5 Movies For The Professional Woman
During the warm summer months it can be harder to stay motivated and sometimes we just need that daily dose of inspiration (when we run out of coffee…) These films have great lessons about your career and attitudes- each one has a different message that you’ll certainly benefit from in the long run. Enjoy!
1) Jerry Maguire
Tom Cruise gained an Oscar nomination for his role as a sports agent who has a nervous breakdown from stress and guilty conscience of his job. He ends up fighting to keep his clients, and is very funny whilst trying.
What we learn – Building real authentic relationships in the industry is important for success and to stay focused and hard working despite adversity. Jerry Maguire was basically a laughing stock, fired, begged to keep just one client (the famous ‘Show me the money!’ scene), and eventually came out on top.
2) The Queen
Helen Mirren’s Oscar and BAFTA winning portrayal of our Queen showing a fictional account of the events following Princess Diana’s death. Focusing on the opposing views of the Royal family and Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) and his Director of Commuunications Alistair Campbell, who believe the media strategies should be handled differently. The Queen and Phillip wanting to keep it private whilst Blair realises the public’s need for the Royal family to directly address them and express their grief.
What we learn – The importance of communicating with the public during a major crisis. Shutting down and remaining quiet is the worst thing to do, it doesn’t take a lot for public opinion to turn on you, as the Queen soon finds out.
3) Thank You For Smoking
Great example of ‘spin doctoring’, the main character is a tobacco lobbyist – working as the spokesperson for the ‘Academy of tobacco studies’ he claims to have found no link between smoking and lung cancer. The main character fiercely defends smoking and is constantly attempting to rebrand cigarettes and is in fact extremely good at putting his extremely unpopular view across.
What we learn – How persuasive words can be when coupled with ‘spin’. Quoting the main character: ‘Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everybody has a talent’. And he certainly does!
4) The Devil Wears Prada
Yes this is a chick flick, but Meryl Streep’s Oscar nominated portrayal of fashion magazine editor ‘Miranda Priestley’ is both ghastly and brilliant (thought to be based upon Vogue’s editor Anna Wintour). Anne Hathaway’s character is an aspiring journalist and not the slightest bit interested in fashion, yet ends up being hired as a Miranda’s co-assistant. The fashion industry is shown in all it’s horrid glory, it’s an inside look of the fashion media and magazine world.
What we learn – How tough the magazine industry can be, especially fashion, and to gain an insight into what journalists endure day in day out, the amount of work that goes into producing our favourite issues and the thick skin needed for working in the industry. (Girls be warned you will bee extremely jealous of the costumes, all supplied from the designers themselves.)
5) Erin Brockovich
Julia Roberts’ Oscar winning portrayal of the single mum turned lawyer and activist ‘Erin Brockovich. Based upon a true story of a lady of the same name that fought against US Energy Corporation and Pacific gas and electric company, despite no formal legal training.
What we learn: As an unemployed single mum she takes a risk by asking her lawyer to hire her as a clerk, she then realises that people in her town are becoming ill so takes it upon herself to find out why. She finds something she is passionate about – one of the most important lessons in building a career.
