Last weekend I saw The Devil Wears Prada, about the rise of ambitious young writer in New York through the catty shoals of a fictional fashion magazine [Spoilers ensue.]

While the movie is superficially very entertaining (despite some outlandishly bad outfits that we are meant to believe represent high style), it also hits some surprisingly deep notes, especially for the ambitious law students in the audience. In a scene that is meant to be emotionally triumphant, the cooled-up heroine concludes that she doesn't want her boss's life, and abandons her in Paris. Her boss rewards her moxie by helping her get a high-stress journalism job.

The moral(s) of the story are two:

First, it is just fine to work yourself like a demon in order to excel at your chosen job. But this is only good if it is in fact the job you want. Second, in some lines of work, getting to the top really does require you to step on your friends. Choose lines of work accordingly.

This puts me, oddly enough, roughly in agreement with Tyler Cowen's Straussian interpretation of the movie. I disagree with almost everything in Julie Fredrickson's post, though.

My July guest-blogging continues; for the next two weeks I will be posting again at PrawfsBlawg. Here is my first post, on sanctions for tax protesters.