“Details of your incompetence do not interest me.”

 – Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

One of my favorite movies is The Devil Wears Prada. I suppose one could technically call it a chick flick, but it is a very successful movie in its own right. One could even call it a modern classic. Given my history of talking about beauty and emphasizing its importance, I could use this opportunity to talk about fashion and why Americans in particular need to take fashion a lot more seriously (which we really need to). But that would be like florals for spring: groundbreaking. Instead, I would like to pick apart the main conclusion of the film and why it represents a terrible habit that many of us seemed to have picked up. Fair warning I will be spoiling the ending of the first movie, and I will be touching on themes from the sequel, but without any spoilers. Alright everyone, gird your loins!

The Devil Wear Prada is a mid 2000s coming of age story. It is about the character Andy Sachs, played by Anne Hathaway, and her time working as an assistant for the infamous editor-in-chief of the fictional fashion magazine Runway named Mirandy Priestly, played by Meryl Streep. Andy is a recent graduate who wants to start her career in journalism and has decided to work for a year under Miranda Priestly, a cold and very demanding boss, in order to get a good recommendation to be able to work at any reputable company in New York City.

I won’t go on much more about the plot, other than to say that the fashion is fun, albeit a touch dated twenty years on. The characters are all memorable and the dialogue is really on point. Miranda ends up being a stand out character who is the center of attention in any scene that she is in, easily stealing the spotline with her very calm and yet harsh critiques of anyone who does not meet her impossibly high standards. By the end of the film, Andy has become engrossed in her job and has become quite good at it, in many ways mirroring and becoming more like her boss. At a scene in Paris, Andy has the choice to continue working under Miranda and continuing to become a different person to who she was before, or she could quit and leave this new life behind her. In the end, as one can probably expect, she ends up quitting, symbolized by tossing her cell phone into a fountain and going back to pursue her career in journalism, no longer at Runway.

She stayed true to herself and didn’t let the system change her. For this film to stay as a feelgood summer movie, it couldn’t have ended any other way. And yet I think it was the wrong decision. Now, I don’t think it’s worth diving deeper into the lore and motives of a fictional character, rather I would like to examine this broader idea, namely that it is better to quit and stay true to who you truly are, rather than to work somewhere or under someone who you have fundamental disagreements with.

This idea of quitting for the sake of one’s conscience strikes me as a very Western and specifically Protestant idea. Since the time of the Reformation, there have been countless churches that have split and sprung out of existing institutions. In theory and on paper, this feels like a valid response, especially if you don’t support the core values of whatever place you are at, where it be a workplace, institution, church, etc. I think that America in particular pulls this move a lot. If we don’t like the politics of a state or the policies of a company, we are pretty quick to move and jump ship. On some level, this is both good and understandable. Avoiding unnecessarily suffering when possible is not inherently bad. However, I think we are way too quick as a society to run to this conclusion. Often, without hardly any resistance at all, we will fold and throw in the towel, all for the sake of our beliefs.

Recently I have had the pleasure to talk to a couple people in positions of authority in different capacities. For the sake of anonymity, I will remain fairly vague. One story really stuck with me of a person who encountered some morally questionable decisions that were being made at the highest levels of this person’s organization. This person was really distraught and couldn’t agree less with the decisions being made, the decision to quit was very tempting, but then this person had an idea. If they quit, they might cause some gossip and could go home feeling good about themself, but in the end, the organization would just find someone who would agree. Instead, this person decided to stick it out and try to change these decisions from within. It is too early to tell how things will end up, but this person, with a solid character, chose to remain in a position of authority and will be able to have a very positive influence going forward. To me, this is how real change is done. Not by quitting in a drama Hollywood fashion, but taking the more difficult road of working and toiling day in and day out.

It has struck me recently that Christians seem to enjoy losing, rather unfortunately. Whether it is in the church, politics, society, etc, we often don’t seem to be serious. Instead of locking in and trying to work our way up the corporate ladder or running in elections where a solid Christian could be a tremendous blessing, we get caught up on one singular issue and then we quit or lose in a blaze of glory. Our disagreements may well be valid. Practices promoting DEI and LGBT values in a company can be exhausting, and liberal churches can be incredibly frustrating. But at what point are we going to stop running? There are obviously occasions where it is acceptable to quit, but I think these are way less common than we think.

The one big exception to this would be if you are kicked out from wherever you are at. Martin Luther is a great example. He initially had no intention of creating a new church and leaving the Catholic Church. He wanted to reform it from within, he didn’t leave in a dramatic way, rather he stayed in for as long as he could living his life by serving Jesus as best as he could. It was only when the Pope excommunicated him and kicked him out of the church when he began to develop rival institutions. I wonder, how much more could we accomplish in society if we followed Martin Luther’s example?

What if we stopped quitting for our own conscience, and instead we chose to live as faithfully and as dutifully as possible within the positions that good had given us? That might mean that we encounter awkward moments. We may have to decline taking part in gendering and things we disagree with. It wouldn’t always be easy, but I get the feeling that there is a lot of wiggle room that we can create before we get fired. This doesn’t mean that we should aim to get fired or that we should try to be outrageous. We should strive to be the best workers possible, while living out our faith openly and without reservation. As the Apostle Paul wrote:

“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” – Hebrews 12:13 (ESV)

In The Devil Wears Prada 2 one of the themes of the film is the changing landscape of journalism and media consumption. Traditional media is dying and more ingrained institutions, newspapers, and publications are finding it difficult to keep up. While this is an interesting topic, what I appreciate about the film is that it has a reverence for existing institutions and is critical about this brave new world of short-form content and the attention economy. Funnily enough, this film, which is definitely made by and for coastal cosmopolitans, comes across as surprisingly traditional and conservative.

This respect and reverence for institutions is important, because institutions are hard to build and are indispensable to any civilized nation. One of the biggest differences between a developed country like Switzerland and a dysfunctional country like Somalia is functioning institutions. I actually like the fact that we have publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. I like the fact that the best and most influential colleges, newspapers, film studios, and record companies are in the US. I like the Ivy league schools, many of which, like Harvard and Yale, were founded by Puritans to educate future church ministries. In fact, it was the Puritans and Protestants in general who fought the hardest and did the most to establish universal free education for children. I would much rather have Bible believing Christians try to work at and influence these very important and historical institutions, rather than starting Trump University or Freedom Radio which is only listened to by ten people in Oklahoma.

If we are kicked out and shut out, then it is fair to try and create new alternatives, but frankly most of us quit ages before that would even be considered. For whatever reason, Christians in the current year seem to be stuck with a scarcity mindset and not an abundance mindset. We feel like the walls are closing in on us, things can only get worse, and we are going to lose everything. This is completely antithetical to the Gospel. Muhammad is dead, the Buddha is dead, Joseph Smith is dead, but our God is alive. Jesus Christ is king of kings and Lord of all creation. We have a God who is alive and is reigning right now. I think we should embrace this fact and strive for more. We don’t need to hunker down and try to survive the storm, we can do so much more than crying about change.

I don’t want the West to be like how it was in the 50s, nor any other random point in our history. I believe in progress and that through the Holy Spirit and through the truth, God can use us to make the world a better place. I don’t want to cling onto the past, but look towards the future. Progress is good and made even better if reputable and irreproachable  Christians are leading the charge. Progress moves at a glacial pace, which you know how that thrills me. But for the world to become more Christlike and to build a future far better than anything our ancestors have experienced, we can’t quit or be content with losing. We have to want to win and we have to be willing to stick it out, not only when it is uncomfortable, but especially when it is uncomfortable.

In the twenty years since the film came out, the response from the public has been clear. Miranda Priestly was supposed to have been the unsympathetic villain and mean boss. And yet, she has captured the hearts and minds of many. Her unrelenting pursuit of perfection is seen as admirable, nobody can do what she does. She is not just good, but the best at what she does. Everyone wants to be her. Should Andy Sachs have stayed at her job at Runway? Maybe. Probably. If I were in her shoes, I know what I would have done. What about you?

That’s all.

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” – 1 Peter 4:10 (ESV)

“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” – Romans 12:18 (ESV)