Transcript
Speaker: Two nerds went to college and found each other in the English department basement and became instant friends. Eight years and three degrees later, they're reunited.
Speaker: You're listening to Book Club, the movie, the podcast.
Speaker: Hello everyone and welcome to Book Club The Movie The Podcast where we read, watch, and discuss books and their film adaptations. I'm your host Jen. And I'm your other host Em. We hope you read the book.
Speaker: But if you didn't, here's the summary.
Speaker: It's the early 2000s. Fat Shaming is still in style. The popular compilation album, now that's what I call music, just released its 10th installment.
Speaker: And Apple set loose the very first iPod. Andrea Sachs has just graduated from Brown and backpacked around Europe and parts of Asia where she acquired just the right amount of dysentery to land a job at Runway Magazine.
Speaker: None of that happened in the movie, but both the book and the film tell the story of a young, dream-chasing woman and her struggle to survive one year working as an assistant to the terrifying editor-in-chief of Runway, Miranda Priestley.
Speaker: This is The Devil Wears Prada. That was good. Did you like that? That was really good.
Speaker: Do you own anything designer? um I have one Kate Spade purse that I bought at a Nordstrom Rack. um So if Kate Spade counts as designer, which for some ladies, that is their everyday purse.
Speaker: For me, I keep it in its pink little protective bag and I only bring it out when I'm feeling insecure. Do pink protective? It's right there. Cute. What's in your protective bag?
Speaker: Oh, that's your Kate Spade. It's also a Kate Spade. I bought mine in... Mine's also a green purse. No, no, mine's black, but yours is black. right Oh, yeah. No, mine is green and I love it.
Speaker: It's so cute. Um... Yeah, I need to buy my mom one because I know that she kept oohing and aahing over the ugliest ones at the Kate Spade outlet because she bought me that as like a you got a job ah present with like some of my like office clothes.
Speaker: ah So she bought me that Kate Spade purse and she just kept pointing out like some of the ugliest ones. And I'm like, I feel like it would be so easy to pick one to make her happy here. like Excellent. It's going to be the discount one.
Speaker: The discount ones are lovely, though, because that one, i think like all the tags, I love going to the outlet stores because all of the tags say like was $4,000 and you're first born.
Speaker: Now it's $3. And it's just it's it tickles my brain. i know it's all just marketing. i don't care. It's it's fun. So that one, i think originally was like $3.50 or whatever, and she got it for $98.00.
Speaker: Damn. so he If I could pick like a true designer bag, though, I had to look this up because I don't know the names of these things off the top of my head.
Speaker: ah But it's a Judith Lieber couture bag. ah They're like four grand and they're shaped like food. Like sparkly french fries or or sparkly hamburger. And I love them.
Speaker: They're kind of ugly and I feel like I would get like looks, but I would like that. I want one. I really want a Min and Mon bag. I don't know what that is.
Speaker: It's like this brand. They're in New York City. think it's like family members who own like a couple of sisters or something. But they have these little like monsters on everything. Wait, how do you spell it? A what?
Speaker: M-I-N and M-O-N. M-O-N? M-O-N. and as in Nancy. Oh, okay.
Speaker: That's adorable. Aren't they cute? And they're really not that expensive. but I love the eyeballs. Right. Monster eyeballs are pretty cool.
Speaker: But the thing is, is like good old practical Capricorn in me would, uh, would be like, m we need something that's like neutral enough that it could go with a lot of things. Right. So I can't just get the, like,
Speaker: I don't know, teal. Like, they have this weird, like, tiger with wings. so I don't know. They have some interesting weird stuff. Ooh, there's a March Madness up to 60% off right now.
Speaker: Interesting. Anyway, I could get sucked into this. Oh, I could too. I could just talk about i could talk about pretty bags all day long. These are so cute.
Speaker: I want the mint green one Why was this shown to me? Sorry. I only buy purses and shoes. Everything like between my neck and ankles looks like crap because I won't buy clothes.
Speaker: I own so many nice purses and I own so many nice boots and a few pairs of tennis shoes and stuff. And i love a couple of my high heels still.
Speaker: And then it's just like potato sack. Yeah. Yeah. Everywhere else. I'm like, the shoes in the bag are the stars. Don't look at the rest of me. um So, yeah, that ooh. Yeah.
Speaker: I know. They're weird. They're just, ah like, weird enough. But I really want one. And I'm like, they're not even that expensive. Like, I'm supposed to get my tax return soon. They're, like, equivalent of Nordstrom Rack Kate Spade prices. Yeah.
Speaker: they're so They're so freaking cute. I'd have to get the like Anastasio medium crossbody handbag black leather eyes embroidery because that would go with everything and the eyes would make it just weird enough.
Speaker: I'm trying to find that one. Yeah. Well, and then you could also get like I kind of want to get just like the keychain to stick that on a purse. Yeah, the keychains are cute. Yeah. Like, yeah. And like their wallets, I think, are pretty inexpensive. Like when you're talking about designer shit.
Speaker: And again, these are couture, but. the The wallet with the bugs on it. It's $100. I'm going to buy it. It's not even that big, which makes it even better to me.
Speaker: Right. i own like several Portland leather goods bags now. Same. And that's what I had turned on to that brand. You did. And it's a problem. But what a problem to have.
Speaker: I'm really good taking care of leather. So they will just last forever. Like, and yeah, i i I love I love a good leather bag.
Speaker: ah So I own too many. And then don't remember what there's like a purple bag up there that I bought. second hand and it's it's an expensive brand and i don't remember what i don't know it's up there and i have to get a stepladder to check so i'm not going to it has like a lion as the um
Speaker: simple thingy hmm brand tag I don't know there's a lion on it I love it it's great but seriously I bought it so cheap and it's like full of sand right now I really need to clean it like not real sand just like day-to-day detris in there it's gross anywho student libra shit is like weird i know it's marvelous though that's what i want i love having i mean like ignoring all of my very baseline lovely forever easy to look at nice bags i i like weird stuff i would like to get i want to get something more out there but yeah but then you have nothing to wear it to so
Speaker: No, that's fine. i don't I'll just wear it to the store, honestly. You want a Judith Lieber bag? Yeah. like At Walmart? Oh, I haven't gone to a Walmart in three and a half years.
Speaker: At Kroger. Or at Aldi. At Aldi. They'll be like, we know why you're at Aldi. It's because you bought that Judith leader Lieber bag. All right. So let's talk about beginnings.
Speaker: um The movie starts out virtually the same as the book. So we have Andrea Sachs played by Anne Hathaway. And she's on her way to an interview at the Elias Clark building um for a job working as the junior assistant of Runway Magazine editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly, who's played by Meryl Streep, the amazing, lustrous.
Speaker: More recently than in this movie, there was like ah an interview with Jennifer Lawrence, and she was talking about working with Meryl Streep on a movie. Yes, it was for Don't Look Up.
Speaker: It was the movie Don't Look Up. Yeah, I know exactly which. I still haven't seen that. it's i cry. it is It is so good. it is amazing. Like, i that's that's the best role that ah Leonardo DiCaprio has ever played, I think, in my opinion.
Speaker: he is so good and believable as this little, like, space nerd in it. He's great. But, yeah, anyway, continue, continue. So, So in the interview, Jennifer Lawrence is talking about how on the set they're calling Meryl Streep the goat.
Speaker: And she starts like playing along with it. And she's like, oh, yeah, just tell the old goat where to go. um Like kind of depreciating, deprecating. um and And Jennifer Lawrence is like, after a little bit, she's like, you know what the goat stands for, right?
Speaker: And she's like, I'm just like an old billy goat or whatever. Yes! she's like no it stands for the greatest of all time and then norella was like oh it's funny oh so neither of our andreas uh dreamed of working at a fashion mag uh we had our our book andrea she wanted to work at the new yorker which i felt like was kind of a joke uh And then Andy in the movie, just being a beautiful Anne Hathaway, she wanted to work in journalism and like do something that's important. So we had that distinction.
Speaker: um But again, ah book Andrea, she didn't even talk about writing or through most of the book. and And Andy didn't really talk about writing through the movie, but we didn't even see book andrea start to write anything until page 352 in my copy and it was only 360 pages total really wrapped it up in a nice neat bow at the end there I will say like in the book, we did see Andrea like talking about writing sort of, um but like more like job wise, not like I would like to block out this Saturday morning to just sit with my coffee and write for half an hour or an hour or four hours, whatever.
Speaker: Like there was nothing like that. But it was like, I shouldn't be here at runway. I should be working for the New Yorker. I'm only doing this for the, note you know, do it for the gram, but do it for the New Yorker.
Speaker: I would say that like writing and and I get it So, yeah. And I get, and in the movie too, Andy did like mention to Christian Thompson, that ah she had like a packet and sent him her writing. And so it was like mentioned and and I kind of understand it would be difficult to make a movie or a book interesting to watch and hear about the character sitting down and writing for five hours.
Speaker: Something else to note is that movie Andy gets into Stanford Law and then decides not to go because she wants to become a journalist. So, um, and she, like, doesn't really talk about or writing at all while she's there. And I don't even think that she has, like, like the stick it out for a year thing isn't really a thread in the movie. Yes, it is. Um,
Speaker: What? Yes, at the very beginning. They say, yeah, if you, you know, if you last a year here, you can get a job at any magazine you want. Well, it doesn't stand out as much with, like, know, the book is just her constantly bitching about it. So, and she's not that in the movie.
Speaker: I know. it's It's a little bit different, but it the thread is in the movie. It's just not insufferable.
Speaker: There was this overarching theme in the movie of you don't need to change everything about yourself for a job when that wasn't what anyone was asking of Andy. She literally just needed to stop thinking she was above this job, especially when she believed it would help her get closer to her dream job.
Speaker: And she needed to look the part because it is a fashion magazine. So you still get to go home at the end of the day and be Anne Hathaway. And the book... Andrea never really learned how to dress herself, or at least not to a level that would make Miranda proud. There was no montage.
Speaker: Right. There was no, Paolo, take this and this and gives you a princess. I look like a moose. Oh, but a beautiful moose. Make the boy moose go, huh, or what?
Speaker: Yeah, because Anne Hathaway always gets... I mean, Princess Diaries is the easiest one to like point to, but I feel like... Which I think was also based on the book.
Speaker: It was. Am I wrong? I think. Maybe. Well, shit. We're going to do that one because I love that movie. So one big issue that I had with the book, and oh my word, I had some issues.
Speaker: I have issues. I feel like all of the people that... andrea met in the book they were good people and they at least or they at least treated her kindly they were nice to her people would do whatever they could to make her job easier or at least more enjoyable and all she does is dump on them through the whole book i'm a negative person this was too much if they weren't Tall, thin, and beautiful, the things that she claimed to hate.
Speaker: She just, she shit on them and talked about how ugly they were. And everyone that was supposed to be a creep or was stupid and beneath her, they were described as ugly. Even though through the whole book too, she was complaining about the fashion industry.
Speaker: and how toxic it is. She didn't use that word exactly, but how toxic it is. And it only values people that are tall, thin, and gorgeous. so And how she felt like she was being judged through the whole book. But then again, she was she was doing the exact same thing that the fashion industry was. And I don't think this was done on purpose in the book either.
Speaker: I think it was done for comedy and it didn't land at all. It was just her being a B word. Yeah. Maybe it landed in the early two thousand Do you remember in the book how ah whenever she was talking about Starbucks all the time and ah how she was using the company card or or whatever to buy Starbucks for all the homeless people on the street?
Speaker: h Considering all of her awful personality surrounding this, it just really came off as more of like a fourth wall break just to kind of show the reader that, hey, she's not a bad person. Look, Andrea bought ah coffee for the unhoused. I didn't buy it.
Speaker: it's It's like the only good deed that she did right in in the 300 some odd pages. Like it's the only time that she ever did anything for somebody else. Yeah. Like, of course you're miserable. You're not nice. You're not a nice person.
Speaker: Miranda Priestley. Misunderstood fashion icon or worst boss in the long history of bad bosses? I think the movie did well to kind of more humanize Miranda. oh yeah. um In the book, she wasn't human. She was the devil, right? And she had no chance for redemption at all. She was not given a single inch of grace.
Speaker: In the movie, we can definitely see that there's a reason why Miranda has the job that she does. um because she's the best she has a vision she has the talent to go she has the taste right yeah no she proves herself in the movie it's like there's a reason why she has this job don't think don't she really did anything yeah in the book to show why she had the job except be a massive bitch.
Speaker: Yeah, she All she did was spend money and make people miserable. She should have been fired. She wasn't... Not only was she not a well-rounded character, she did not deserve the job that she had in the book.
Speaker: Well, and the book doesn't include anything about Miranda almost getting usurped Jacqueline Follet, the Paris editor-in-chief of Runway. And in the movie, Miranda does a really shitty thing and steals Nigel's new job um with James Holt and puts Jacqueline in the position instead to protect herself. So she's like playing this big game of chess.
Speaker: and And winning. Yeah, well and winning. She's smarter than everybody, right? And then Nigel's like, hmm. Like it took him by surprise. And he's like, she'll pay me back someday.
Speaker: But he was really looking forward to being able to be his own boss and truly get to like live his life how he wanted to and not how Miranda wants him to. So that was really shitty.
Speaker: um But never mind, because Miranda, even though in the movie, deserves her job and everything that she has because she's so good at it.
Speaker: is the devil. And I love the detail of her stealing the job from Nigel. i even though like she like originally put him up for it too, which is just, it's very much a, I, I brought you into this world. I can take you out kind of feeling God. She's playing God.
Speaker: Yes. She's playing the devil. devil ah But, but I love that detail because at that point in the movie, you know, we saw her husband leaving her again and and And they've really, really humanized her at this point.
Speaker: And then we start to admire her, thorns and all. We empathize with her and we don't want her to be fired. You know, even though she's hard to work for and everything, we we're rooting for her a little bit. And then she pulls this little stunt in Paris and it brings us back to the title of the movie. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Fun fact, ah this movie was actually the first and last time that Meryl Streep ever tried method acting. a Method acting is, if you don't know, ah where an actor stays in character on set or on stage around the other actors. They do not bring themselves into it at all. They become their character.
Speaker: And she was miserable. in one interview, she described like sitting in her trailer being Miranda Priestly and hearing all of the other actors out in the parking lot just having a blast. And she was like, I want to have fun because Meryl Streep is a fun person. That's what everybody says.
Speaker: I believe it. um I actually, the algorithm gods put a an interview with Anne Hathaway, and then maybe there was like a little blurb from Emily Blunt, but it was about like their experience working with Meryl Streep on this movie.
Speaker: And Anne Hathaway said something along the lines of like, very first day on set, Meryl Streep came up to me and was like I think you're amazing. You're really talented. I'm so excited to work with you.
Speaker: And those are the last nice things I'm going to say you. Yes. Oh, I remember hearing that too. But like years ago, because again, yeah I've loved and watched this movie so many times.
Speaker: And at one point, so, i mean, Meryl Streep, such such an icon herself, right? At one point, the director of the movie, David Frankel, thought that Miranda would be the film's protagonment protagonist and not Andy slash Anne Hathaway, which might have helped shape Miranda's character alongside Meryl Streep just being the genius that she is. Do you think you would ever want to work for a Miranda Priestley?
Speaker: Uh, 29 year old me. Fuck no. Um, 20 year old me or like 22 year old me. I could see it. Unfortunately. You would take the job if you were like younger and dumber.
Speaker: do you think you would like make it? Do you think you'd be able to make it a full year? yeah i i totally could. You're tight enough that I think you would have like been really freaking good at it.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. Probably. And i would have hated myself. But no, I could totally see myself trying something like this. Although I'm not like particularly fashionable. and also like don't – I think a lot of high fashion just looks stupid.
Speaker: But again, i I'm not a fashion icon, nor will I ever be. i hope to be a fabulous old lady someday. Yes. is That people stop in the park and they say, why are you so fabulous? I'm like, well, after three husbands. um Yeah, but with my little Judith Lieber couture bag.
Speaker: Right. Shaped like a sparkly pretzel that can't hold anything but like toothbrushes. Do you think you can work for Miranda Priestly? So I'm thinking of this in terms of the restaurant industry because that's what I have the most...
Speaker: ah I don't know. I think if I was like taken out of like my Applebee's era and then stuck working for her, I think I would like hate it the entire time.
Speaker: And I would know that I'm not getting paid enough, but I think that I would get like sucked into the culture enough that I would stay. And also Miranda Priestly gives offline cook energy.
Speaker: You think everyone gives offline cook energy? Mine briefly gives off general manager slash owner of the restaurant chain energy. That person like sits at the bar and drinks and just watches everybody though.
Speaker: That's not the case at Ruby Tuesday. Given all the abuse I've suffered in the, in the restaurant industry over the years, I think I would probably do just fine, but I don't think that I am personally organized enough for the amount of chaos that that she asked of.
Speaker: So a lot of the issues with taking a book and turning it into a movie is that things get cut. The book just spent way too much time complaining and describing the tasks. In the movie, we got a good montage.
Speaker: Just Meryl Streep tossing coats at her and yelling for things. No, it is a really good montage. I will say that the acquiring the Harry Potter book um in the movie was a lot easier for Andy.
Speaker: In the book, Andrea only has to call a bookstore. You said that backwards. Wait, no. In the book, it was really complicated and hard. That's not what you said, though. You said in the movie, it was easier.
Speaker: it was easier in the movie. No, it wasn't. Yeah. She had to like go track down the people who like did the cover art and stuff. And it was like this big task thing in the book. All she had to do was call the bookstore and be like, I know it's not on sale until tomorrow, but can I get a couple?
Speaker: And they were like, oh my God, yes. It was so boring. She had to like organize the international flight and she had to call a bunch of people. But who cares? That's boring. Yeah. It's all boring. Like, in the movie, all she had to do was, like, find Christian Thompson, and then he just did it all for her, basically. Like, he used his connections.
Speaker: I guess my argument is that it was, like, wildly unrealistic in in the movie. I don't think that would have, like... been able to happen in the movie and I guess that movie is like a lot more believable than the book in the book the the the books got the Harry Potter books got well I think it was just i just talking and I'm just talking and I'm just talking about the acquisition of it I guess I guess I'm talking about the the book's journey from where it lives with the publisher to Miranda right yeah
Speaker: In the book, that journey was way more involved. Well, yeah, because she had to like, because the book can't tell you if it got there on time. So I agree with that part. But all she did was call Barnes & Noble and say, hey, can I get it?
Speaker: And Barnes & Noble was like, yeah, sure. We'll open the pallet. I think she had to call like a few different people at the publishing house. And then finally she landed on a person who was like, okay, for Miranda Priestly.
Speaker: And she was trying not to drop Miranda Priestly's name to get it. But then she finally, she was like, look, you need to give this to me because it's for Miranda Priestly. And then they were like, oh, well, in that case.
Speaker: I refuse to reread it to figure out exactly what happened. Oh, I'm not either. but I just think it's like, I don't know. The movie seemed like, yeah, she had to call a few places and she was like a little panicked about it. But then she just like mentioned it offhandedly to Christian. And he was like, oh, I'll have my people get back to your people.
Speaker: Done and done. Speaking of the book, did you know the book is basically a work of autofiction? i did. You knew that before I did.
Speaker: I knew that before. Yes. That was a fun conversation. It was. Wish we'd had it on recording. know. Recap. I can recap it. My name is Jenny and it feels like this book was written about just like complaining about your life and and like she just needed a better editor.
Speaker: My name is Emily and let me tell you, it's based on her real life. I was at a party recently and someone was like, oh you like nonfiction? h I think nonfiction should just be shorter most of the time.
Speaker: And that's how I feel about this book and actually probably a lot of fiction. So in nonfiction, it's real. It really happened. Details matter, in my opinion. Anyway.
Speaker: I mean, creative nonfiction, they really – that's a different podcast. Details have to serve a purpose, right? Yeah. Yes. Too many details. understand that's bad writing.
Speaker: But, like, to make nonfiction good, it is. The story is in the details. Yeah. yeah In the publishing industry, I know that too much of it is about who you know and not necessarily how good your writing is.
Speaker: Reading the book, her saying, oh, if I go work as an assistant for Miranda Priestley for a year, that means that I can get a job at the New Yorker like that.
Speaker: I am a 22-year-old and I'm going take on the world or whatever. And I just... I struggle with that idea. I know that there's some truth to it, but it just feels stupid. it's Based on her life, autofiction, it was. was based on her work as the as as an assistant for Anna Wintour.
Speaker: and And then as a result, she was able to write this book and get it published. So it really throws off my complaints about how unrealistic in my head this should be.
Speaker: that That getting a job doing not writing at a magazine led to her writing this book. Touche, Laura. You did it.
Speaker: Because Vogue magazine did not like this book. Yeah, so speaking of Vogue, um one Vogue editor, ah Kate Betts, said that it was very clear that Miranda is supposed to be Vogue editor Anna Wintour and that Andrea was clearly a stand-in for Laura.
Speaker: Betts wrote in 2003 that Andrea is just as much a snob as the snob she's thrown in with. Hmm, I don't disagree. yeah I mean, I don't either. She is very snobby in a weird, different way. But yeah, she just spent the whole book bitching about how every how much everyone looked down on her and then turned right around dumping on everyone else around her. So she was just not nice.
Speaker: um She wasn't treated well, which is true, but she also wasn't nice back. so She wasn't nice to, again, she wasn't nice to all the like other people around her. right At all. So, yeah not into it.
Speaker: Do you think the book would have been better if book Miranda was more like Meryl Streep? like If book Miranda were a little more well-rounded and like a real human? Yeah, maybe.
Speaker: Possibly. Right. Make it a little bit more complicated. more dimensional. Yeah. um Like a human? Yeah. And I think if it were like 200 pages shorter, the book would have been better too.
Speaker: Oh, I miss shorter books. I miss them. I would love to read just a 250 page book. Yeah. well I mean, the book was really long, but like, I don't know, 70% of it could be summed up with She hates her job and she's mean. Like, we get it What do you think of Andy's boyfriends?
Speaker: Which one? i Alex or Nate. yeah Yeah. I like his name better as Alex because it reminds me of all of the, like, insufferable wedding shows that I used to watch uh like wedding story because then their name has alliteration it's Andy and yeah Alex and they're planning their wedding their budget is five dollars and they want to invite 237 people is that me and Adam I don't know sounds familiar well no because you don't have alliteration going on
Speaker: Yeah. So although you're not going to make it onto TLC whatever. Instead of Adam and Eve, it can be Adam and Genevieve. Ooh.
Speaker: Yeah. You'll see. it Hit me up. So, yeah. Going back to Andy's boyfriends, Andy slash Andrea. In the movie, we have Nate, right? And Nate is just a total asshole from the very start of the movie and then is later portrayed to be right about everything. You know, he was right all along.
Speaker: So even though Andy's job at Runway was a temporary one, it like it was one that might land her a dream job. And Nate makes it very clear, abundantly clear, that he has zero patience.
Speaker: yeah He's not willing to wait a year. She missed his birthday or whatever. You work as a cook. You're a line cook or whatever at some sandwich place. You miss all the holidays and weekends, buddy. You don't work a nine to five. Shut up.
Speaker: Anyway, i could go on. Life coach and author ah Michelle Ellman, actually, you sent this to me the other day and we're going to. She summed up all of the issues that we've had with Nate in a really great Instagram reel.
Speaker: going link to it in the show notes. And just follow her. She's really great about boundaries and shit. kinds of stuff. Yeah. Once submitted a ah thing to her, like, ah ask me anything boxes, and she replied.
Speaker: And put it on her stories, and I was like, hmm, excellent. I once got retweeted by Eve Six, the band, the the Heart in a Blender song. While up on my tender, heart in a blender.
Speaker: Bluffet's on round to a real Rivian. Rendezvous, then I'm through with you. i'm never heard that song. Bluff it up like a wicker basket. I'm glad that... we and Oh, so stale. It's a good song. You know it. It retweets you or something. Anyway.
Speaker: Yeah. Emily, edit that. um So as a character, i didn't dislike Alex as much in the book.
Speaker: even though there were some other different issues that I will discuss later. He just, he's a lot more supportive. And I think also it kind of helped that whenever I was listening to the audio book version of it, ah the woman recording it made him sound like, so even though like she gave him like a really rough voice like this, she just made him seem way more happy and excited to be there.
Speaker: Right. So At the beginning of the book, Alex does say that he is he he's genuinely proud of Andrea for landing the job and that it's an amazing opportunity.
Speaker: He really doesn't get upset with her until way later. and And even throughout the book, Andrea mentions, she's like, oh my God, I haven't seen my boyfriend in six months or whatever.
Speaker: oh he must be so upset. And then she goes to see him and he's like, no, baby, i support you. Get it, girl. It's just so different. And he's not like that at all in the movie.
Speaker: Hate you. I know. Hate you. Yeah, Nate sucks. And I don't know why they changed his name. That doesn't make any sense. In the book, like Alex does end up being upset with how much time Andrea spends on the job that she claims to hate. And then he's kind of like, well, if you hate it so much, why do you spend so much time doing it? um Valid argument point.
Speaker: Sure. And they do break up in the end. and sort of We sort of end the book with like they're on a break and she's uncertain if they'll really get back together or not. But it's kind like they are broken up. It is left open. Yeah.
Speaker: But it's like left a little bit open. Because they were together for a long time. Yeah. But yeah, at the end of the book, spoiler alert, Andrea's best friend, Lily, who's not really movie,
Speaker: And louis's Lily's been struggling. Yeah. She's been struggling. There's actually like a really solid thread in the book with Lily's story. enjoyed Lily's character. She was the most interesting part of the book. Yeah.
Speaker: So basically in the book, Alex is very upset with Andrea because Lily is in a car accident and she is in the hospital. She's in a coma. She's maybe about to die.
Speaker: And Andrea does not. immediately drop everything and leave Paris to go home she kind of like waffles her choices for a day or two and yeah so um Alex is kind of like I can't believe you would do that to Lily and like it's a way more valid reason to be upset because in the movie Nate is just like oh my god you're working you're enjoying your job I don't like but Alex in the movie was like, yeah, this really sucks, but it's a year and sure I'm upset. And I think that you're like maybe taking it too far.
Speaker: Then Andrea goes to Paris, Lily gets into the car accident and, and, and Alex is like, why aren't you coming back? What is your problem? Right. Are you kidding me?
Speaker: That's valid. That is such a valid reason to be upset with your girlfriend. That's, That is the one thing that I think Laura did awesome in this is that it was a very valid reason for them to break up. It wasn't just like my birthday. I make you grilled cheese.
Speaker: ah Right. Yeah. And they were never going to get married anyway. Yeah, they've been together for like three years and they weren't like even thinking about moving in together. And I don't know New York geography enough to know if it just like logistically wouldn't work. Like I work here, you work there and we can get an apartment in the middle or, you know, like whose neighborhood do we live in kind of thing. Like I think transportation's hard in New York City. Like sure, they have public transportation, but it ain't easy.
Speaker: So I have never been on a train like that. So I don't know.
Speaker: Let's talk about the endings. Both the movie and the book have similar quotes at the end that more or less tied everything up with a couture, little bow. Little blow. Little blow.
Speaker: With a couture, little bow. In the book, we have Miranda saying, you remind me of myself when I was your age. Yeah. And in the movie we have, I see a great deal of myself in you.
Speaker: And it's like in the middle of like a really lovely monologue. Like not, yeah, like monologue from Meryl Streep. And it's marvelous. Like that is such a beautiful scene. And in the book, it's just, you remind me of myself whenever I was your age, just over and over and over again for several pages.
Speaker: Right. Anyway, similar sentiments. Yeah. i The ending of the book, though, is like this big screaming match, which I think would have been like really interesting to see, but it wouldn't have made it would have made sense with Meryl Streep's Miranda at all.
Speaker: But it's a good thing that that happened. Like when I'm sure something like that happened in real life. And maybe that's like a fiction thing. Maybe she didn't have the guts to be like, fuck you. um Or go fuck yourself. What did she say?
Speaker: and Just a lot of F word. I don't know. It doesn't matter. yeah She just told Miranda off. And if that happened in 2024, would be all over the internet. Somebody would have had phone out, you know, like we would actually get to see that. But since it's happened in like early 2000s, like the book was published in what, 2003? So before then, um it ah you know, it's not online.
Speaker: Yeah. Probably. Maybe it's on the dark web. I don't know. Probably not. don't think that's what they put on the dark web in the end of the book. Andrea decides to write for the first time in a bajillion pages. And then she sells the story to Seventeen Magazine. And you said at one point that you didn't think it sounded like it was a very good story.
Speaker: The book, like in the book, she talks about her short story being, which is like two or three thousand words. So it ended up being like a lot of money because they paid like 10 or 15 cents per word.
Speaker: And I did the math and I was like, I bet they don't pay any more than that now. And like the dollar's gotten significantly less valuable since early 2000s.
Speaker: um I mean, I've looked at some, it just depends on where and what you're pitching. ah Because I've looked at some publications and they're doing like $3 per word.
Speaker: Damn. Yeah. For like a 2000 word story, but you have to like pitch it. It's a lot of work. So. it's It's a lot. Anyway, she sells that story to Seventeen Magazine, and I think that that was the version of her selling this book Seventeen.
Speaker: whatever the publisher was. I don't remember. Was it? Yeah. Yeah. ah Random House. I don't know. in creative nonfiction, i feel like there's just, and we're not calling this creative nonfiction, but I feel like in creative nonfiction, there's supposed to be a certain amount of like putting your feet in the fire, Debra Gortney likes to put it where you're not self-deprecating yourself, but you're at least like thinking about the things that you may have done wrong in a situation.
Speaker: Right. There's no self-awareness. No. Not at all. At all. And I think that would have made this book way better, even if it was still 360 pages, if there was any kind of humility in it. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: I think it would have been way more enjoyable, at least for 2024. Me. maybe way back when, whenever I was a mean hillbilly, I probably would have read it and been like, yeah, fuck Miranda.
Speaker: So do you think movie Andy ever told Nate that she had sex with Christian? I don't know, but I'm really happy that you asked me that because it's so juicy. I have no idea. They were broken up.
Speaker: They broke up with each other. I don't know. I don't think You weren't up. What? Yeah, they did. You were on break. Whatever. Same difference. They also aren't going to get married in the movie either. No, there's no way. And if they do, they'll get divorced. It's just, it's not.
Speaker: Their relationship is doomed. If she did tell Nate, she told him while they were breaking up off screen after the movie. So he gets angry at her because she's now working as a journalist and spending all of her time doing that.
Speaker: So they get into a fight and that's whenever Andy is like, I fucked Christian. And then they break up. In my head, that's how it happens. Right. And that's also because like they got in a fight originally because she's a workaholic still. And she interviews at the New York Mirror at the end of the movie to be like an investigative journalist.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. and has given up her high fashion clothes, just given them to Emily. Which was so cute. Right. And Emily's like, well, of course they're going to be, going to be swimming in them.
Speaker: it will be a great, yeah it'll be a ah real imposition, but I can help you out or whatever. And I know that like, there's like fat shaming in that line, but i Emily Blunt's so cute and her delivery is so cute with all of the like,
Speaker: really not okay things that she says she's just so adorable that i can't help but love it anyway i think andy does not move to boston to be with nate and like that's it continues to be like a source of contention because then they probably don't get to see each other that much and and and and and and so yes yeah so let's talk about things we hate because we had a lot of hate for this girl
Speaker: So the things that I hated, and again, i cannot make it any clearer. I don't like to say that I hate books. There was ah one book that will remain nameless. I literally like flung it across the room whenever I finished it because I just was so mad. It was so bad and just awful.
Speaker: I still gave it three stars on Goodreads or maybe I didn't rate it at all. I don't know. I don't like to hate on books because guess how many books I've written? Zero. But still, to quote the the great ah comedian um Steve Hofstetter, to quote the the great Steve Hofstetter, I've never ah flown a helicopter. I've never piloted a helicopter. But if I see one in a tree, I'll know that that guy fucked up.
Speaker: This is fucked up. This is so dumb. I hated the book. Hated the book. i The book was missing ah very key element, which is likable main character. ah Andy in the movie is Anne Hathaway, so she's not going to be bitchy. She's likable and, you know, it's it's just different. But I, from the gate, did not like...
Speaker: Andrea in the book at all. Just not. And I was so excited to read this book because I love this movie, even though it's like a little bit problematic. I love this movie. I was so excited to finally read the book and I'm not even going to keep it after this. I'm never going to read it again. This was great.
Speaker: I was so disappointed. i would argue that a book doesn't have to have a likable main character, but it does need to have to be a good book. It does need to have a complex Yes. Multidimensional main character or ideally like a a multidimensional complex cast of characters. Yes.
Speaker: um List of characters. Something. the you know, the major flaw in the writing of the book is that everyone's just very flat. um they're one thing um there's no there's not an inch anywhere for anyone to be anything different and be like a real human um and you know it's auto fiction and I know that it's been praised as like just like you get to sit with your like girlfriend and it's like juicy right it's like oh my god I would not be friends with her
Speaker: i would not be friends with her I wouldn't either, but also I'd be very bored with her story if she wasn't like, well, you know, but sometimes she does actually give me a compliment and that's really nice, you know, like, or it's just not all one thing all the time.
Speaker: Yes, because you... Oh, what is the saying where, ah like, if a man says that all of his girlfriends are, like, all of his ex-girlfriends are crazy. All of them are just so crazy.
Speaker: If it's all of them, it's none of them. It's just him. So for book Andrea, everybody around her is, like, so mean and so judgmental. And oh, my gosh. And she never really truly, like, owns her shittiness in any way, shape, or form.
Speaker: And it was really hard to root for any characters at all in the book. Her best friend forever, Lily, she's in a weird place in her life. She's like kind of a hot, drunken mess.
Speaker: She was a more interesting character in the book than Andrea was. I know you have on our notes that that's in your opinion, but my my opinion too. She encouraged Andrea to kiss outside of her relationship with Alex.
Speaker: I was ready for the drama. Yeah. I was like, yes, stir that pot, Lily. Yes. Right. Lily, like I'm pretty sure when they like, when she was introduced to Christian, when they just ran into him outside of that one bar that one time when they're having their girls night, she was like, who's that?
Speaker: You should have an affair. i know. She was just chaos incarnate. Yeah. And I'm just like, yeah, she's a young girl in the city. Or a young lady, a young woman in the city working on her PhD.
Speaker: And just just go for it. yeah Do it, girl. Like, she was nuts and damaged and just way more interesting to read about. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Yeah. Which sucks because most of the characters in the book, they're all stereotypes. All of them. or Or like a complete caricature. Anytime that ah book Andrea was describing like a ah gay man...
Speaker: or really anybody at the magazine, it was just an over-the-top stereotype caricature of what a gay man is. They were all rippling muscles and six feet tall. and And then the way that she described their outfits just sounded...
Speaker: like a fever dream. Like whenever we see Nigel, for example, in the book for literally like a page and a half, like a paragraph, all of his dialogue is in all caps. And he's the only one that says, Oh, she is not fat. I can do anything as long as you're not fat.
Speaker: Right. She had dysentery. Um, and then he's yeah like lost 20 pounds. from Yeah. And then he's gone. and, Nigel in the in the movie, like everybody else in the movie, he's a professional.
Speaker: Why can't I remember his name? Like actor's name? Yeah. Stanley Tucci. Jesus Christ. Okay. Yeah. In the movie, he's a professional. He's played by Stanley Tucci and he's amazing. And he's so good. He's not a stereotype.
Speaker: He's just a professional at work no saying some fatphobic things, but he's a professional. And he's trying to help. He's trying to help Andy too. Yes. Like, help her make it because he sees potential or whatever. Yeah.
Speaker: um And he kind of becomes, like, the gay best friend. Although Stanley Tucci in real life is not gay. So that's interesting. um Good actor. Oh, yeah. Love him. So, yeah.
Speaker: So one of my biggest complaints immediately in this book is that it had some really – really disgustingly racist moments that were played off just as a joke, I assume. In the first 20 pages or so of the book, Alex, ah boyfriend, ah he calls his nine-year-old elementary school students prison connoisseurs.
Speaker: And he says that they already know everything about weed and sex and they can write whole books about the different prison systems, but also they're illiterate. and And Andrea then, like a few pages later, thinks about these same children as swigging 40s of old English on the playground.
Speaker: That's just racist. That is awful. Why would you write that? Why would you publish that? And I know that like in in the early 2000s, white people weren't even trying to not be you know, anti-racist, but holy crap.
Speaker: It didn't age well, yeah. Not at all. And then later, the book also says some really weird, rude things about ah TLC, the R&B musical group. ah Crazy Sexy Cool was my first ever CD. I love TLC.
Speaker: During the conversation ah where we hear about how Lily ah did some ah drunken and decent exposure on the street. Andrea's parents over here so they deflect and say oh no no no we're talking about TLC it was it was one of the members of them they were doing drunken and decent exposure so like just saying something really kind of why do we need to shit on TLC i don't know but it was also really extra gross because this book was published pretty much the same time that a member one of the members of TLC Lisa Left Eye Lopez she died in a car wreck
Speaker: While she was like on a trip doing like charity work, she died in a car wreck at about the same time that this book came out. So I don't know why we needed to lob insults against TLC like that. That's a big red flag.
Speaker: like you're saying the loud You're saying the quiet part out loud at this point. I was prepared for all the fat phobia and pretty much all the other garbage. That didn't really... It didn't really do anything for me, like, shock-wise. It was awful, but it wasn't shocking.
Speaker: This was shocking. This is not okay. I'm mad that I read this whole book because of this crap. This is garbage. Who cares about not making your characters dynamic, all of the other, like, technical issues of writing this book?
Speaker: This is my big complaint. Just how yeah completely off-the-wall racist it was.
Speaker: Totally. Let's talk about fat shaming, I guess. Let's keep the party train going. Hollywood keeps doing this thing where they want us to think that Anne Hathaway is fat and or ugly. And I don't get that because she's gorgeous and tiny.
Speaker: She was and is so thin. In the movie, Nigel has this quote saying that a size 6 is the new 14. It's like a size 0 is the new size 2. The size 2 is the new size 4.
Speaker: New size 4 is the new size 6. And the new size 6 is size 14, like plus size. or top of the straight sizing spectrum. It's either about like the changing metric of how big the clothes are, or also like we're changing what the definition of beautiful is, like how skinny you have to be to be beautiful. Yeah.
Speaker: I'm pretty sure in the book, Andrea describes herself as 115 pounds at like 5 feet 10 inches. and there's parts in the book where she's like, I'm used to being like the tallest person in the room, the tallest woman in the room at least.
Speaker: And then she starts working at this fashion magazine and she's models all over the place. And they're like over 6 feet tall and under 100 pounds or whatever. think it's like accurate. I'm pretty sure that like that's that's like an ideal height for models i thought if you get too much above like six foot and up then the uh sample sizes won't fit you anymore because you're too tall yeah i don't know but like 5 10 and 115 pounds excuse me ma'am that's fucking tiny minity girl what yes emily i almost said emily but emily blunt she does have like quite a few ah
Speaker: eating disorder-esque lines that she says throughout. Right. Like the, I'm only a stomach flew away from my goal weight. And then what was, what was her, ah the line about the diet that she was on in preparation for Paris? That was, I don't eat anything. And when I feel like I'm about to faint, I eat a cube of cheese.
Speaker: And then another icky part of the book um is that when Andrea has like, quit her job at runway. She moves back in their parents for a couple months while Lily's recovering from this car accident and almost dying.
Speaker: um she sends the short story to 17 magazine and the editor there, her name's Loretta in the book. Um, you know, wants to pick it up and also wants to meet with her because Loretta once upon a time, like worked for Miranda Priestly or something.
Speaker: um And so we have this moment of Andrea going to meet Loretta and gasp, Loretta is fat, you know? And Andrea's like, that's like kind of such a relief, you know, like, or like, I can't believe it. And it's like, bitch, know,
Speaker: That's gross. Stop. Why couldn't it have been instead at the end, she doesn't work for Runway anymore, she's living with her parents, and she gained five pounds, and oh my God, she's feeling so much better now.
Speaker: Why couldn't we have had like that instead of her, yeah again, kind of shitting on somebody who doesn't fit that ideal? and I think in the book, actually, when she does love move back in with her parents, she does gain a little bit of weight.
Speaker: And I don't know that it's like... really a positive thing or even really a negative thing. I think it's kind of a neutral thing, which I'm okay with body neutrality. But clearly she still has issues with fat, with fat shaming because it's like, oh, I gained this weight and I got back to like a normal healthy weight for me.
Speaker: That's whatever. and then we go meet Loretta. um my God, gasp. And she doesn't make a huge deal out of it. But like, why do you have to mention it at all? She makes a deal of it. Right. And I think this sucks because- Fat shaming.
Speaker: Shaming bodies as a whole, it was, and it's still like super believable. It's still a real thing. It's such a true thing that happens in the world, especially in fashion. So I think on the one hand, this is super toxic. And I don't think, I don't think it needs to be like a focus like that anymore.
Speaker: It's still very realistic. And I feel like leaving it out would be kind of like denying a certain, uncomfortable aspect of humanity at the end of the movie uh where andy she tells nigel that she made it down to a size four and then you toast to it the movie was so good and then we had like stuff like that where i'm like i know i But the movie was made in what, like 2006? So that's still kind of, we're coming off of like early 2000s.
Speaker: Like, I don't know. Early 2000s is probably like heroin chic, 90s and the 90s was heroin chic and then the 2000s is where everything was about the abs that's where we were seeing like Christina Aguilera's six-pack and we were seeing Britney Spears and her completely flat perfect stomach so it was a little bit different still like 2006 we have this focus on skinny thinness whatever Oh, 100%.
Speaker: 100%. You could still fit the heroin chic model and be considered beautiful. Like, that was the beauty standard was how skinny or are you fiting are you fitting our metrics today? And if you're thin, you can... Yeah. It fits in everywhere.
Speaker: so So, Nigel's at the end of the movie, he's he got his dream job and he's talking about how amazing it is. and in a way...
Speaker: Even if it wasn't in like a serious way, it was kind of like he was putting him getting his dream job on level with Andy losing a little bit of weight. Like dropping one pant size. You think you're a nerd or a buff on this one?
Speaker: Oh, film buff. Yeah. 100% forever. i almost rewatched it again last night. I was just double checking like a quote from the movie. And so I had to get on my HBO app on my phone.
Speaker: And so I scrolled to where it was supposed to be, but it like jumped to a different part. And I just sat there and watched it for 15 minutes. And I was like, hold on, what are we doing? Hello? um Anyway, movie, movie, hundred percent.
Speaker: It has an amazing cast list. And even with how garbage some of the like ideas were, i don't care. i love it. There's such a good classic movie.
Speaker: How about you? Yeah, I agree. 100% movie buff. I just, I love the people. Obviously, all the characters were more well-rounded, more dimensional than in the book.
Speaker: Oh my gosh, there's so much we didn't have time for. and million girls would kill for that job. Gay breast friend trope. A million girls would kill for that job. Rupert Murdoch should cut me a check for all the papers I sell for him.
Speaker: A million girls would kill for that job. Indecent exposure charges. Pumpets go from flat to fabulous instantly. Florals for spring, groundbreaking. Revenge wears Prada.
Speaker: Christian Thompson is a creep. Same Andy, better clothes. I liked the old clothes. Shut up, Nate. Emily got mono. I'm still learning about this stuff.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: But what you don't know is that sweater is not just blue. It's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Brinta did a collection of cerulean gowns.
Speaker: And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn't it? Who showed cerulean military jackets. I think we need a jacket here. And then Cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin.
Speaker: However, that blue represents millions of dollars of countless jobs. And it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a 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.
Speaker: Thank you for listening to Book Club, the movie, the podcast. Watch for new episodes out the third Thursday of each month. You can find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. And you can follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Book Club, the movie.
Speaker: You can also find us on Patreon, Facebook, or on our website, bookclubthemovie.com. This podcast was created and produced by Jen Moyer and M. Lord. And edited by Trevor St.
Speaker: James. Music for this podcast was written by Jason Lord of Studio Topaz. Voice acted by Ethan Gallardo. Thanks to our friends and family for your love and support.
Speaker: And thank you, dear listener, for joining our book club. See you next time, nerds. And buffs. Bye.
Speaker: The podcast.
Speaker: Okay, surely to God one of those will match up. Hopefully. Also, cool can you hear my laptop taking off? It's like an airplane.
Speaker: I really need to get a new one. Like your MacBook? Yeah. It's an Air, so it's not very powerful. And um right now it's planning to go to outer space. I don't remember which one mine is, but I think that I'm just not going to replace it until it really stops working.
Speaker: Knock on wood. and just hope it's not like background noise. Surely it can be edited. I don't know these things. think it's that bad, to be perfectly honest. Plus this, there's going to be music in the background. Yeah.
Speaker: I'm going to stop recording if we're done. That's fine. Okay. All right.
