The Devil Wears Prada: When Success Slowly Changes Who You Are
Tulisan dari Bimbi Fitria Kusuma tidak mewakili pandangan dari redaksi kumparan
PerbesarHave you ever wanted something so badly that you were willing to change yourself to get it?
That is one of the questions raised by The Devil Wears Prada.
The 2006 film, directed by David Frankel and based on Lauren Weisberger's novel, follows Andrea Sachs, a young woman who gets a job as an assistant to Miranda Priestly, a powerful editor at a famous fashion magazine.
At first, Andrea knows almost nothing about fashion.
She does not understand why people care so much about clothes, brands, and appearances.
But she needs the job because she believes it will help her career as a journalist.
What happens next is more complicated than simply learning about fashion.
Andrea slowly changes.
And she eventually has to ask herself whether becoming successful is worth becoming someone she no longer recognizes.
Andrea's First Day
When Andrea starts working for Runway magazine, she immediately feels out of place.
Everyone around her seems to care about fashion.
Andrea does not.
She wears simple clothes and does not understand the rules of the fashion industry.
Miranda Priestly is also extremely demanding.
She expects Andrea to be available almost all the time.
A small mistake can become a big problem.
At first, Andrea struggles to keep up.
But she does not give up.
She starts learning.
She changes the way she dresses.
She becomes more confident.
She learns how the fashion industry works.
And slowly, she becomes good at her job.
This is where things become interesting.
Success Changes Andrea
Andrea's transformation is not completely negative.
She becomes more confident and more capable.
She learns how to communicate with important people.
She becomes better at solving problems.
She also discovers that she can handle pressure.
In some ways, the job helps her grow.
But there is another side to her success.
Andrea starts spending less time with her friends and boyfriend.
She becomes more focused on her job.
Her work begins to control her personal life.
The people closest to her notice the change before she does.
Andrea is becoming successful.
But she is also becoming distant from the person she used to be.
Miranda Is Not Simply a Villain
It would be easy to see Miranda as the bad character in the story.
She is demanding, intimidating, and sometimes unfair.
But the film gives us another way to look at her.
Miranda is extremely successful because she understands her industry and knows exactly what she wants.
She has built a powerful career in a world where women have to work hard to succeed.
At the same time, her success comes with sacrifices.
Her personal relationships suffer.
She is constantly under pressure.
She has created a life where being successful is almost more important than being happy.
Andrea begins to see this side of Miranda.
And perhaps she also starts to wonder:
Is this what I want my future to look like?
The Fashion Scene
One of the most memorable scenes in the film happens when Miranda explains why Andrea's supposedly unimportant blue sweater actually matters.
Andrea thinks that the two blue belts being discussed look almost identical.
Miranda explains that the color was not simply blue. It was connected to a long process in the fashion industry before eventually reaching the clothes Andrea is wearing.
The scene is funny, but it also teaches Andrea something important.
She realizes that she has been judging an industry she does not understand.
Fashion may seem superficial from the outside, but there is a huge system behind it.
Andrea learns to take her work seriously.
But there is also a lesson for the audience.
Sometimes we reject something simply because we do not understand it.
When Work Becomes Your Whole Life
Andrea's biggest problem is not that she becomes interested in fashion.
The problem is that her job slowly becomes her entire life.
She starts missing important moments.
She is not always there for her friends.
Her relationship becomes more difficult.
She even begins to accept behavior that she would probably never have accepted before.
This happens gradually.
There is no single moment when Andrea suddenly becomes a different person.
That is what makes her story believable.
Change often happens slowly.
We work longer hours.
We become more focused on our goals.
We start saying yes to things we once would have refused.
At some point, we may look back and realize that our priorities have completely changed.
Is Ambition a Bad Thing?
The film does not say that ambition is bad.
Andrea wants to build a career.
There is nothing wrong with that.
She works hard and learns from the experience.
The real question is about balance.
How much are we willing to sacrifice for success?
And how much is too much?
Andrea eventually realizes that she does not want to become like Miranda.
She wants a successful career, but she also wants to remain connected to the people she cares about.
This is not an easy decision.
Walking away from a powerful job can feel like giving up an important opportunity.
But Andrea understands that success means different things to different people.
Finding Your Own Definition of Success
At the beginning of the film, Andrea thinks the job at Runway is simply a step toward her real career.
She believes she can survive the experience and move on.
But the job changes her.
She learns important skills and gains confidence.
At the same time, she learns something about herself.
She discovers what kind of person she wants to become—and what kind of person she does not want to become.
That may be the most important lesson from the story.
Sometimes a job does more than teach us professional skills.
It teaches us what we value.
It shows us what we are willing to sacrifice.
And sometimes, it shows us what we should never sacrifice.
Conclusion
The Devil Wears Prada may look like a film about fashion, expensive clothes, and a difficult boss.
But underneath all of that, it is a story about ambition and identity.
Andrea wants success.
She works hard to get it.
But along the way, she realizes that success means very little if she has to lose herself completely to achieve it.
The film does not tell us that we should avoid ambition.
Instead, it asks us to think about what kind of success we actually want.
A bigger salary?
A better position?
A famous company on our résumé?
Or simply a career that allows us to have a life outside work?
There is no single answer.
But Andrea's experience reminds us of one thing:
Getting what you want is not always the same as getting what is right for you.