Maureen Dowd's column today is about Anna Wintour, the legendary --and legendarily difficult --editor of Vogue who was reportedly the model for Meryl Streep's character Miranda Priestly in the (very funny) movie The Devil Wears Prada.But I have a different theory. I think something in Meryl Streep's characterization was based on Professor Kingsfield, the legendary contracts professor from the Paper Chase--the fictionalized account of life for first year law students at Harvard Law School.Here are two scenes. Miranda's brutal take-down of Andie, the new graduate of Northwestern University who finds herself unexpectedly working for a fashion magazine, and Kingsfield's brutal take-down of Hart, the new graduate of the University of Minnesota who unexpectedly finds himself caught off-guard in the first day of class.

Cathleen Kaveny is the Darald and Juliet Libby Professor in the Theology Department and Law School at Boston College.

Also by this author
© 2024 Commonweal Magazine. All rights reserved. Design by Point Five. Site by Deck Fifty.