The Devil Wears Prada and work ethic

 "Call me when your personal life blows up, that's how you know you're ready for a promotion." Every time I rewatch The Devil Wears Prada, which is more often than I'd like to admit, this line jumps out at me. Is this really the truth of working? Must you really let work consume your entire life and destroy any personal connections you have in order to succeed? Or does Andrea, the main character of the movie and the person to which this quote was directed to, just not surrounding herself with the right people?

    Andrea has several meaningful connections that she's built at work, many of which she spends time with outside of work, such as Stanley Tucci's character who spoke the line I said above. As well, Andrea's friends and her boyfriend, who's relationship begins to fall apart as Andrea becomes more involved with her work, do not understand the high fashion world that Andy is beginning to love, they do not try to understand it, they simply begin putting stereotypes of high fashion girls onto Andy despite the fact that these don't apply to her. Yes, she has a lot less free time than before, and yes she has a lot of work obligations, but instead of being understanding and supportive, her friends belittle her. Andy takes this personally and begins to think she is doing something wrong even though she really isn't.

    What I do think is a bit unreasonable is how her job, an entry level assistant position, takes over her entire life. Is this really what must be sacrificed in order to succeed in a job? I feel like this issue is very heavily an American issue. Of course other countries have their own pressures when it comes to jobs, especially countries like Japan and South Korea, but that stems from more of a societal pressure to conform and fit in. In the US, it comes from a rampant capitalistic nature. Americans can never have enough, or be content with a modest living, they must work, they must make money, they must live their lives in their given field and only are they allowed to rest when they are 60-65 years old. This seems completely unreasonable to me. I don't want to spend my life working the grindstone and never feeling like I can rest. I want to have work be something I do as part of my life, I don't want it to be my life, to be my identity. I fear that this is becoming a harder and harder thing to accomplish, especially in more niche work fields, like what Andy is pursuing in the movie. 

`      This reminds me of a story I hear in Europe. An American goes down to the docks in France and sees a French fisherman sitting and smoking, enjoying the day. The American asks, "Why aren't you out fishing?" and the fisherman responds, "I caught my quota early today and so I have the rest of the day off." The American says, "While why don't you go out still and catch more then your quota? You could use that extra money to buy another boat and hire another fisher, and soon you could build a whole fishing empire and you'd never have to work another day!" The fisherman looks at the American and says, "I don't need all of that stress, I don't need to be filthy rich to be happy. I enjoy fishing but I also enjoy my time. I am happy with what I have." I think this story very effectively summarizes the different mindset Americans have to other countries, it's part of the American dream to become filthy rich after all, the have it all. So why shouldn't you work your ass of so that when you're old and unable to do what you were once able to you can have more money then you would ever need? 

    I think Andy realizes this, and that is one of the reasons she leaves Miranda Priestly despite the fact that she was about to make it big in the company. She sees that Miranda is at the height of the industry yet Miranda is miserable. She's had three divorces and she is constantly stressed. Andy doesn't want this, she knows she can get it, she can work her life away and find herself in Mirandas position, but she knows that's not what she really wants. I think we need to stop glamorizing and encouraging people to work their entire lives because that is not what humans are designed to do. We need to live and experience things, not just be cogs in a capitalistic scheme. 

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