Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the TDWP-2 movie. The opening question: whom is this movie for? For the elite, made by the elite. Pause.
Let us begin anew. Where was the devil in the original
novel? No, it is not Miranda per se –
it was what she stood for. In the original novel, Miranda stood… not so much
for the devil as we visualise him now, but rather for devil as the Mammon,
greed. Hers was a high-paced, high-stakes, very exciting and splendid-looking
life – but it was also tiring, and there was no place (or pace), for a family,
for relationships, even for integrity, all that Andrea stood for in the novel.
By rejecting Miranda, (and quite vehemently), Andrea re-confirmed her values
and returned to her humble roots – money did not run her life, no ma’am!
…The movie adaptation – the first TDWP film now –
already softened and diminished this effect, plus the acting of Ms. Streep and
Ms. Hathaway, and so on – not to mention the visuals…and the plot was good,
much better and balanced-out than the recent movies are. A flop the first TDWP
film was not.
Neither is the second, but, back to Andrea. In the
novel, and to a lesser extent – in the first movie, there was something of a
contrast between her and Miranda: Andrea was a naïve greenhorn who was trying
to make it in the world of glamour and power, and Miranda was a power broker
and an established force in the world instead. By becoming Miranda’s
apprentice, Andrea could have, and would have, become the ‘next’ Miranda, but
that does not happen, (read the novel, see the first film as to why) – but now…
Now there’s no contrast like this – Andrea is a
journalist now, and is a part of the world already; she and Miranda just need
to learn to get along and to save the Runway from Emily, but this isn’t the
point. The point is that in the first movie, and the original novel, there were
at least two Americas – the America of Miranda with its glamour and glitz, the
America of the elite, and the America of Andrea, the America of the commoners,
but now, in the second, there is no America of the commoners anymore.
One can argue, of course, that in TDWP-2 there are 2
Americas still – the new digital America, and the old written-world America –
but from another point of view, they are two sides of the same, patrician America,
as symbolized by Ms. Streep and her co-stars on the TDWP-2 movie poster. The
first movie was about Andrea, ‘Andy’, as she struggled to find her identity in
face of the challenge, set by Miranda – and she succeeded, by rejecting Miranda
and her values entirely, at the end of the first TDWP her life will not be
defined by money, aka fiscal success, but by honesty and integrity. We see none
of this in TDWP-2 – not really. Andrea returns to ‘The Runway’ in this film because
she and her co-workers got axed, and she needs, well, a job. Rather than to
return to her humble roots, (evident in the first film), she returns to
Miranda, who grudgingly allows Andrea to return because she has her own
problems… Pause. The point here is that the contrast between the two women, already
changed in the first film, is further gone, diminished, as the pair, (and
Nigel, played by Mr. Tucci); work together on an equal footing than how they
did in the first film. Pause.
What is the point of all of this? In the first film –
no. The original TDWP novel did its best to show the shallowness, if not the
ugliness, of the inner side of the American fashion world – the titular devil,
(not Miranda per se). The first TDWP movie diluted the contrast, and the
potential conflict, between the patrician/elite and the plebeian/proletariat
USAs, but it was still there. In the second movie, however, the contrast is
gone, and instead we just have the American, (and the global), elite, trying to
define itself – either via electronics, through the printed word, both, or
through something else. The ‘little guy’, embodied by the ‘original’ Andrea and
her friends, is absent now – this is just the elite, playing power games, in a
more civilized manner than how they do in Mr. Martin’s Westeros novels, but
little else. The world of TDWP-2 is a much more self-contained universe, and it
is raking in money already. Ok, so what?
Therefore, it is a sign of the greater issue – the RL
America itself is becoming a largely self-contained universe, as its’ social
strata further drift away from each other. People are dissatisfied with the
Donald’s regime? Probably yes, but now the American society is individualistic enough
that everyone will assume someone else will do something about it, probably
someone they elected by voting, but that isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to
force the issue, and that is something the American society is bad at –
especially these days. Much easier to let the Donald’s presidency expire
naturally…
By now, in his second term, the Donald ruined the
US-EU relationship, and made a big, literally bloody, problem in Middle East –
and he still has some time left. President Putin of the RF is working daily and
nightly to destroy democracy – he never hid it even in the 2000s, when the
American power was at the zenith – and what does the US government do? Help the
overseas giant to accomplish this destruction as best as they can, apparently. The
Democrats had four entire years to do something about the Donald, and they did
squat. The gangster Al Capone went to ‘the big house’ for tax evasion or some
similar stuff, why couldn’t the Republican Donald? Oh, it would mean taking
action, something that the Democrats are especially bad at.
The difference between the 47th US
president, the Republican Donald, and his predecessor, the Democratic Joseph,
is that while the former runs around like a child on a sugar high in a candy
store, the latter just sat there and did not really do anything. Pause.
Oh, the health? Did not prevent him from becoming
the 46th US president regardless, eh? Whatever the 45th
US president did, (cough), the 46th US president did not undo, now
the 47th US president is back, babes, and there is nothing America
can do about it.
Well, except to pay hand over fist for the TDWP-2
film, which is quite apolitical. Apparently, many of the Americans are feeling
apolitical right now. How nice. Team Putin might defeat Team Zelensky through
sheer endurance – but the devil does not bother, as the Americans allow them to
wear Prada and to enjoy themselves instead. Real life really sucks some times.
Well, this is it for now. See you all soon!
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