Media and Communications

In the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada directed by David Frankel we see the way communication is portrayed throughout a workplace environment. The film is set at a Runway fashion magazine in New York City and tells the story of Andrea Sachs an aspiring journalist who is hired as the second assistant to Miranda Prisetly, the powerful and ruthless executive of the magazine. Throughout the film as an audience we see the way in which professional and organizational communication is revealed, the way subversive ideologies such as feminism are challenged and expressed through the use of audience identification and film techniques, and the way in which gender roles are presented throughout the film. (Re-write into)

Organizational communication is defined as "the sending and receiving of messages among interconnected individuals in a particular environment, workplace or organization in an effort to work towards individual and shared goals"(Tony Chalkley 2012 pg125), However throughout the film The Devil Wears Prada there is a lack of organizational communication, as the executive of the magazine Miranda Prisetly who rather than working with employees in particularly assistant Andy, to complete a specific task, she orders her to complete nearly impossible errands. Miranda has a very dominant style of communicating. Frankel has used low camera angles when Miranda talks as it gives the audience the impression that she is authoritive and important, as we are seeing her from a lower angle and therefore she is presented as a fundamentally dominant figure. A power distance culture refers to a "high-powered culture that tends to be fixed, hierarchical and value conformity" (Toija Cinque 2012), we see in the Opening scene of the film that the fashion magazine is a power-distance culture as we see the hierarchical importance and high status Miranda Priestly has at the company. This is shown through the frantic soundtrack that gradually builds up, as employees find out Miranda will be arriving at the office earlier than expected. We also see through multiple characters acting the pressure the job has on there every day life as characters throw away food, frantically apply makeup and change clothing.