Devil Wears Prada, The

image for Devil Wears Prada, The

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Not recommended under 8, PG to 13 (Lang. Themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Devil Wears Prada, The
  • a review of Devil Wears Prada, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 22 September 2006.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not recommended due to language and themes. In any case, children under 8 are likely to find the movie boring.
Children aged 8-13 Parental guidance recommended.
Children over the age of 13 Should be ok to see this movie with or without parental guidance.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Devil Wears Prada, The
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild coarse language
Length: 109 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

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.

While Miranda is pleased with Andy’s decision to take her career seriously, Andy’s boyfriend, Nate (Adrian Grenier) and friends becoming increasingly resentful of the encroachment of Andy’s work life into her personal life, and the changes it makes to Andy’s priorities. As Andy continues to make sacrifices and choices to advance herself in Miranda’s esteem, she begins to recognise the price both she and Miranda have made to get ahead, and must decide which path she is willing to take for the rest of her life.

Themesinfo

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.

Materialism, Life choices (career vs personal life)

Use of violenceinfo

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 of concern.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

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).

Aged five to eightinfo

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 in this age group may be scared or disturbed by the above scene.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

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 in this age group may be scared or disturbed by the above scene.

Thirteen and overinfo

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.

Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by the scene mentioned above.

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

 

In a nutshell

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.