Snapshots from El, Inc.

The Devil Wears Prada

What sort of post title is that?? =p

Well, I watched a movie of that title today. Yes, yes, those of you who know the movie are asking, "Whyever did Joel Chan watch a chick flick like that?"
To that question I throw a resounding MYOB. Mind your own business.

=p

Heh.

Seriously, though, why I watched it isn't as important as why I'm writing this now. Don't you think my nuggets of wisdom are more valuable than petty details about my miserable life? ;p
Oh alright.. For the more curious species of my readership (if any), I watched it because it was on - was over at Jessica and Matt's (two of my very good friends here in Clarksville) for breakfast and a movie, and the movie happened to be: The Devil Wears Prada.
Now as to why they chose that movie, you'll have to ask them yourself.

(Ed: So chiong-hei lah you!! =p)

Okok.. Anyways, down to business.
The movie got me thinking. To me, the real thrust of the movie, for the more sensitive and cerebral viewers, perhaps, was the same as Switchfoot's Meant to Live and Gone. Both those songs question the rat race existence and yearn for something more. In the movie, Andrea unwittingly(?) sells her soul to the fashion industry in what appears to be attempts to prove herself. In the course of the film, she metamorphoses from a nice, size 6, sensible, smart, and determine young lady into almost nothing more than a fashionable coat rack for flashy and pretty (that's debatable) coats and skirts, with no animating purpose beyond serving Miranda's (the title character) every whim and fancy.
In the process of that transformation (mutation?), she alienates and loses all who are dear to her: her friends, her father, her boyfriend Nate..

Towards the end of the movie, Jessica, Matt, Kari (another girl that came over), and I heaved a sigh of relief as Andrea finally turned her back on Miranda, tossed her dog collar (her cell phone) into a fountain and marched back to reclaim her life.

Makes for good watching, this movie. Point is, in this day and age it's easier than ever to let ourselves make the "necessary choices to succeed", and sacrifice things, relationships, people, that we don't realize the value of until it's too late..

I thought hard about that one. I think it'd be good to set some safeguards for myself now before I dive into the world of work and make sure I strike a balance between excellence in the office (or wherever God places me), and excellence at home.
For sure, I don't want to end up as a bum who still has people around him but wastes his God-given potential to touch people and change lives, but I also don't want to one day be stunned by a stack of divorce papers by my enstranged wife.

God help me learn to balance now.

Labels: For the spirit, Musings

posted by Joel Chan @ 8:30 PM