Thoughts on Opportunism from a Film

It was really difficult for me to think of a very appropriate example from me or somebody I know about opportunism. But I was reminded of a movie that I’ve watched before, which includes some very good illustration of opportunism. The film has a scenario where the main character acted opportunistically and also a scenario where the main character chooses not to act opportunistically.  

The film is The Devil Wears Prada. It tells the story of Andy, a smart and aspiring fresh graduate from Northwestern University, who landed a job in a top fashion magazine Runway working as a junior personal assistant to the chief editor Miranda. Andy is not into the fashion industry at all and treats the fashion industry with disdain, but she took the job because 1-year’s experience in Runway working as Miranda’s personal assistant would get her into any magazine or newspaper she wants to. This is where Andy acted opportunistically, she is making use of the job and the magazine that hired her to fulfill her career goal. She is just seeing this job as a launch pad for her future career in the journalism/printing, instead of the fashion industry.

Emily in the film was the original junior assistant of Miranda, and was promoted to a senior assistant after Andy joined. She is very superficial in the film, and have always looked down upon Andy for her lack of fashion sense. She is crazy about the fashion industry and devotes almost her whole life in her work.

Andy went through difficult and embarrassing times at first, but soon figured out her own way of getting things done smartly and impressed everyone, including Miranda. Miranda liked her and intended to replace Emily with Andy, and offered Andy to go to the annual Paris fashion show with her, which was originally on Emily’s schedule. However, Emily did not see this as merely a job, but her whole life. She did preparations for this annual event for a long time and have always been looking forward to it. Although this fashion show is really a highlight of the industry and where Andy would gain valuable networks and opportunities to advance her career, she immediately refused to attend because she thinks this will hurt Emily. This is where Andy had the chance to act opportunistically though she had the chance to take the privilege away from Emily. Actually, she does not have any fault even if she took the opportunity without hesitation, because it’s her boss who provided the opportunity to her, not herself asking for it. Besides, Emily has never been nice to Andy in the past. However, she refused to do so, because she is a good person indeed. She didn’t want to take away the opportunity someone else cherished, and make use of it for her own sake. She cares about other people’s feelings and feels bad if her action hurts others.

In the end, however, Andy still ended up going to the annual fashion show with Miranda, but that was because Miranda said she will be fired if she does not go, and Emily was hit by a car right before the fashion show. This is the dilemma Andy is facing, on one hand is the possibility of losing her own job, on the other hand is hurting her colleague Emily. After struggling for a while, she knew that she had no choice, she has to replace Emily and attend the fashion show. But as long as she has a choice, she will not actively choose to act opportunistically, even if it brings her benefits. On the other hand, Emily did not understand Andy’s struggle at all. Emily was mad at Andy when she heard the news, and refused to listen to Andy’s explanations. Emily insisted that Andy was acting opportunistically and hurting her on purpose.

I believe the deterministic factor for not acting opportunistically is the moral value of a person. Whether this person has his/her own ethical standards and whether he/she cares about others, in other words, conscientiousness. For people in business, to drive maximum profit, it is always rational to act opportunistically, and lawyers make use of law and act opportunistically as well. I’ve seen from films and also heard from my parents’ lawyer friends talking about their doubt about their own career as a lawyer: entering the law school pursuing justice for the world but ended up playing with the law and defending their guilty clients. Economists believe people always act rationally for their own benefit, which is the underlying assumption for many economic models. However, I think people don’t always act “rationally” as economist expect. Human behavior is too complex to perfectly fit these assumptions. Besides Economics, I also study Psychology as a major. I think psychology is the easiest subject since it’s closely related to everyone and daily life behaviors that everyone is familiar with, but it is also the most difficult and complex subject because human behavior is extremely difficult to predict and control. Not to mention the individual differenced among people, just predicting the behavior of a single person is already difficult enough. You’ll never know how a person will change, and even someone that have always been a “good citizen” in his/her whole life is still possible to behave opportunistically in the next second.

I think there is no right or wrong for acting opportunistically or not, since everyone has their own reason and choice. But me myself would try my best not to hurt others’ benefits, and I wish I would never face dilemmas to choose whether or not to act opportunistically, just like what Andy have faced.