摘 要

电影是科学进步联系最为紧密的艺术形式之一。中国电影的历史与西方相差不远，然而近百年来，美国电影发展迅速，并在世界市场中占据着重要比例。电影在一定程度上可以反映一个国家的科技和经济发展水平，人们的价值取向和人生观，以及一个国家的文化。本文以《杜拉拉升职记》和《普拉达的女王》为切入点，研究中美电影中成功职场的女性形象。本文第一部分是对论文主要内容和意义的介绍。第二部分主要从探究这两部电影的主题、相似与不同点、两部电影所体现的不同工作氛围等方面进行比较研究。第三部分主要探究通过这两部电影折射出中美国家人们对生活、工作的态度和价值观，以及文化背景差异。第四部分主要探究中美电影中成功职场女性形象，包括影响成功的因素，中美成功职场女性的异同点、中美女性的追求和价值观等。最后一部分是对全文的总结。

关键词： 中美电影；成功职场女性；价值观；文化差异

Abstract

Movie is one of the art form which is related to the development of science and technology. The history of Chinese movie is not far away from western movie. However, American movie develops rapidly in recent years, and it takes an important part in the world market. Movie is a mirror which shows a country’s science and technology, people’s value and faith in life as well as culture. The thesis is based on the two movies - The Devil Wears Prada and Go Lala Go, it will compare and analyze the images of the successful working women in American and Chinese movies. The first part is the introduction of the thesis’s content and meaning. The second part compares the two movies’ themes, similarities and differences, the different working atmosphere they reflect respectively. The third part shows people’s different attitudes towards life and work, and different values between Chinese and American learn from the comparison of the two movies. The fourth part researches on the images of the successful working women in Chinese and American movies, including their similarities and differences, their values and faith in life and the factors relate to their success. The final part summarizes the thesis and draws conclusion.

Key Words: Chinese and American movies; successful working women; value; culture differences

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 The Comparison of the Two Movies 2

2.1 Brief Introuction of the Two Movies’ Themes 2

2.2 Comparison and Contrast between the Two Movies 3

3 Analysis of Differences between China and America by Comparing the Two Movies 5

3.1 People's Different Attitudes toward Work and Life 5

3.2 Some Different Values between Chinese and American 6

4 Research on the Images of Successful Working Women 11

4.1 The Images of Successful Working Women in the Two Movies 11

4.2 Factors that Motivate Working Woman’s Success. 12

5 Conclusion 14

References 15

Acknowledgements 16

On the images of successful working women in Chinese and American movies

-A comparative study of The Devil Wears Prada and Go Lala Go

1 Introduction

“Let me know when your whole life goes up in smoke. That means it’s time for promotion’’. This is a classical line from The Devil Wears Prada, which can reflect what they think about success to some extent in America. As one of the forms of art, movie isn’t simply for entertainment and profit. It can include abundant culture elements, a country’s culture can be showed vividly in a movie. Along with the development of American movie, it has become an indispensable part in Chinese movie market, and has influence on Chinese. French film theorist Metz (1994) notes that what people call film is actually a wide-range and complicated phenomenon of social culture, an overall social fact; it is a whole existence involving many aspects which includes vital problems like economy. So when people are exposed to movies, they learn something about certain culture.

This thesis focuses on comparing and analyzing the two movies The Devil Wears Prada and Go Lala Go, it aims to explore different successful women images in American and Chinese movies. It can guide people especially graduates how to adjust to work after leaving school, and also show us different values and cultures between China and America.

2 The Comparison of the Two Movies

The Devil Wears Prada is a 2006 comedy-drama film based on Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel of the same name. It is an inspirational working movie which tells a smart and sensible new graduate Andy’s experience when she first goes into work. She goes to New York City and lands a job as an assistant to Miranda Priestly, the demanding editor-in-chief of a high fashion magazine. She becomes a successful working woman after her struggling and hard working. But she decides to give up the glorious job and find herself back in the end. Go Lala Go is based on the novel A Story of Lala’s Promotion, which was written by Li Ke. The heroine Du Lala gets the permission of the interview of DB inc., one of the global 500 companies and she is employed as a receptionist with luck. She is eager to get high salary as well as love. Work and family are both important to her; she becomes a senior manager after persistent hard work. Both of the two movies mainly introduce successful working women. However, there exists many differences between them, in the following part, the thesis has a further study on them.

2.1 Brief Introduction of the Two Movies’ Themes

The Devil Wears Prada and Go Lala Go are based on the heroines who get success after hard working. The Devil Wears Prada is about the new graduate Andy who goes to New York and gets a chance to work as an assistant of the famous magazine’s director, Miranda. The chance is precious because many people desperately desire for it. The work is challenging but also glorious. It can provide people with lots of fashionable clothes and gives them chances to attend all kinds of occasions to know more celebrities; it can also provide a social circle in which there are many famous magazines’ editors and designers. Andy wants to be a journalist and thinks it is a good chance to help her realize her dream. She adjusts herself to this work and gets appreciation from her workmates and Miranda. She loves this job gradually but there are more and more divergences between her and her friends. She even has broken up with her boyfriend. She finally realizes this kind of life isn't what she wants. Therefore, she decides to free herself and to pursue what she really wants. We can learn from this movie a lot. We can learn from Andy how to adjust to a new work environment, we should ask for advice humidly from workmates and boss. Whatever we meet, we should never give up, just face it and overcome it. Furthermore, we should follow our heart and struggle for what we really want.

Go Lala Go tells the story of Du Lala, she has no powerful background, she gets the permission of the interview of DB inc, one of the global 500 companies. She works hard and dare to get what she wants. She isn’t afraid of frustration. She is desire for the success of work as well as love. She overcomes all the difficulties and keeps going without hesitation. She is promoted as senior manager finally. We can also learn from this movie that we can succeed as long as we want even though we have no strong background.

Both of the movies depict how the struggling cubs realize their autognosis. Although they may lose something and shed tears during the process, they still possess the original dream.

2.2 Comparison and Contrast between the Two Movies

On one hand, there are many similarities between the two movies. Firstly, both of them are about working circumstances and tell a story about how a common woman gets success after a series of frustration. Secondly, there are some similarities between the two movies' heroines. Andy and Lala are the two movies’ heroines. Initially, both of them are young and inexperienced. They have to face challenging at the beginning of their work. Andy's boss-Miranda is a fashionable and dazzling queen authoritarian. She is dominant and devotes almost all of her life to work. Andy’s workmate Emily is kindhearted and always in the pursuit of fashion. Andy can get along well with her dominant boss and earn recognition and appreciation. Lala also has to face her strict leader. Then, they come from common family and have no background. Both of them realize their dreams by their own hardworking. They are strong enough to face difficulties in work and life and finally achieve their goals by their hard working.

On the other hand, they have many differences. First, The Devil Wears Prada is a successful Hollywood movie. It includes many fashionable elements, from which we can not only appreciate an inspirational story but also appreciate international brands’ costumes. It involves in many luxurious brands such as Prada, Chanel, Bill Blass, and Gucci. All of them can give us a feast when we watch the movie. Go Lala Go is also a successful commercial movie. But compared with the former, it is different from it in many terms. It takes an important part in describing Lala’s relationship with her leader, Wangwei. And Lala is independent and strong. She values her work, her lover and her family, which represents most of Chinese women. Family is an important part in their heart. Sometime they can give up work career to protect their family. While in The Devil Wears Prada, there are less descriptions about Andy's relationship with her boy friend. She is more independent and has her own thoughts, she struggles for what she wants, finally she chooses to design that glorious job, which can make many people confused. She represents many American women, who are independent and tough

The two movies’ heroines represent two kinds of people. Andy has lost herself before and has confusion when she faces the lure of success. But she finally finds herself back, and puts aside the vanity bravely. She frees herself and follows her heart, believing she can get what she really wants after her hard working. She breaks though thousands of‘Cinderella Complex’, which was first described by Colette Dowling in one of her books. Cinderella Complex represents a sense of unconscious desire to be taken care of by others. It represents a kind of woman who is lack of confidence and afraid of being independence. Andy breaks through this kind of complex. The Devil Wears Prada makes use of the model of Cinderella and breaks through the Cinderella Complex. It reflects that women can independent, and they become more strong and confident. Lala represents most of Chinese women, who value their family and lover very much. Although Lala is a successful working woman, we can also see some features different from American women. Chinese women sometimes can give up work for family; they are more family-oriented.

3 Analysis of Differences between China and America by Comparing the Two Movies

3.1 People’s Different Attitudes toward Work and Life

There is a saying “Americans are the slavery of time.” Americans have high speed rhythm during their work. They think time is so important that they have to cherish every minute. They try their best to improve every minute’s value. They stress the importance of time and work efficiency. In the movie The Devil Wears Prada, we can feel it obviously. “And make sure we have Pier 59 at 8:00a.m. Tomorrow, remind Jocelyn I need to see a few of those satchels that Marc is doing in the pony. And then tell Simone I’ll take Jackie if Maggie isn’t available”. “I get 20 minutes for lunch, and you get 15.” There are many actors’ lines related to time just like these. They manage their time very well and make use of every minute. In America, the competition is extremely furious. They usually have detailed working plans every day and they always finish their work on time.

Americans advocate individualism. They emphasize individual achievement and freedom, they encourage competition among working staff and reward individual achievement. Therefore, individual ability and intelligence can be found by others. And competition can make the society more vivid. Andy instead of Emily goes to Paris for Fashion Week with Miranda because of her excellent ability. “I need the best possible team with me. That no longer includes Emily.” Although Emily works hard and does all her best, she finally fails to go to Paris. On the contrary, Andy gets the chance because she gets appreciation from her leader. Her ability and intelligence help her get success.