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  • Nigel: All right, everyone, gird your loins.

  • Jono: Miranda is a narcissist.

  • She believes that she deserves special treatment and sees others as existing to gratify her whims

  • or to buoy up her own life mission and her own importance.

  • Miranda: Who are you?

  • Andy: My name is Andy Sachs.

  • Jono: Andy is getting sucked into it, and she let Miranda convince her

  • that because you don't understand it, because you don't thrive here,

  • you're no good unless you do.

  • Miranda: You ended up disappointing me, more than any of the other silly girls.

  • Jono: What does it profit a person if they gain the whole world and lose their soul?

  • You can have ambition, but if you put that before humanity,

  • you become something else entirely.

  • Alan: You become a monster.

  • Jono: You can choose another path.

  • Alan: Hello and welcome to Cinema Therapy.

  • I'm Alan Seawright, a professional filmmaker who needs therapy.

  • I'm joined by my co-host...

  • Jono: Jonathan Decker, licensed therapist who loves movies.

  • What's going on today?

  • Alan: We're gonna talk about The Devil Wears Prada.

  • -Alan: I think I'm gonna have you look at what it's like to work for a... monster. Jono: Okay.

  • Alan: Manipulative, abusive, etc.. Sure. Okay,

  • Buzzwords.

  • And...

  • Work life balance.

  • Jono: Okay. Bring it on.

  • Alan: How to... How to do it.

  • Miranda: What do you think of it?

  • Nigel: Yeah. Well, you know me.

  • Give me a full ballerina skirt and a hint of saloon and I'm on board.

  • Alan: Oh me too, Stanley. Me too.

  • Nigel: Like the Lacroix from July?

  • I thought that, but no. Not with the right accessories. It should work.

  • Miranda: Where are the belts for this dress? Why is no one ready?

  • Jocelyn: Tough call.

  • They're so different.

  • Miranda: Mmm.

  • Andy: [gigglesnorts]

  • Miranda: Something funny?

  • Jono: I like Andy's Target fashion. Andy: No.

  • Andy: No, no, no-- nothing's.

  • You know, it's just that both those belts look exactly the same to me.

  • You know, I'm still learning about this stuff and, um...

  • Miranda: "This stuff"?

  • Oh, okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you.

  • You go to your closet and you select, I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance,

  • because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously

  • to care about what you put on your back.

  • But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue.

  • It's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean.

  • And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns,

  • and then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers.

  • -Miranda: And then it filtered down through the department stores...

  • Alan: This speech...

  • Miranda: ...trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you no doubt fished it out of some...

  • Alan: Even though she's being terrible,

  • I love watching people be so exceptional at something

  • that they can destroy another person without touching them.

  • Miranda: ...choice that exempts you from the fashion industry,

  • when in fact you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you

  • by the people in this room.

  • From a pile of stuff.

  • Alan: Hot damn. Ah, okay. Just...

  • Listen. The script is phenomenal. It is dynamite.

  • Without the script, Meryl Streep doesn't have something to deliver.

  • But what Meryl Streep does is say, From a pile of stuff,

  • -Alan: and then turn as if she's less than nothing. Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: And she communicates all of it.

  • Jono: As if Andy's less than nothing.

  • Alan: As if Andy is less than nothing.

  • And she communicates all of that so quietly and so small without ever saying it.

  • This is one of the greatest all time cinematic performances. It's so good.

  • Jono: Well, this isn't just about horrible bosses.

  • This is just about people in life who could treat you this way.

  • It could be a parent. It could be someone at your church.

  • It could be someone at your health club. It could be someone at work.

  • It could be any number of things w here you are treated like you are less than nothing

  • by a person who is exceptionally arrogant.

  • When they're arrogant, but they can't back it up, it's easy just to laugh at them as an idiot.

  • When they're arrogant, and they can...

  • Alan: They absolutely deserve to be.

  • Jono: Yes, it's hard not to feel insecure. Alan: Yes.

  • Jono: It's hard not to feel, not just put in your place, but that you don't even have a place. Alan: Small.

  • Jono: Yeah, and Andy does feel very small in this.

  • Andy: She hates me, Nigel.

  • Jono: But there's a running thing in this film about Anne Hathaway being fat, or not thin.

  • Alan: Or not... Yeah, Anne Hathaway being not thin or not attractive somehow. Jono: Yeah.

  • Andy: Miranda hired me. She knows what I look like.

  • Nigel: Do you?

  • Jono: And I wonder if that's a flaw of the film or part of it's critique of the fashion industry.

  • Alan: It is definitely a critique of the fashion industry.

  • Jono: Andy was wonderful to begin with. Alan: Sure.

  • Jono: And she let Miranda, and this whole world that she didn't understand, convince her

  • that because you don't understand it, because you don't thrive here,

  • you're no good unless you do.

  • Nigel: That's really what this multibillion dollar industry is all about anyway, isn't it? Inner beauty.

  • Jono: And then she starts to be assimilated,

  • and she starts to fall in step with someone that's not her.

  • And it costs her dearly.

  • Gandalf: Woof woof woof!

  • Alan: Do you have high standards in a busy schedule, like Miranda Priestly?

  • And a demanding dog, not like Miranda Priestly?

  • And also you want to be a good human, unlike Miranda Priestly?

  • If that sounds like you and you're a dog owner, Sundays is the perfect fit for you.

  • It's healthy dog food that's easy to store and to serve.

  • He won't leave me alone.

  • They use high quality ingredients, it's shipped right to your door,

  • and it doesn't have to be prepared or refrigerated.

  • And it's delicious. Huh, boy?

  • Thank you.

  • It's like the quality of designer clothes,

  • or Gandalf,

  • with the convenience of Andy's casual corner sweater.

  • Seriously, my dogs love it.

  • I've never seen Gandalf eat anything faster than he took down his first bowl of Sundays.

  • It was wild!

  • And I feel great knowing that they're getting the best quality food.

  • Sundays has 0% synthetic nutrients and was founded by practicing veterinarian doctor Tory Waxman.

  • Get 50% off your first order of Sundays,

  • and get 100% of all the scritches all the time.

  • Huh, buddy?

  • Go to SundaysForDogs.com/Cinema.

  • Use code...

  • Gandalf: Woof woof woof! [English: CINEMA]

  • -Alan: That's CINEMA at checkout.

  • Sundays for dogs turns your dog into a weird crack addict.

  • Do you like Sundays?

  • Gandalf: Woof woof woof woof!

  • Alan: He likes it.

  • Richard: I'm just trying to understand why someone who got accepted to Stanford Law

  • turns it down to be a journalist.

  • And now you're not even doing that.

  • Andy: Dad, you have to trust me.

  • Being Miranda's assistant opens a lot of doors.

  • Emily is going to Paris with Miranda in a few months,

  • and she's going to meet editors and writers from every important magazine.

  • And in a year that could be me.

  • All right?

  • I swear this is my break.

  • This is m-my chance.

  • [phone starts ringing]

  • -Andy: This is...

  • Alan: This scene is extremely relatable to me.

  • Andy: I'm sorry, dad, I have to take this. Hello, Miranda.

  • Miranda: My flight has been canceled.

  • It's some absurd weather problem. I need to get home tonight.

  • -Miranda: The twins have a recital tomorrow morning at school.

  • Jono: It's a hurricane.

  • Alan: It's an actual hurricane.

  • Miranda: At school!

  • Andy: Absolutely. Let me see what I can do. Miranda: Good.

  • -Miranda: Girls recital was absolutely beautiful. They played Rachmaninoff. Everyone loved it.

  • Everyone except me, because sadly, I was not there.

  • Andy: Miranda, I'm so sorry.

  • Miranda: Do you know why I hired you?

  • I always hire the same girl.

  • Stylish. Slender, of course.

  • Worships the magazine, but so often they turn out to be...

  • ...disappointing and, um...

  • ...stupid.

  • Jono: Oofff.

  • Miranda: You with that impressive resume,

  • -Miranda: and the big speech about your so-called work ethic, I... Jono: Ouch!

  • Miranda: I thought you would be different.

  • Anyway, you ended up disappointing me, more than any of the other silly girls.

  • Andy: Um...

  • Alan: And again, Just the quiet... Andy: I really did everything I could think of.

  • Alan: Uh, the quiet takedown. Miranda: That's all.

  • Alan: And the dismissive, That's all. Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: Oh, just a gut punch every time.

  • Jono: There's a word that's very overused in today's pop psychology internet culture.

  • Alan: Is it "toxic" or "narcissist"?

  • Jono: It's... Both of those are... Alan: Oh, okay..

  • Jono: ...are overused and misused repeatedly by people not qualified to use them. Alan: Correct.

  • Jono: Miranda is a narcissist.

  • She believes that she deserves special treatment.

  • She is immune to the feelings and needs of other people.

  • Miranda: Did you fall down and smack your little head on the pavement?

  • Jono: And sees others as existing to gratify her whims,

  • or to buoy up her own life mission and her own importance.

  • Andy: 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.

  • Jono: There's a whole little universe that orbits around Miranda,

  • -Jono: and Andy was blissfully outside of it. Andy: Where's Miranda?

  • Jono: And when she interacts with her father, with her boyfriend, with her friends,

  • these people are blissfully outside it.

  • I guess her friends are a little in awe, those who know fashion, but they have...

  • Alan: They are aware of it, but not inside it.

  • Jono: But they haven't been sucked into the orbit, right? Alan: Correct

  • Nigel: Her opinion is the only one that matters.

  • Jono: And Andy is getting sucked into it and allowing Miranda to determine her worth.

  • And Miranda determines Andy's worth based on her usefulness,

  • and her ability to do the impossible,

  • and sacrifice her own mental and emotional well-being and her own life.

  • -Jono: To provide for the whims of Miranda. Alan: Yeah.

  • Jono: Every single person has the same worth.

  • -Jono: You are a human being. Alan: Yep.

  • Jono: You have strengths and weaknesses.

  • Now, you could say, well, My worth is determined by what I contribute.

  • But is it though?

  • -Jono: Let's say I am a world famous athlete. Alan: Okay.

  • Jono: And win championships for my team. Shoe deals, got a lot of worth for my team,

  • provide a lot of value to the shoe company that I signed the contracts with. I...

  • Alan: Hero to kids. Whatever. Yeah. Jono: Hero to kids.

  • -Jono: I get in an accident. I'm a quadriplegic. Am I suddenly worth less than I was before?

  • Alan: No, you're still a human being.

  • Jono: You're still a human being with a heart, with a mind, with a soul,

  • and able to connect and grow and be and exist.

  • Nate: Andy, what the hell is wrong with you?

  • Andy: I didn't have a choice, okay? I... Miranda asked me and I couldn't say no.

  • Nate: I know that's your answer for everything lately. "I didn't have a choice".

  • Like this job was forced on you. Like you don't make these decisions yourself.

  • Andy: You're mad because I work late all the time.

  • And because I missed your birthday party, and I'm sorry.

  • Nate: Oh, come on. What am I, four?

  • Andy: You hate Runway and Miranda. And you think fashion is stupid.

  • You've made that clear.

  • Nate: Andy. I make port wine reductions all day. I'm not exactly in the Peace Corps.

  • You know, I wouldn't care if you were out there pole dancing all night,

  • as long as you did it with a little integrity.

  • You used to say this was just a job. You used to make fun of the Runway girls.

  • What happened? Now, now you've become one of them.

  • Andy: That's absurd.

  • Nate: That's okay, that's fine.

  • Just own up to it, and then we can stop pretending like we have anything in common anymore.

  • Andy: You don't mean that.

  • Nate: No, I do.

  • Andy: Maybe this trip is coming at a good time. Maybe we should take a break.

  • -Andy: Nate...

  • [phone ringing]

  • Alan: It's so great.

  • Andy: I'm sorry. Just...

  • One second.

  • Nate: You know, in case you were wondering,

  • the person whose calls you always take, that's the relationship you're in.

  • I hope you two are very happy together.

  • Jono: Oof!

  • Alan: That's the kind of shit that I want to be able to say in the spur of the moment,

  • which is why I need Aline Brosh McKenna to follow me around in real life.

  • And just tell me what to say.

  • That can be arranged.

  • Jono: "The person whose calls you always take, that's who you're in a relationship with".

  • And that's, you know, I don't want to go cliché, but they always say, On your deathbed,

  • you're not going to say, I wish I'd worked more.

  • You're going to say, I wish I spent more time with my family or with my friends.

  • -Jono: And there's truth to that. Alan: Yeah.

  • Jono: You know, don't get me wrong. Like, work can be fulfilling.

  • -Jono: I love what we do. Alan: I do too.

  • Jono: I love this, and it brings me a lot of satisfaction, a lot of joy.

  • -Jono: But Andy has made her choice. Alan: Yeah.

  • Jono: And the thing is, she's not even happy about it.

  • Alan: That's the thing. What he says, where, you know, Make it with some integrity. Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: And we can split up. Absolutely. People grow and grow apart sometimes. Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: You can get a new job and discover a passion for a thing

  • and really want to pour yourself into it.

  • -Alan: She's in her early 20s. Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: You don't have to just commit to somebody and be with them forever. Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: Come hell or high water at that point.

  • Jono: And he's not saying we we have to be together or we can't break up.

  • He's saying, like what you're talking about,

  • If you love this and you're going for it and it's what you want,

  • and that means we don't work, go do it and I'm happy for you.

  • -Jono: But he can see she's not happy. Alan: Yeah.

  • Jono: And so there's no integrity,

  • -Jono: because she's betraying everything she stood for, for no reason. Alan: Right.

  • Jono: Right? Hoping that it'll open doors for her. But she's burning bridges everywhere.

  • Emily: You know, you're the one who said you don't really care about this stuff,

  • and you don't really care about fashion. You just want to be a journalist.

  • And what a pile of ballocks!

  • Jono: Andy goes into this kind of blindly thinking she can have it all.

  • Andy: I just have to stick it out for a year. One year.

  • And then I can do what I came to New York to do.

  • Jono: And I would say, if you know, you're gonna...

  • You want this job, you're going to get this job

  • and you're going to sacrifice several years of your social life. And...

  • Alan: if you go into it, you know, not blind

  • and you're like, hey, this is going to eat three years of my life, but that's okay,

  • Alan: because it will unlock the next 30 years of my life. Jono: Yeah.

  • That's a sacrifice that a lot of people will be like, Yeah, okay.

  • Miranda: First of all, we need to move Snoop Dogg to my table.

  • Andy: But your table's full.

  • Miranda: Stephen isn't coming.

  • Andy: Oh, Stephen is...

  • So I don't need to fetch Stephen from the airport tomorrow?

  • Miranda: Well, if you speak to him and he decides to rethink the divorce, then yes. Fetch away.

  • We're very fetching, so go fetch.

  • Jono: But Miranda is so trashed right now by this that she can't...

  • Miranda: ...get back to New York, we need to contact them.

  • Jono: She can't even quip.

  • Miranda: Leslie. See what she can do to minimize the press.

  • Another divorce.

  • Splashed across page six.

  • Just imagine what they're going to write about me.

  • The Dragon Lady.

  • Career obsessed.

  • Snow Queen drives away another Mr. Priestley.

  • I don't really care what anybody writes about me.

  • But my... my girls, I just...

  • It's just so unfair to the girls. It's just...

  • Another disappointment.

  • Another letdown. Another father figure...

  • Gone.

  • Anyway, point is...

  • The point is...

  • The point is, we really need to figure out where to place Donatella,

  • because she's barely speaking to anyone.

  • Jono: Back to business and the walls go back up.

  • Alan: Well, she almost stepped into accountability

  • -Alan: and then found a way to blame it on the husband who's leaving. Jono: Yeah.

  • Andy: I'm so sorry, Miranda. If you want me to cancel your evening, I can.

  • Miranda: Don't be ridiculous. Why would we do that?

  • Jono: You know, a lot of it is the writing and direction,

  • but it really feels like having this monster of a character be sympathetic and human is something...

  • Meryl is your perfect...

  • Alan: It takes an incredible actor to...

  • ...be this horrible person this entire time, and then let you in,

  • to see that there's a soft, squishy middle somewhere inside that hard outer casing,

  • and then immediately put the wall back up.

  • Jono: And when Andy says, I can cancel your evening if you want,

  • and Miranda says...

  • Miranda: Don't be ridiculous. Why would we do that?

  • Jono: I think Andy is seeing that Miranda is imprisoned in the life she's created for herself. Alan: Yeah.

  • Jono: And I think Andy sees how sad that is.

  • You can have ambition, but if you put that before humanity, you become something else entirely.

  • Alan: You become a monster. Yeah. -Jono: Yeah.

  • Jono: When you're dealing with manipulative, abusive bosses, you're generally dealing with people

  • -Jono: who are manipulative and abusive in their other relationships. Alan: Yeah.

  • Jono: Which means the rest of their life is often a mess.

  • And they put their value and their worth in their work,

  • and they really need their work to go well, so they can point to something

  • and say, Look at the great things I'm accomplishing.

  • Alan: It cost me all of this... Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: ...but look at what I did. -Jono: Yeah.

  • Jono: What does it achieve?

  • The applause and the fame and all of this, if you're unhappy.

  • And if you can't look in the mirror and really like yourself.

  • Miranda: Truth is there is no one that can do what I do. Including her.

  • Alan: Uh, narcissist? Is that what that was?

  • Jono: Mm-hmm. Alan: Okay.

  • Miranda: ...that job impossible and the magazine would have suffered.

  • Especially because of the list.

  • Designers, photographers, editors, writers, models.

  • All of whom were found by me, nurtured by me, and have promised me they will follow me.

  • Whenever and if ever I choose to leave Runway.

  • So he reconsidered.

  • Jono: We come back to, No one can do what I do.

  • Miranda: I'm Very, very impressed by how intently you tried to warn me.

  • I never thought I would say this, Andrea...

  • but I really...

  • I see a great deal of myself in you.

  • Alan: Shots fired.

  • Miranda: You can see beyond what people want and what they need, and you can choose for yourself.

  • Andy: I don't think I'm like that.

  • I...

  • I couldn't do what you did to Nigel, Miranda. I couldn't do something like that.

  • Miranda: You already did.

  • To Emily.

  • Andy: That's not what I...

  • Jono: Andy did something cutthroat to her friend. Alan: Yeah.

  • -Andy: I didn't have a choice.

  • Alan: Miranda knows she's firing a kill shot right there.

  • Miranda: You want this life, those choices are necessary.

  • Andy: But what if...

  • ...this isn't what I want.

  • I mean, what if I don't want to live the way you live?

  • Miranda: Oh, don't be ridiculous, Andrea. Everybody wants this.

  • Everybody wants to be us.

  • Alan: And that is how you justify being a miserable person.

  • Jono: And doing terrible things to others.

  • Alan: I've worked with people like this.

  • People that are extremely successful and...

  • ...horrible.

  • Fortunately not very many, but I have worked with people like that.

  • And they think...

  • This is what's important. This is what defines what a good person is.

  • And everyone wants this.

  • Jono: I love... I love how Meryl plays it when she's looking around for Andy,

  • and completely shocked that she's not there.

  • Alan: Because it just doesn't compute for her. Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: That there could be someone who could achieve that, and wouldn't. Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: Because that's not... Again, back to the narcissism. Jono: Yeah.

  • Alan: If you can do this thing, you must. It's the only thing that matters.

  • Jono: Yeah. In my opinion, if you're truly great,

  • you recognize that there are people out there who can do what you do better.

  • You're a great example of this, if I can highlight. The first...

  • I don't remember how, at least a year, year and a half of our show was 100% edited by you.

  • And at a certain point you said, I'd like to hire some editors

  • and they're going to do it better than me.

  • And I remember thinking, I don't know that that's...

  • And then one of our editors did, like, his very first edit.

  • I'm like, Yeah, this is better than you. Alan: This is better.

  • Jono: And you're like, I know, right?

  • Alan: You're in a horror movie, woman!

  • Jono: This is... This is the Birds.

  • Alan: Get out!

  • Alan: Run! Jono: This is a...

  • Alan: Don't smile!

  • Alan: This is a nightmare.

  • Jono: But that's leadership.

  • There's a phrase whose origins are theological, but I want to explore them in a way that is psychological,

  • which is, What does it profit a person if they gain the whole world and lose their soul?

  • Emily: You sold your soul the day you put on that first pair of Jimmy Choos. I saw it.

  • Jono: And I look at Andy and she's lost who she is. Alan: Yep.

  • Jono: And she's lost what made her happy. And she's lost what she's passionate about. And when... Alan: She gained Paris.

  • Jono: She gained Paris. And she's there in Paris in this limo with a driver and these immaculate clothes.

  • Alan: The couture and all this stuff. Yeah.

  • Jono: And she says, But what if I don't want this life?

  • And that, to me is so beautiful, because, as Miranda says...

  • Miranda: Oh, don't be ridiculous, Andrea. Everybody wants this.

  • Jono: Most everybody kinda does until they count the cost. Alan: Yeah.

  • Jono: And a lot of people, including Andy, would rather have something simple and real.

  • There's nothing wrong with a life of peace and prosperity.

  • -Jono: She liked her Target clothes.

  • She chose her Target clothes because they were simple and real and practical, like her.

  • Jono: And that's not a knock on anyone watching who loves high fashion or dresses very fashionable.

  • Alan: No, you do you. Jono: No, absolutely you do you.

  • Jono: Do it with soul. Do it with integrity, do it with decency.

  • And like Andy does here, if you're being abused by your boss,

  • -Jono: you don't have to stand for that. Alan: Right.

  • Jono: You can choose another path.

  • -Jono: So, until next time...

  • Alan: Details of your incompetence do not interest me.

  • Jono: Yes. Please, proceed at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.

  • Internet Dads: And... that's all.

  • Alan: We're so grateful to our Patrons who supported this episode.

  • They get stuff, like extended Director's Cuts and a whole bunch of other things.

  • People like...

  • Jono: Reuben McKay.

  • Alan: Carissa Cunningham.

  • Jono: Samurai Gal.

  • Alan: Carson Lambert, or Lambert.

  • Jono: Alice Špérová.

  • Alan: Thanks, Patrons.

  • Jono: We adore you.

  • Internet Dads: That's all.

Nigel: All right, everyone, gird your loins.

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