on the poster for the movie by having pitchfork as a heel on a shoe. This shoe is red which connotes danger and is surrounded by a white background which represents purity, this could a symbolism of Andy as she is pure and innocent before joining the fashion industry but the industry starts to corrupt her. This message being conformed reinforces the idea that women are not suitable for work and become corrupt when they become excessively career orientated.

Historical events that occurred in society in the past have helped develop women’s representation in the media in a positive manner. In the 1920s women in the United States were allowed to vote due to the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution this led to the suffrage movement helping women to escape the traditional way of living and giving them a new sense of courage. This lead to women being shown in a positive light in the media, by them developing a new and independent representation. Marxist ideology also affected women’s representation; they viewed women as being there to produce the next generation of workers. As previously mentioned the Second World War had also influenced women’s representations because men were off to war and women had to take upon male roles in order to help society function properly. The Devil Wears Prada is a film that also deals with issues that have currently created a social chaos such as the size 0 issue ‘In this celebrity-worshipping, media-saturated age, concentration-camp chic is getting seared into our consciousness like an ahi tuna salad, hold the dressing and the fish.[21]’ The character of Emile is shown to want lose weight as she is slim as it is ‘I'm on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything and when I feel like I'm about to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight’[22]. This again reflects upon the representation of women as they are shown to be so self conscience about their looks and maintaining their figure. Furthermore at the beginning when Andy approaches Miranda for a job she is criticised because she is not the appropriate size which according to Miranda would be a size 0 ‘I thought take a chance hire the smart fat girl’[23]. There were also reports on how Anne Hathaway who plays the role of Andy went against the Hollywood industry encouraging their actresses to achieve a size 0 for a role in a film ‘Anne Hathaway has slammed Hollywood executives for encouraging the size zero culture, insisting actresses should not be forced to slim down for roles’[24]. This shows that far extent in which the media goes to represent women as being really slim.

Erin Brockovich is a film that deals with similar issues to the ones in The Devil Wears Prada the character of Erin has her personal life and also her professional moreover she is a single mother of three children and have to support them. She later finds herself a boyfriend but situations start going downhill and she ends up in the same dilemma where she has to make a choice between her boyfriend and her career her boyfriend says to her ‘Erin what I’m thinking is that you got to find a different job or a different guy’[25]. This film is not a really recent film it had released in 2000 which shows that this issue with women either pursuing their career or taking on their personal life has been going on for some time.

Fundamentally women’s representation have changed to a vast extent whereas first they were regarded as being not so in power and independent to them being very self contained there have been many hurdles during this process however the end result shows that it has happened for the better. Conversely there are hidden messages within the current representations women that suggest tat women are only suitable for the conservative roles and should prioritise their personal life over their career. When applying it to The Devil Wears Prada the audience tend to get a mixed message where we have Andy electing for her personal life over her profession and on the other hand there is Miranda Priestley who picks her profession over her personal life. The audience are more likely to passively take in the ideology that women’s personal life is more important due to the audience personally identifying with the character of Andy as she tends to be the role model for the audience. Finally the representation of women have improved but there is still some stigma attached to women who are seen to be independent and powerful but considering how women were seen previously their representation have changed in a positive manner and for the better.






2995 Words

[1] Popcorn Venus: Women, movies and the American dream, Author: Marjorie Rosen, Publisher: Avon (1973)
[2] Gunter
[3] Women, Films and the 1920s
[4] Women, Film and the 1920s
[5] Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975) Laura Mulvey
[6] Studler
[7] Women, Film and the 1920s
[8] Banner 137
[9] Stupor
[10] http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=86664
[11] Rose
[12] http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a9003211/cheathouse/hollywomen.html
[13] http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a9003211/cheathouse/hollywomen.html
1.[14] http://blog.lib.umn.edu/puot0002/gwss3306/2007/01/

[15] The Devil Wears Prada
[16] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/synopsis
[17] The Devil Wears Prada
[18] The Devil Wears Prada
[19] The Devil Wears Prada
[20] The Devil Wears Prada
[21] http://www.frankwbaker.com/hollywoods_thin_look.htm
[22] The Devil Wears Prada
[23] The Devil Wears Prada
[24] http://www.actressarchives.com/news.php?id=4433
[25] Erin Brockovich


Bibliography

http://www.mediaknowall.com/gender.html
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/
http://www.wmm.com/resources/film_facts.shtml
https://www.msu.edu/~quattron/WRA140/page1.htm
http://www.actressarchives.com/news.php?id=4433
http://www.frankwbaker.com/hollywoods_thin_look.htm
http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a9003211/cheathouse/hollywomen.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_Wears_Prada_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frankel
http://www.ehs.org.uk/society/pdfs/Lewis%201b.pdf.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=86664
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/puot0002/gwss3306/2007/01/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/synopsis
Popcorn Venus: Women, Movies and the American Dream Author: Marjorie RosenPublisher: Avon (1973)
An Introduction to Film Studies By Jill Nelmes
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975) - Laura Mulvey Originally Published - Screen 16.3 Autumn 1975 pp. 6-18