Question:

Based on the movies, The devil wears Prada and Catch Me If You Can, explain human
communication between the main characters and the people around him/her in terms of the
various concepts of perception:

(c) How people around them commit perceptual errors when they perceive others.

Based on the movies, The devil wears Prada and Catch Me If You Can, explain human
communication between the main characters and the people around him/her in terms of the
various concepts of perception:

(c) How people around them commit perceptual errors when they perceive others

The main characters in the movie The Devil wears Prada are Andrea Sachs and Miranda Priestly.
Andrea’s (Andy), who is a bright young girl has just graduated from college and very interested
in writing. Therefore, she decides to find a job as a magazine writer. From the way she speaks,
dresses, and behaves, we can say that she is a conservative and naïve girl. She has no sense of
fashion because she wears simple clothes which are not up-to-date. She doesn’t even care to
comb her hair or wear lip-gloss which to other girls is a basic thing to do everyday. She is not
graceful at all and she walks and runs hastily. The main reason for this to happen is because she
feels comfortable with who she is. She feels normal because people around her especially her
family, boyfriend and friends accept her the way she is. They accept her no matter what she
wears and no matter what she does. Likewise, when she walks on the street she may looks like
other typical girls. Therefore, the way public perceive her is similar to the way they perceive
others who walk on the street.

But everything changes when she applied for a job at ‘Runaway’, America’s most
prestigious fashion journal. The position that is available is second assistant of Miranda Priestly
who is an influenced and famous editor. Even tough she does not have interest in garment trade,
she still applies for the job because she’s hoping that through this job, she can get Miranda’s
recommendation which eventually will open nearly any door at any magazine all over America.
So, she thinks that this ‘to die for’ position as Miranda’s second assistant can make her career if
she stays with it long enough. She never realizes that she is trying to fit in the world which is
totally different from her world that is a fashion- free lifestyle. So her first impression about the
work is quite different from the reality. Here, she has commits perceptual error by thinking that
the only thing that is needed in the field is skills in writing articles and anything related to
journalism.

Problems start to arrive when she gets into the building of the fashion magazine. She is a
little bit surprised to see the people who are running here and there in the building. All girls are
wearing beautiful clothes and high- heel shoes. She perceives the situation as quite unexpected
and weird without realizing that everyone in the building also feels the same about her. Judging
from her attire, they make a generalization that she doesn’t belong to the industry. However, that
doesn’t ring a bell to her. She still feel comfortable with who she is until she meets the first
assistant of Miranda, Emily who asks her to stop dreaming about the job. Later, when she meets
Miranda, she openly critique about her outdated attire and tells her that she is not eligible for that
job. From the perspective of Miranda, Emily and all the workers in the industry, we can assume
that these people have negative perceptions about people who do not really care about fashion.
Likewise, Andy at first has negative perceptions about all the people in the industry because they
are too concern with what they are wearing and how they look because to her, it doesn’t matter at
all.

But, later, she begins to develop interest in the industry when she starts to understand her
roles well and is able to do all tasks given by Miranda successfully. This leads to the changes in
perception towards the industry and everyone in the industry. She begins to appreciate the job
that she’s doing even tough sometimes it makes her life chaotic. So, she starts to change in order
to fit in the industry. This is because, the people around her in the company give the perception
that she can only be part of them if she behaves and dress like them. This perception leads to
another problem when she starts to have problem with the important people in her life:
boyfriend, family and friends. This is because, she doesn’t have enough time to spend with them
and she has changes to new Andy who is completely different from the old Andy. She commits
perceptual error when she thinks that putting up with the job is the best thing that she should do
for her career in journalism. But, she starts to realize that days by days, she starts to be more like
Miranda and because of too busy with her job, she ignores the important people in her life.

At the end of the story, she realizes that she should always be herself. She can still
achieve what she wants in life without having to change to another person.

In Catch Me if you Can, the main character is Frank Abagnale Junior. Frank Anagnale
Junior is a son to Frank Abagnale, Sr. When his father Is in trouble with the IRS, Frank begins to
engage in a life of shocking, colorful, flagrant fraud at a very young age. His father’s problems
actually lead him to generate wrong perceptions about life. This is because, he keeps telling
Frank Jr about the importance of having money in order to be respected by the society and to live
a good life. Frank feels that this is true especially when her mother starts to change and has an
affair with a famous lawyer because she refuses to live the poor life with him and his father. This
becomes psychological stimulus which seems to be his extreme despair at the divorce of his
parents, and not just a desire to have money and climb out of the poverty that his father’s
problems have created.

Later on, at 16 years old he starts to commit wrongdoings. He starts with pretending to be
a substitute teacher in his high school and he does that successfully for a few days without
getting caught by the school administration. This gives him the idea that his life will be much
easier if he disguises by changing his identity. At the same time, he continuously has problems in
life which force him to do something which can help to make his life better. When his parents
divorce, he has no choice but to choose either to live with his mother or father. However, they
fail to communicate with him well and make him feel so frustrated and run away from house.
Because he has no money, people refuse to listen to him and treat him badly. People’s perception
on who deserve to be treated well and who does not gives him an idea to change his identity.

So, he embarks on a series of professions for which he has not a speck of education or
training. He gets through this con life by sheer gall and creative intelligence. He does all this
successfully, at least for a while. This is because, there is a delay between the execution of his
crimes; (impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor and a lawyer) and government authorities
catching onto these crimes. Throughout his impersonation, he meets many people. They all treat
him well especially girls. They are willing to do anything for him because he is good-looking
and he has good jobs without realizing that he is cheating them and that he has nothing, neither
money, education nor job.. From this situation, we can conclude that people judge others by first
impression which is from what they are wearing, what they do and how they look. People usually
have positive perception on these kind of people. So, they treat him nicely and respect him.

When his forgeries and other fraud is discovered and therefore, being chased by FBI
agent Carl Hanratty, he begins to be in trouble. He loses Miranda, his fiancé on the same day
with his engagement day. Everyone who doesn’t know his true color still treat him well because
he has money and look. But, those who already know his true color begins to lose respect on
him. Frank finally realizes that money is not everything. You can’t be happy simply by having
lots of money but in contrast, it will make you suffer.