The devil wears panda: comparing the book with the film

A saying goes that “ you cannot sell the cow and drink the milk”. Enterprise and personal life are valuable to be concerned that which one is more significant in our life as people always desire for obtaining both. Having read the watched the movie and the novel recently “ The Devil Wears Prada” by Lauren Weisberger, which shows two sides of describing and comparing the story. The story is about a 23 years girl name Andrea Saches who want to be a journalist in “ The New Yorker”. For he wish, she became Miranda Priestly’s second assistant, a harsh editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine. Andrea will gain promotion from Miranda if Andrea can work well with Her for one year. As the story flows, Andrea increasingly focuses too much on pleasing Miranda and ignores those people who truly concern her and her original dream has shifted. The movie fairly follows the novel, but there still have some changes, which are worth being highlighted, such as the plot, characters, and the theme.

Firstly, there are two parallel scenes should be compared which is the climax in the movie and the novel. In the movie, Miranda announced that Jacqueline will become the new director of James Holt’s company, which surprised Andrea and Nigel, as Miranda wants to keep her position in Runway. Miranda had expected that she may be replaced after this luncheon, so she showed the list, which contains a variety of designers, company owners who were naturally raised by her to James Holt. Also, she emphasized they these people have promised their loyalty to her and wherever Miranda goes, they will follow her as well. Meanwhile, she sacrifices Nigel’s promotion, so Andrea says that she would never treat anyone what Miranda did to Nigel, and she feels so angry. Miranda imperturbably replies Andrea she already did since Andrea is stepping over Emily, Miranda’s first assistant. Thus, Andrea realizes her behavior is close to Miranda, and Miranda controls her current life, so she just walks away from Miranda. By contrast, in the novel, Andrea has been told that her best friend Lily is in a coma because of an accident, since she knows that once she leaves Paris, her dream will end, so she is in a dilemma. Her head swims with worry over Lily while Miranda’s constant demands. After that, Miranda storms up to Andrea because her two daughters’ passport have already expired, and she had better fix them during the following day. Finally, Andrea cannot tolerate Miranda anymore, so she calls her mom and informs she is flying back, which means she decides to leave. However, the movie’s situation is more realistic than the novel because who would have such great enthusiasm fro a job that she or he hates.

Second, comparing the character’s development, there is a significant change of character’s behaviors and their personalities. First on is Andrea’s boyfriend. In the novel, he is a teacher while he is called Nate instead of Alex and him his a cook during the movie. Also, Andrea lives with Lily in the novel, but she lives with Nate in the film. Furthermore, some characters’ personality have changed. For example, in the novel Emily is willing to help Andrea sometimes, while in the movie she does not. Moreover, Andrea has different attitude between the film and the book, especially to Miranda. In the novel, she is contrary to her job as she always complains about carrying out Miranda’s ridiculous requirements, such as picking her dog. She cannot be even tolerant Miranda’s posture. By contrast, Andrea is more positive in the Movie, for she is satisfied with her job. Also, her complaint is very less. The biggest different is character’s demonstration. For instance, Lily is a serious person, and she argues with Andrea as for she seen Christian had kissed Andrea because she knows that Andreas was treating unfairly to Nate. Thus, she disapproved Andrea’s doing seriously. As an illustration, Lily is an alcoholic in the novel. Also, she indulges herself to meet various men, so she is kind of profligate. She even encourages Andrea to build a relation with Christian as she thinks Alex just a misunderstand and uninterested man. Therefore, character’s development is the most significant evidence to be compared and evaluated.

Lastly, the thematic development is also different. As been noted, the climax of the book and the novel is entirely different. “ F*** her. F*** Paris and fashion shoes and marathon games of “ I am so fat.” F*** all the people who believed that Miranda’s behavior was justified because she could pair a talented photographer with some expensive clothes and walk away with some pretty magazine pages. F*** her for being right. What the hell was I standing here for, getting abused and belittled and humiliated by this joyless she-devil?”( Weisberger 341) This quote illustrated that Andrea cannot suffer Miranda anymore, so she walks away finally. Both plots show the same theme, which is desire can lead a person to a wrong way. However, in the novel the protagonist figures out the theory by third person’s pushing. Nevertheless, the actor is aware of herself mind. It also shows that Andrea is an obstinate and selfish person as she does what she want and nobody can stop. Technically, the theme is the same, but the way of developing it is different.

In short, after comparing three differences between the novel and the movie, it shows that even the film does not fully illustrate the book as it deletes lots of scenes and background information, but it is more realistic than the book. Also, the sound effect and visual things enhance the feeling of the movie.