Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada.
Miranda is a hero. Period.
She is the epitome of perfection, professionalism, ambition, success, and wait for it, women’s empowerment.
The first thing people notice in her persona is how rude, mean and demanding a boss she is. What often gets ignored is — ‘SHE. KNEW. HER. SH*T’. From table meetings to rundowns, she had shown multiple times that her knowledge of fashion was virtually unmatched. There’s a reason she was respected massively by her peers and subordinates. That reason was, simply, ‘She was better at her job than anyone else’.
Perhaps Andrea Sachs summarized it the best —
Okay, she’s tough, but if Miranda were a man…no one would notice anything about her, except how great she is at her job
That is exactly where the feminist angle comes in this analysis. Miranda did not get where she was without compromising her personal life. She’d had multiple divorces, and she’s not particularly happy about her broken relationships either. She was visibly disheartened and sobbing when she realized that her marriage is over, again —
But what she said right after, is significant—
I can just imagine what they're gonna write about me 'The Dragon Lady, career-obsessed', 'Snow Queen drives away another Mr. Priestly.'
She knows how unfair the world is to successful female professionals. She knows those stares of disapproval, she knows all that bad press, and she’s frankly, tired of those. You know what sets her apart? She did not cancel her professional endeavors even after this massive setback in her personal life. That is commendable, in my opinion.
Yeah, I get it. She isn’t nice. She doesn’t smile to make you feel comfortable. She is cunningly ambitious. She is perfectionist, professional, objective and unapologetic about each of those traits.
You don’t have to ‘like’ her.
But you know what?
- That small-town girl from Bangladesh whose parents almost forced her into a marriage, while she persisted continuing her education,
- That nerdy girl in a Nigerian high school who is putting in 12 hours’ effort every day to get into med school or
- That super-ambitious middle-management female employee from Bengaluru who’s trying to climb the corporate ladder.
Miranda inspires each one of them.
She tells them to strive for perfection.
She tells them to be resourceful.
She tells them to be good at what they do and to stop at nothing.
She is far from a villain. She is an inspiration.
EDIT- There is N number of articles about how Miranda is a feminist icon or how Miranda is not a villain, available over the internet. I did NOT read any of those prior to writing this answer in order to stay ‘unbiased’ in my analysis.
Picture Source Wikipedia
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