Magazine Journalism on Life Support

The Devil Wears Prada 2 and the search for the mythical billionaire savior.

When Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs first walked into the offices of Runway magazine in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, journalism looked very different. Back then, the internet had yet to destroy the business model that allowed print magazines like Runway, a fictional Vogue stand-in, to capture cultural cachet and influence.

When Disney announced that Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and much of the original cast would return for The Devil Wears Prada 2, it seemed like a clear nostalgia play: chic fits, witty repartee, and withering looks from Streep’s Miranda Priestly, Runway’s icy editor in chief and the titular devil. It would be easy enough to ignore the real-life implosion of our industry and simply use fashion publishing as a playground for fun drama. Instead, the sequel takes us on a grim but oddly refreshing odyssey through the demise of journalism and the endless—perhaps fruitless—search for the one good billionaire who could save us all.