CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Research Background Fashion in America cannot be separated from the domination of famous brands such as Dolce and Gabbana, Prada, or Channel. In 2003, the fashion industries in America tried to drive the interest of the society in designing fashion by using the pop star celebrities who wear famous designers products. Jeniffer Lopez, Liv Tyler, and Christina Aguilera promoted the products of Louis Vuitton, Donna Karan, Giorgio Armani, and Marc Jacobs. The promotion of those designers product cannot be separated by the role of magazine, especially lifestyle magazine. Fashion magazine holds an important role to advertize those fashions. Vogue has been become an American lifestyle magazine in terms of fashion since 1892, founded by Arthur Turnure. At that time, the magazine did not only concern in the fashion of women but also included sport coverage and social affairs for its male readership. In July 1988, Anna Wintour took over Vogue. She tried to bring Vogue into a fresh style and accessible concept of fashion. Anna Wintour brought Vogue into success and the most influential fashion magazine in America. As the editor-in-chief in Vogue and a public figure, Anna got many criticism and review about herself. In 2003, Lauren Weisberger wrote The Devil Wears Prada. Lauren was Anna s one-time assistant. People said that the plot, the characterization, and the narration of the novel were based on Lauren s personal life in Vogue. The main character in the novel 1
resembled Lauren as the assistant of the editor-in-chief in a Runway magazine. Runway magazine was the fictional magazine which resembled Vogue. In 2006 this novel was adapted into a movie. Both the movie and the novel became best seller and gained popularity among their audiences and got nominations in Academy Award. The success of both of them brought the attention of the global audience to the power and glamour of a fashion magazine. Until today, Vogue has opened 24 branches all over the world. The success of Vogue in bringing fashion trend mark and promoting designers product to the audience leads other publishers to publish the same fashion magazine as Vogue. One of them is Elle. To compete with other competitors, Vogue always presents the best content, so that Vogue can compete with other fashion magazine. The best effort of a fashion magazine depends on the chief-editor and the workers in compiling materials so that they can give the best content for the readers. The good contents can attract the audience and impress them. The good content also can make a fashion magazine able to compete with others. Besides telling about the life of the main character, The Devil Wears Prada also gives a reflection on the activities of work and the efforts of a fashion magazine in surviving its position and giving the best contents for the readers. The efforts and the hard works also become the representation of Neo Liberal culture in the context of modern life society. From Lauren s novel, it is also known that magazine becomes the most important media in promoting products and delivering ideas of glamorous lifestyle. Runway is not only used to promote products of new fashion or new style but also to 2
give the image of modern women and glamorous life. The promotion and advertisement cannot be separated from the existence of the capitalist and the apparatus of the capitalist. In The Devil Wears Prada, Miranda is used to represent the apparatus of the capitalist. Miranda is described as a woman who always dominates other people. Meanwhile, Andrea Sachs represents a down-to-earth girl from a small city. She represents the condition of women who concern more about intelligence and freedom. Andrea has her own ideology and thought. However, as a boss, Miranda tries to overcome Andrea and penetrate her with Miranda s ideology. Miranda also changes Andrea s personal life and makes Andrea s life is like in hell. The domination of Miranda to the life of Andrea Sachs brings me the idea of exploitation which is done by the superstructure position. The idea of hegemony and capitalism rises because the brands and magazine are the products of capitalism. Brands are the product of the designers such as Miuccia Prada and Donna Karan, which they work under the system of capitalism. The capitalism brings the bourgeoisies as the owner of the capital. The bourgeoisies becomes the apparatus of the capitalism which work to dominate the proletariat, or the subordinate group. Brands spread the idea of the capitalism through the existence of magazine, especially the fashion magazine. Fashion magazines and brands work together and make a business relationship, which is according to Martin Kornberger (2014) in his article about brands, business is not only selling things, but it satisfies and shapes the society and cultural values of people (Kornberger, 2014). The shaping needs meaning, culture, value, and life. According to Martin, brands fit with this role; 3
it can give people meaning, value, culture, and life under the feeling of pleasure and comfort. Moreover, brands create lifestyle, and when it mixes with magazine, brands can be lifestyle for certain people. Brands start to control and manage, and also create style itself. The coming of lifestyle from sustainable brands which is supported by fashion magazine creates business. Business becomes the main project of the system of capitalists to gain benefits. To gain the benefits, somehow the capitalists do the domination and hegemony towards the consumers, and the idea of hegemony and domination becomes the main idea in this research. Hegemony and capitalism are also a new topic for novel in 20 th Century. It is because novels before 20 th Century mainly talk about romance and marriage. The example is Pride and Prejudice which talks about women and her relationship. The coming of chick lit is marked by the publishing of Bridget Jones s Diary in 1995. It brings new topic about women s story, which it is not only about romance but also other women s activities such as working and adventures. Moreover, it talks about the issues of moderns women. After the launching of Bridget Jones s Diary, new formula in women literature has come. The features of 20 th women s literature are not only about women, romance, and man, but it is about career women, a heroine, shopping, and appearance (Ferriss & Young, Chick Lit: The New Women's Fiction, 2006). Lauren Weisberger follows this new formula and writes Devil Wears Prada which is published in 2003. Devil Wears Prada is a chick lit novel written by Lauren Weisberger in 2003. It s a story about a young woman (Andrea Sachs), around 30s years old who 4
looks for a career status in a fashion magazine, Runway. She struggles to be a good assistant for Miranda Priestly, a chief editor in Runway. A million women will kill to get Andrea s job, and it makes Andrea feels lucky to have that job. Therefore, Andrea tries to fulfill Miranda s needs for her office, daughter, or family. Besides, she has to wear branded outfit everyday stilettos, necklaces, suede pants, glamorous blouse since she works at a fashion magazine. The story runs in her activities and impossible missions from her boss. Finally, Andrea decides to resign from her job and tries to work in her dream job, a journalist. As a chick lit, Devil Wears Prada runs the formula of the heroine s work life. The work life means the relation between the boss and the employee. Andrea needs to work overtime to fulfill her boss needs. Chick lit tends to light up the life of the heroine in the work place, because one of the formulas of chick lit is the overtime work between the employee and the boss (Ferriss & Young, Chick Lit: The New Woman's Fiction, 2006). The way Andrea walks away from her old job with Miranda Priestly to get another job as a journalist fits with the formula of the chick lit, that the heroine walks away from their job to keep their self-respect to no alternative interpretation (Ferriss & Young, Chick Lit: The New Woman's Fiction, 2006). In Devil Wears Prada, fashion becomes the important utilities which unify the employees and the boss, million girls will die for being Miranda s assistant, because they can wear branded outfits, higher fee, and very luxurious and comfortable work place. They can get free limousine by calling the people in transportation division or they can borrow a very expensive gown for attending an annual benefit. 5
Fashion is the big issues in the novel, which connects the feeling of Andrea Sachs, her struggles to the capitalists, and the existence of branded fashion in American society. It is interesting to use Devil Wears Prada as the object of this research because it talks about new genre in women s literature. It also contains new topic about career women and fashion, instead of love and marriage. It also contains hegemony and capitalism in fashion world which becomes the main issues in this research. I need to analyze this novel to find the conclusion of my research and to reveal the exploitation by the capitalist and capitalism in the society and also the response from the proletariat to the bourgeoisie. This novel is interesting to analyze because in addition it issues on hegemony and capitalism, it also contains the portrayal of career women in 20 th century in America. This novel continues the issue about successful career women and the issues of brands and consumption. It fills the gap from the previous research. Younghee Song (2012) has analyzed the relationship between brand and customer and Cardoso, Portela, and Dias (2013) has done with value through consumption. Since I also talk about consumerism as the impact of hegemony and capitalism system, I need their research as references, and also try to fill the gap in their researches. Both of the researches talk about brand, consumption, and value, but they do not discuss the system which controls those three issues. To fill the gap, I try to connect their research with the discussion about capitalism. Another previous research is from Nora Rohwani Surahman (2011) which talks about the exploitation and alienation in Devil Wears Prada. I try to fill the gap in Nora s research, since it only talks about the struggle of 6
Andrea Sachs as the impact of the exploitation by Miranda. Nora only concludes that Andrea s deed is as the impact of exploitation, whereas, it is more because Andrea has her own ideology. Andrea does not only try to fight against the exploitation, but also the ideology of the system (Surahman, 2011). The focus of my research is to reveal the capitalist s strategy in the novel Devil Wears Prada in hegemonizing women by using fashion brand in the workplace. The workplace is used as the setting of the novel. Since it was published in 2003, it talks about career women in New York, so workplace as the setting is needed to see the exploitation by the capitalist clearly. The research also focuses on Andrea s reactions to the hegemony as the representation of American women who are suppressed in the capitalist. Andrea becomes the portrayal for women who have their own ideology but they cannot show it because they live under certain system. Andrea is as a portrayal of women who want to produce their own ideology. B. Scope of Research This research will be conducted under American Studies interdisciplinary which uses literature as the source of data. The literature used is a novel written by Lauren Weisberger entitled Devil Wears Prada, which was written in 2003. The discourse of this research in the novel will be the fashion brand. To analyze the discourse, I need a theory of capitalism and a treatise about hegemony as knives to analyze the data. Because of my position as the non-native American Studies researcher, I will relate this research into American context. 7
C. Research Question The explanation in the background leads a formulation of this question: 1. How does the capitalist s exercise of the concept of working in the workplace as it is represented in the novel The Devil Wears Prada? 2. How does the capitalist exploit women s belief in beauty and power in producing brand image as represented in The Devil Wears Prada? D. Research Objective The objectives of this research are: 1. To analyze how the capitalist s exercise of the concept of working in the workplace as it is represented in the novel The Devil Wears Prada. 2. To analyze how the capitalist exploits women s belief in beauty and power in producing brand image as represented in The Devil Wears Prada. 3. The Significance of the Research This research will be significant for: 1. English Department Student, for providing contemporary topic about hegemony, capitalism, fashion, and women in America relating to capitalist and hegemony so they can understand more about this phenomenon. 2. Other researchers, for presenting the information about hegemony, capitalism, fashion, and women in America so they can understand more about this phenomenon if they want to take the similar topic or the same novel. 8
3. American Studies, for giving further explanation about the representation of hegemony and capitalism in chick lit novel which can be used as references for other scholars. 4. Research Methodology 1. Type of Research The research is descriptive qualitative research. Qualitative research means a research about the quality of the text by considering the elements inside it. I use this method because this research answers the research question by analyzing the narration including the description told by the characters and the intrinsic elements of the novel, describing the signs and symbols which are found in the novel such as Miranda Priestley s signature or stilettos for women, and also interpreting the expression showed by the character. This research also analyzes the qualitative data including words, sentences, and phrases in the novel. 2. Source of data and Data a. Source of data The source of data is a novel entitled Devil Wears Prada written by Lauren Weisberger published by Broadway Books in October, 6 th 2003. This novel is a chick lit novel. This novel depicts the domination of the capitalists toward woman in a fashion magazine. To make my argument strong, I used articles about brand, fashion, women, hegemony, and capitalism from online magazines, websites, books, or journals related to my object of study as the secondary source of data. 9
b. Data The main data were taken from the novel Devil Wears Prada written by Lauren Weisberger in 2003. Every phrase, sentence, expression, atmosphere, plot, character, and other intrinsic elements in the novel related to the topic of research were the main data used in this research. Ideas, criticism, and analysis taken from articles from journals, books, and other sources were the secondary data that were used in supporting points and arguments in the data analysis. 3. Technique of Collecting and Analyzing Data For collecting the data, the following techniques were used: a. Reading the novel intensively to get characterization, plot, setting, atmosphere, aesthetic values, theme, point of view, phrases, expression, monologue, and dialogue which were used as the data. b. Identifying the signs, symbols, and other intrinsic elements which refer to the hegemony, capitalists, and the domination of the system toward woman. It would reveal how the capitalists worked under the fashion brand to hegemonize woman. For analyzing the data, the following techniques were used: a. Analyzing the capitalism and hegemony using theories of capitalism and hegemony to reveal how they worked under the fashion brand to dominate woman. b. Analyzing the intrinsic elements and the signs in the novel using the formula of popular literature and semiotic theory under the context of American Studies. 10
c. Drawing the conclusion after the research question was answered. 4. Theoretical Approach This research is conducted under the context of American Cultural Studies, because it studies about culture of America using a literary work as the text. In the study of literature especially under the context of American Studies a text holds an important role because it presents an established canon of great works from the distilled essence of American Culture (Campbell & Kean, 2005). A qualified text should contain three categories: it can reflect American s condition and society, it can provide an adequate guide to the complexity, and uniqueness of America and it can be the worth text more than other texts. It is because America is multi faceted and ever changing so it has to be questioned and examined using the most appropriate tools available. The tools itself is the texts, the artifacts, and every artifacts and product of American culture become available for analysis (Campbell & Kean, 2005). The artifact or text that is used for this research is a novel. The novel used is entitled The Devil Wears Prada which was written by an American writer, Lauren Weisberger in 2003. This novel belongs to chick lit novel. Chick lit has become a new genre in American women literature because it brings new formula, new characterization, new atmosphere, and new context (Ferriss & Young, Chick Lit: The New Women's Fiction, 2006). As a novel with a new genre, this novel is worth to analysis more than other texts because it represents the condition of American women nowadays which are modern, educated, and independent. This novel also 11
provides adequate information about the uniqueness of America because it contains the complexity of American society. This novel belongs to new American women literature because it contains different matters from the old literature, romance novel. The freshness of the genre makes this novel as a chick lit is worth for analysis to understand the culture of America. Further, this novel is a product of American popular culture. According to Brummet, American popular products are made to represent American s life (Brummet, 2006). As the product of popular culture, this novel does not only represent the culture of America but also the life of American society itself. However, American culture cannot be understood only by using a text. I need a context to put my analysis in the correct track so this research will not be confusing. Context is important in analyzing a text under American Studies. On the other hand, there is a changing shift in American studies context. The interest of class, ethnicity, race, and gender become the new context or new concern replacing the classical period of American Studies which mostly talk about myths, symbols, and images. The popular terms such as paradox, ambiguity, and irony are also replaced by the new terms such as domination, hegemony, and empowerment. The exemplary works stressing also moves from the basic homogeneity of American mind and uniformity of the American character into the diversity of the American population and divisiveness of the American experience. (Robert F. Berkhofer, 1989). The result of this changing shift is the idea of society as a system of structured inequality receives priority over the concept of culture as the basic for 12
understanding American life (Robert F. Berkhofer, 1989), which it provides a new phase in American Studies. The changing shift of American Studies context as it is explained by Berkhofer allows me to analyze ideology, capitalism, and hegemony which exist in the novel. The ideology itself becomes the life-sustaining principle in this novel. William states that ideology is a crucial concept in the study of popular culture (Williams, 1977). Ideology presents distorted images of reality which can produce false consciousness. The false consciousness make people are difficult to change their way of thinking. It is because their mindset has been formed by the dominated ideology. However, the context of American Cultural Studies does not only reveals how power and ideology work to legitimate social inequalities but also how forms of resistance emerge as part of this complex cultural contest (Campbell & Kean, 2005) and the importance of ideology is revealed in this novel. The process of how the ideology of certain community is spread over the society and controls them is also clearly seen in this novel. This novel reveals the ideology of capitalism which is used to dominate the society, especially women, through exploitation. William also considers that ideology is an important aspect in hegemony because it has value and meaning (Williams, 1977) as well as hegemony itself. Hegemony can also change people s way of thinking because hegemony provides illusion which give the audiences certain images. The illusion is related closely with the false consciousness of ideology because both of them work in hidden way so people will not see the process. However, behind the hidden way of the process, 13
hegemony is not something abstract but it lives and organized (Williams, 1977). The organized structure of hegemony possibly makes the process walks in a smooth and hidden way. Hegemony also cannot be separated from the relation between domination and subordination position of the class, because it is the process of living, including the substance of identities and relationship. It makes hegemony becomes a practice and expectation which share its meaning ad value in the society (Williams, 1977). This research analyses how capitalist exploits women s belief in beauty and power in producing brand image which ended in hegemony as it is revealed in the novel The Devil Wears Prada. This novel reveals the domination and power of the capitalism in subordinated society and also the exploitation by the capitalist which is controlled by the capitalist and its apparatus in dominated society. In analyzing symbol and signs in this novel, I need a theory of semiotic. C.S Pierce in Albert Atkin states that there are three important things in analyzing symbols: a sign, an object, and interpretation (Atkin, 2006). A sign contains of a symbol which emerge from action-reaction connection. The object is the reference of signs which becomes the representation of social context where the sign exists. The interpretation is the concept result of people s analysis through the signs. The meaning of those signs emerges only when there is a communication. The signs and symbol in the novel will be my supporting data in analyzing and revealing the ideology of capitalism and the exploitation by the capitalist. Further, the sign creates an interpretation by focusing an understanding on the certain features of the 14
signifying relation between the sign itself and the object. By the process, I will be able to understand the object of the sign well. This research is examining the culture of America including questioning the established identity within American culture. I use Campbell and Kean s theory in American Cultural Studies in order to frame and limit the analysis. To examine the American culture, I use a novel as a text written by American writer entitled The Devil Wears Prada. I look at the idea of hegemony and capitalism in American culture as it is constructed in the text. This novel is used to see and understand the culture which is analyzed under a certain context. The context is important because it is to support my arguments in relation to hegemony and capitalism in American culture. The text analyzed for this research is a chick lit novel and chick lit bring the new formula of American women literature. I will analyze this novel using in the context of hegemony and capitalism to look at the American culture especially to understand about the fashion. I use the new perspective in American Studies which allows a researcher to see America from new perspective, by borrowing Raymond William s concept of hegemony, ideology, and capitalism. The context about hegemony and capitalism becomes the topic, the issue, and the problem that I analyze in this research. The concepts are used to see and understand American Culture. I will use the concept to cut open the text then I relate with the context. Also, I use Pierce s theory of semiotic to understand American culture through symbol and signs about capitalism, hegemony, and also ideology which exist in the novel. 15
5. Thesis Organization I will divide this thesis into four chapters. The first chapter contains the Introduction, which included the research background, research question, research objective, research benefits, research methodology, theoretical approach, and thesis organization. The second chapter contains literature review. The third chapter contains the result of the analysis of the novel. The fourth chapter will be the conclusion of the analysis and the recommendation. 16