The Devil Wears Prada : a Non-Verbal Perspective

The Devil Wears Prada : A Non-Verbal Perspective

Presented By : Malay Shah

1. Background :

The movie “ The Devil Wears Prada “, as subtly suggested by the title, is set in the backdrop of the myriad world of top notch haute couture houses – an ostensibly uber world where pretensions and facades rule the roost, where interpersonal dynamics change as frequently as the clothes, and where sartorial prowess is the inviolable barometer of one’s finesse, or the lack of it. The intricacies of such a world are delectably intertwined with the story of a simple, ambitious girl, Andrea, who happens to cajole Miranda, the fastidious and stern head honcho of a prominent fashion magazine, Runway, into employing her. Employed she is, and her initial period is anything but smooth. An exacting boss, coupled with sneering colleagues, makes it dawn upon Andrea that in this fashion bubble of a world, the way to anyone’s heart, or good books atleast, is to toe the sartorial line. A dramatic image overhaul transpires, aided by Miranda’s Man Friday, Nigel, and Andrea then experiences a smorgasbord of novel reactions from others , both explicit and otherwise.

She starts brimming with confidence & ebullience, and despite her bosses’ rigorous idiosyncrasies, never shows signs of crumbling. In short, the image makeover affects both her professional and personal lives in varying degrees, and even though she momentarily feels that the world is her oyster, she is not prepared for what she eventually would encounter in life.

This movie, replete with dialogues, is actually also choc-a-bloc with a plethora of portents of non-verbal communication, and this paper attempts to analyse the same.

2. Non-verbal Communication :

We are acquainted with the following types of non-verbal communication :

• Kinesics : facial expression, posture, and gesture

• Oculesics : eye contact

• Haptics : the communication of touch

• Proxemics : the communication of space and proximity

• Appearance : the physical characteristics, the attire and the accessories

• Paralinguistics / Vocalics : variations in pitch, speed, volume, and pauses that convey meaning

• Chronemics : the effects of time on communication

We will briefly discuss some of them, and correlate them with non-verbal dynamics observable in the movie .

A. Kinesics :

Facial Expressions & Posture :

• Miranda, the boss, perpetually has a neutral expression writ on her visage, and this neutrality comes across as superciliousness, mainly to conceal some deep-seated arrogance when dealing with her subordinates – Andrea & Emily. Occasionally, her neutral expression shows shades of emotions, like during a party when she dons a pleasantly relaxed expression, as well as in the end, when she secretly smiles seeing Andrea’s carefree and confident demeanour. Her erect posture throughout the movie smacks of immense self-confidence.

• Prior to her makeover, Andrea goes around vacillating from a tense expression to an uplifted expression, expressing anxiety & naivete. She rarely sports a relaxed expression, which she does frequently once her image makeover is through, although there a numerous instances when Andrea deftly uses her facial expressions to convey her emotions. A prominent scene which springs to mind is when she is trying to appease her boyfriend Nate, and dons an uplifted expression to convey love & attention in a placatory way. Her posture is often slumped when faced with a barrage of unrelenting tasks orchestrated by Miranda, though the later half of the flick conveys her new found self belief & confidence through her erect posture. Her encounters with her boss, Miranda are often characterized by crossed arms, which show her in a defensive mood.

• Emily, Andrea’s colleague at office, maintains a droopy expression for a better part of the movie, connoting dismay, shock & suffering. The only traces of a happy expression are noticed when she jeers at Andrea frequently in the initial part of the movie, for her perceived lack of a fashion sense. This brazen act of condescension, done in conjunction with her fashionable office partner-in-crime, is one of the few scenes where she is seen leaning forward to depict openness and intense in belittling Andrea.

• Nigel, Miranda’s art director, sports a neutral expression throughout the flick, while Christian, the bigwig who keeps serenading Andrea throughout the movie, perpetually oozes a keen interest in befriending Andrea through his act of leaning forward in her presence, while his relaxed expression, signifying love & pleasure, just reinforces his aforementioned desire.

B. Oculesics :

Eye Contact :

• Based on eye contacts one person who stands out in the movie is Andrea Sachs. True to her role of a small time girl with big dreams, her eyes constantly search for attention. In the initial part of the movie she through her wide eyed expressions depicts how much she is enthralled by the new environs at her job. Once made to realize her shabby dressing sense, her eyes constantly look for mirrors and people who would compliment her. She directly meets everyone’s eyes giving the others a sense of belongingness to her be it her boss, colleague, boyfriend or even the writer, Christian whom she had a fling with. Even in the worst bullying situations, in ones where she felt powerless and trapped, her oculesics were spot on , never a trace of the internal emotions. She amazingly camouflages the inner emotions and bring out a positivity that rubs over on others as well.

• Miranda , the boss, doesn’t give a true stare to anybody apart from the one scene when she is in the party to meet other distinguished personalities. She has a high brow expression which conveys her ’I call the shots here’ attitude. Andrea and Emily never quite get to see her eye balls completely , she never looks into their eyes, she is so dismissive of them and treats them as trash and not even worth for a glance. She showcases her outrageous demands & plays the classic female bully to the T, eye contact included.

• Emily’s eyes speak volumes about her jealousy towards Andy and her helplessness in dealing with Miranda. Her eyes defy her ‘I don’t care’ façade and admires each and every garment that Andrea wears. Her eyes are always green with envy and she is always on the look out for a chance to pounce on Andrea which rarely happens. She comes across as someone who is unable to come to terms with her demotion and her occulesics defy her more often than not. She also never looks straight into anybody’s eyes , she tries to emulate Miranda’s high brow attitude but never quite succeeds.

• Nigel , is an honest character and the same is true with his oculesics. He also like Andrea is very generous with eye ball time. He communicates his likes and dislikes of the fashion trends with his sharp and reactive eyes.

C. Proxemics :

• Throughout the entire movie, we see that there are basically two protagonists. It is interesting to observe the proxemics coming into play between these two.

• Being the Editor-in-chief of THE fashion magazine, Runway, Miranda Priestly portrays a sense of power and superiority in her first tete-a-tete with the other protagonist in this movie, Andrea. Seeing Andrea applying for the job that a “million girls would die for”, Miranda knew that she had the upper hand and displays this attitude amply by not even offering Andrea a seat while interviewing her, thus maintaining a cold distance of superiority and letting Andy address her from a distance which would be more suitable for a public gathering or a discourse rather than a business conversation or in this case, an interview.

• Throughout the movie, Miranda more often than not, maintains this distance across the table from her juniors and is very touchy about her private space. An example of this is seen when Andrea fails to get Miranda a ticket from Miami to New York, Miranda still addresses her from this same cold distance knowing fully well that Andrea had done her best. Here, Miranda deftly conveys that she is unhappy with the efforts put in by Andrea. When Andy goes to Miranda’s town house to deliver her dry cleaned clothes and book, she unwittingly intrudes into Miranda’s personal space by going up the stairs after having been forewarned. The result is catastrophic since Miranda puts the devil himself to shame by making the life literally miserable for Andrea. Through her actions, Miranda teaches a lesson to Andrea warning her not to encroach on her private space ever again.

• The first time that Andrea is allowed to address Miranda up close is when Andrea reminds Miranda (whispering in the ear) about one of the guests (Ambassador Franklin) at her party. It is the first time in the movie that Miranda willingly allows and even welcomes the proximity of Andreaa This is a sign of the growing dependence of Miranda on her new assistant Andrea.

• The next time that Miranda allows Andrea into her personal space is in a private conversation that she has with her while they are in Paris, when Miranda breaks the news of her imminent divorce from her husband. This simple act of talking to Andrea in such an indoor environment with a soft voice makes it seem that Andrea is finally successful in winning the confidence of Miranda. Even though the distance maintained is personal, there is still a hint of superiority in the way that Miranda treats Andrea.

• After addressing the social gathering, when Miranda and Andrea are traveling together in the car, we see the first time when they actually have a two-sided interaction over a personal distance. Both of them speak softly and Miranda for the first time actually interacts with Andrea as if she is interacting with an equal.

• The last interaction between Miranda and Andrea happens after Andrea resigns from her job at the Runway. This is when Andrea finds herself in front of the Runway office and Miranda is coming out of the doors of the building to enter her car. After maintaing a boss-employee relationship over a long period where Andrea was ultimately allowed into Miranda’s personal space, this time Miranda does not even acknowledge Andrea’s presence but decides to move on, maintaining the same cold distance where they had started their relationship from. Her facial expressions at that point, however, suggest a tacit admiration and happiness for Andrea.

D. Appearance :

In a movie such as this, appearance is everything. If you consider the external nature of this industry where success, status and value are determined by how one looks and what one wears, it has far more bearings than in most other situations. In fact, the plot actually kicks off with Emily criticizing Andrea’s fashion choices. In fact she almost doesn’t get a fair trial simply because of her choices of clothing. When the whole industry runs on appearance, what you wear and how you look is a measure of competence and skill as much as strength is to a weight lifter.

• Andrea: She starts off by wearing sensible, comfortable decent looking clothes. She takes care to look pretty and neat but not fashionable, the same way she did in college. Her clothes at this point communicate to the user her current state of awareness and maturity. She is quite matter-of-fact and her appearance communicates to others her lack of respect and unwillingness to fit in. it signifies that this is only a beginning for her and otherwise beneath her. Then comes a stage when she starts accepting the world more and more. She communicates this by wearing more acceptable clothes. This is the part when she starts succeeding in her job functions and her appearance indicates her assimilation into the organizational culture.

• Miranda: She is always coordinated, in style, elegant and yet severe in appearance. By this she indicates that she is in charge: she is the top dog. Its an important function of her work to look the way she does to show she deserves to be where she is. Overall it emits a formidable aura of power coupled with frostiness. There is only one scene when she is in a bathrobe, out of anything fancy, hair a bit awry and make-up off. She has stopped hiding behind her glasses and this is the moment when she is most vulnerable; it is when she brings up her impending divorce from Steven. Later she dresses up the best she can to show that she is still in control and as capable as ever. However, more than pretence it is actually that she is most elegant at her moment of triumph.

• Emily: She is always dressed as best as she can, even when sick. This is to show her sincerity, interest and appearance. It shows her need to be accepted as well as being a measure of her subservience to the higher powers.
• In fact, the entire staff is dressed like this. That they wear those uncomfortable heels whenever Miranda walks by indicates their complete acceptance of her authority. Fashion designers even wear outlandish clothing to standout to communicate their need for attention.

• Nigel: He is always well dressed in buttoned-up three-piece suits. He has a grim appearance to go with his formal looking glasses. These all fit in well with his being a careerist slave.

• Nate is always dressed casually with his three day stubble and floppy hair. These let people know that he is an easy going person with a laid back attitude. He likes simple things and does not take the fashion business too seriously. When most comfortable in his t-shirt and boxers he recommends Andrea quit her job.

• Christian: He is always suave and debonair with his scarves, suits and kerchiefs-in-breast-pockets. He is well groomed and indicates his affability, confidence and success in the way he dresses.

E. Chronemics :
It is the study of the use of time in nonverbal communication. The way we perceive time, structure our time and react to time is a powerful communication tool, and helps set the stage for the communication process. Across cultures, time perception plays a large role in the nonverbal communication process. Time perceptions include punctuality, willingness to wait, and interactions. The use of time can affect lifestyles, daily agendas, speed of speech, movements and how long people are willing to listen.
When it comes to chronemics with respect to day to day activities , it can be categorized into three main sections

Wait time :

• Wait time which is the time a person is made to wait by another which basically signifies a difference in the status or power. If you consider the case of Mirinda , she always arrives at a time much later than her employees at the office and expects them to be ready when she enters the fray.

• The second case is when the person gives the other lesser time than expected. This is a totally different scenario where what actually happens is that the person makes sure that the other person is unprepared for the work at hand and make them feel miserable. This is also a quality portrayed my Mirinda by sometimes arriving to work than expected, in a concerted attempt to throw others off-guard.

• The third is the type of wait time which happens when a person does not really want to make the other wait but circumstances provide otherwise. This happens when Andrea comes home late from a party and does not wish Nate at exactly twelve on his birthday thus disappointing him and weakening the bond between them.

Talk Time :
• There is a direct correlation between the power of an individual in an organization and conversation. This includes both length of conversation, turn-taking and who initiates and ends a conversation. When we look at Mirinda we see that in her organization she rarely gives lower employees the authority to speak or voice their opinion and she expects an immediate response to any question she puts forth. Even the slightest delay is not permissible.
• A superior regardless of whether or not they are running the actual meeting lead discussions, ask questions and have the ability to speak for longer periods of time without interruption. This is again portrayed in the way Mirinda speaks in the fashion display.
Work Time:
• The time of the higher level employees in the organization time is perceived as more valuable and they control their own time. On the other hand, a subordinate with less power has their time controlled by a higher status individual and are in less control of their time making them likely to report their time to a higher authority. This is very well portrayed by Mirinda who makes her employees run around during holidays.
• The second case is the time spent on seemingly useless things to the organization and being a personal requirement of a higher level employee. This is the case when Andrea has to run around to get a particular book for Mirinda’s kids when we can realise its of no official importance.

3. Conclusion : As seen in this paper, the movie is thus a perfect advertisement for the effectiveness of non-verbal communication, and strongly corroborates the aphorism that “ Actions speak, or rather scream, much louder than words “.

4. Bibliography :

• Movie “ The Devil Wears Prada” , ( 2006 )

Bibliography: : • Movie “ The Devil Wears Prada” , ( 2006 )