The Devil Whines at His Girlfriend
We saw The Devil Wears Prada over the weekend and enjoyed it. I’m not going to get into a discussion over whether or not the movie was a distortion of the book’s mesage, because I didn’t read the book and I don’t think it matters, anyway. But I will say that the movie inspired me to give a multiple-part Public Service Announcement. Here it is:
1. If you find yourself passing up an opportunity to meet someone who could give you the job of your dreams because it’s your boyfriend’s birthday, then you should consider realigning your priorities, or else dumping your boyfriend.
2. If you pass up an opportunity to get the job of your dreams in order to make it home on your boyfriend’s birthday, and then your boyfriend passive-aggressively whines at you, then you should dump him.
3. If you take a job you aren’t sure you’ll like, but then end up liking it, and your friends rag on you for changing your mind, then you should get new friends.
4. If, during the course of a difficult entry-level job, you end up meeting people who get you the job of your dreams, and then your boyfriend accuses you of selling out for “purses and shoes”… then, hello – what the hell are you still doing with this asshole? Dump his birthday-cake-bitchy ass.
5. If, after everything else, your boyfriend smugly tells you that he’s moving to another city to pursue the job of his dreams? Then I guess you got what you deserved and, hopefully, you’ve learned your lesson.
Through every scene of the protagonist and her boyfriend, my boyfriend and I were simultaneously whispering, “Dump him. Dump his ass!” Afterwards, we had a long talk about how annoying the movie was for pretending that a birthday was more important than a career.
Then, the next day, we rented Fever Pitch. I wasn’t enthused about seeing it but, in contrast, Drew Barrymore gave us such a mature take on how to handle relationships and careers.
Moviemakers: It isn’t 1972 anymore. Stop showing us bitchy boyfriends who expect their girlfriends to leave work early and bake cakes. Stop showing us women who get punished for working hard. We all know that the opposite is true – hard work is awesome. People who don’t work hard are lazy or, worse, on their way to being divorced and left with nothing.
