Authority Lost Its Scent of Paper [Slate]

The Collapse of Media in "The Devil Wears Prada 2"

Clicks and Algorithms Now Outweigh the Editor-in-Chief's Judgment

In the film "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006), Miranda (Meryl Streep), the editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Runway, watches as her new assistant Andy (Anne Hathaway) wears a shabby blue sweater and remarks, "That’s not just blue. It’s cerulean blue." This scene satirizes the attitude of consuming colors that have generated millions of dollars in profits and created countless jobs, without understanding their true value. At the same time, it is a moment where Miranda asserts her authority as the gatekeeper who designs and controls public taste.

With her cold gaze and resolute tone, Miranda was absolute power itself. However, in the sequel returning after 20 years, her authority no longer carries the scent of paper. The very existence of her power is now threatened by digital capital.

"The Devil Wears Prada 2" opens with investigative newsroom staff being notified of their dismissal via text message during an awards ceremony. Now unemployed, Andy returns to Runway as a planning editor to make ends meet. However, the solid media ecosystem where Miranda once reigned has already collapsed. After the death of the parent company’s owner, Runway’s position is shaken, and the successor regards the value of fashion magazines with cynicism. Ultimately, there is an attempt to sell Runway at a bargain price to IT tycoon Benji (Justin Theroux).

This impending sale symbolizes the collapse of the civilizational filter that once screened for social value. Benji embodies the nihilism of tech capital, believing that human creativity inevitably becomes powerless in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). This is not simply a change in management—it is a reorganization of the entire media ecosystem. Whereas journalism in the past set valuable agendas and elevated public taste, today’s platform capitalism enforces an “attention economy” that maximizes profit by provoking human biases. Aesthetic insight and journalistic integrity are now regarded as inefficient practices.

Ultimately, the crisis becomes a personal struggle. Now in her seventies, Miranda is no longer an absolute authority. Conscious of internal HR regulations, she hangs her own coat on the rack and swallows the biting remarks that once froze those around her. The era when the editor-in-chief’s perspective dictated the industry has ended; now, cover stories are determined by clicks and traffic.

Andy, too, has changed. In the first film, she rejected Miranda’s world and left, choosing to protect her beliefs and identity. In the sequel, faced with the harsh reality of a career break, she returns to the very system she once despised. She grapples physically and emotionally with the dilemma between personal integrity and survival.

Ultimately, the film finds a turning point in “solidarity.” Faced with the relentless dismantling pressure of tech capital, the two—now in similar circumstances—seek an alternative path that does not make them slaves to capital. It is not a simple surrender or resistance, but a third way.

Completely cutting ties with capital is unrealistic. Yet, it is also impossible to let expertise be entirely subordinated to the logic of capital. The film’s answer is a delicate balance between compromise and resistance: cooperating with capital for survival, but never abandoning expertise and ethics. It’s about maintaining aesthetic judgment as editors while seeking economically sustainable methods. This is not a problem exclusive to the media or fashion industry; it is an existential task for all modern people striving to live while preserving their own values.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.