My mother and I settled into the reclining seats at the theater to enjoy “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” She and I watched the first movie together 20 years ago, and the next day promptly headed to the now-closed Barneys on the corner of Rush and Oak streets. A wardrobe refresher beckoned us.
The original movie endures because of Meryl Streep’s delicious turn as a devilish top editor at a fashion magazine similar to Vogue. Jokes about florals, a hideous skirt convention and determining the real villain are part of movie canon. Fashion is not frivolous (hello, the cerulean scene!) It’s whimsical and big business. But the sequel surprised me by being less fanciful in exchange for meditating on the fragile state of media.
The plot brings back Anne Hathaway’s earnest Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Medill alum!), now an award-winning journalist. Capital J, of course. When her publication callously lays her and the newsroom off, Andy’s viral speech lands on the phone of the owner of Runway magazine, which is sliding in readership and relevancy. He hires her to run the features department in an attempt to reverse course. Andy reunites with former boss Miranda Priestly. She’s not pleased, but is also much more subdued. A lot less domineering taskmaster hurling coats and coffee orders. A lot more consumed by metrics and clicks — not the stiletto kind.
Miranda laments that the once-thick September issue is pancake thin. Runway is a proxy for the shrunken magazines we see at the airport bookstores, from Vanity Fair to Essence. A changed magazine industry finds Runway catering and chasing an audience more engaged in fluff and scrolls. When a new corporate regime swoops in to demand cuts, the measure of success counts page views versus impact. Andy and Miranda team up to save journalism.
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” is out at the same time as a new study by the Media Insight Project, a collaboration of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the American Press Institute, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. The project surveyed adults and teens about news engagement.
“The research reveals that people of all generations now get news and information from ‘influencers’ or ‘independent creators.’ Indeed, more than half of all American teenagers and adults — 57% — now report getting news and information from influencers at least sometimes,” according to the report. “Taken together, the signals in the study suggest this sector is poised to only grow in importance, use and effect on the information ecosystem of the nation.”
The study also said teens rely most heavily on social media, and older adults are connected to television and print-based news. Overall, 49% of teens and adults never engage with magazines. Ouch.
When I started a career in newspapers, I had a corporate credit card and access to a fleet of company Fords if I needed to drive to an assignment. When I freelanced for a top magazine, I soaked in the lavish suites booked for photo shoots. A crashing economy and digital revolution shuttered newsrooms, slashed jobs and have made the public less informed. Even fashion journalism is under the democracy umbrella and suffers.
To be sure, the New York City protagonists in the movie still live a glamorous life. But I appreciate a plot that refuses to ignore the realities of media consumption — a reality obviously close to my livelihood. Local, nonprofit, corporate and conglomerate newsrooms to different degrees are figuring out how to balance the books and produce worthwhile journalism. I don’t want to give away the story line, much less the ending of “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” But the subtext isn’t satire when billionaire tech owners show up — the next frontier media companies (and consumers) must confront.
Natalie Y. Moore is a senior lecturer at Northwestern University.