Current cinema

Unlike the atonal opera I intend to compose based on my experiences as an unsuccessful interviewee at a major political magazine, "The Devil Wears Prada," one woman's tale of a low-level job at a fashion magazine, is kind of entertaining. Not just because I was able to compare and contrast long, dark hair with bangs and shoulder-length bright red hair (I go back and forth on this), but because it wins the Rhoda Morgenstern Award for most distractingly thin "fat" character. No way is Anne Hathaway even the slightest bit wider than the typical actress, but there are continuous remarks about her weight. While the joke is supposed to be that in the world of fashion, even a size six is considered too large, suspension of belief is required if one is to accept Andi wearing even that size.

Otherwise, while it was by no means painful to sit through, the "moral" of this movie was quite off. First, there's that old NYC-versus-Heartland contest, with Andi's native Ohio as a stand-in for all that's upstanding, and the big, bad city as the place where people with no qualms about getting ahead bash one another with abandon. Because of course back in Ohio, say, at a high school, the popular kids were probably kind and gentle compared to those who work at Vogue. More centrally, there was the problem that the allegedly awful job looked quite enjoyable--varied, active, and stimulating, with possibility for advancement and, oddly enough for fashion, ample opportunities to meet nice-looking straight men. Plus, there are worse bosses at plenty of jobs that don't involve any perks or glamour, plenty of devils running around town in Talbots. So what made being Anna Wintour-ish's assistant so objectionable? Not enough time remained to spend with the boyfriend. I'm waiting for a movie in which a young male investment banker gets all teary and tosses his Blackberry into a fountain because his job doesn't allow him enough time with his girlfriend.

Next up: Strangers with Candy, for which I have much higher expectations...