Still Think Meryl Streep's Miranda Was a Legend? She's Still Very Much a Villain

Summary:

• The Devil Wears Prada has quite a controversial antagonist, brilliantly portrayed by Meryl Streep.
• Miranda Priestly is a bossy diva, neglecting the well-being of her crew, but her behavior often gets justified by fans, who consider Nate the movie’s real villain.
• However, she is really inappropriate not only to the main character, but to the whole world around her, and it’s proved by Redditors.

Back in 2006, Anne Hathaway ’s The Devil Wears Prada, a dramedy about the harsh realities of working in the fashion world, became a massively popular hit, which is still rewatched and discussed by millions of fans. One of the most debatable issues regarding it is who is the real villain of the movie, as it’s not so simple to figure out as it may seem.

The most obvious answer lies right in the title of the movie, which implies Miranda Priestly, the main heroine’s boss, portrayed by Meryl Streep, to be quite a diabolic woman. Indeed, she’s egoistic, cruel to literally everyone she encounters on her way.

Nevertheless, there is a significant part of the fandom which justifies Miranda’s behavior, stating she is who she is because her position implies such a level of rigor and frivolity and recalling her ambition to make Andy reach her fullest potential.

Is Nate the Real Villain, Though?

Thus, it is Nate (played by Adrian Grenier), the unsupportive boyfriend of Hathaway’s Andy, who is considered to be the real villain of the film by some fans, as he strongly criticized both career advances and interior changes of his partner.

However, the recent heated discussion adds to the confidence that Streep’s protagonist is truly a villain whose misconduct can’t be forgiven. It is assumed that despite the public recognition and enormous financial success, Miranda’s own life is in fact unfulfilling, so she takes it out on the entire team of Runway magazine.

“She was cruel to her employees. Doesn’t care to remember their names, gives them unrealistic work on purpose. Works towards humiliating them instead of trying to create a good work environment,” Redditor @slimmymcnutty recounted the professional sins of Streep’s legendary character.

Miranda Is Realistic At Best – But Not a Hero

In particular, fans recall that Miranda gave Andy the tasks which were impossible to complete. Remember the hurricane scene with no flights available for booking and the subplot with the Harry Potter manuscript, which wasn’t released for sale at the time?

Thus, Streep’s commanding character forces her employees to perform for her, rather than being able to focus on their jobs, which can’t be considered appropriate even for such a legend of journalism.

Nevertheless, “it's pretty realistic with people who are heads of major companies and brands,” as fairly admitted by Brown_Panther-.

The acclaimed actress’ performance makes it even more realistic, so don’t miss the opportunity to revise The Devil Wears Prada one more time, as it’s available for streaming on Netflix , Prime and Disney+ .