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 Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 6:43 am
So I'm writing my thesis on a subject that I don't really know how to translate into English. But it's about how employers view assistants and secretaries and how this line of work is displayed in the media. I've written background info on secretaries and assistants and their work and seen what different search engines online have given as search results for the words assistant and secretary etc. Too bad having info only from an online source isn't enough and reading multiple books with assistants in them will take too much time, so I'm asking you, dear guild members:
Do you know any movies or TV-series that have assistants or secretaries in them? Main role, supportive role, small sidekick role, anything! And I don't mean like personal assistants who work for one person and carry their stuff around, but like an office secretary who does all sorts of things from making coffee to writing letters etc. I couldn't think of any and even Googling didn't help. I'd appreciate any information you can give me. =)
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Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 7:38 am
Certainly The Devil Wears Prada. I haven't seen the movie, but it surely is about an assistant. It's based on a novel.
Other than that.... Hmmm.... I believe you'd find a good sceretary/assistant example in the Ali McBeal tv serial. There was this blonde chick who worked as one, I think.
Also, if such assistants are working for you too, Dr. Temperence Brennan from the tv series Bones has an assistant at the Institute she works at. This is a scientific institute so her assistant is not used to make coffee, but he is receiving various tasks such as for example cleaning the bones.
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Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 8:31 am
Oh yeah, you can't forget Ugly Betty! With the two competing assistansts/secretaries. In the Polish version (a version much better than the American one) Betty eventually becomes CEO at that company, btw.
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Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 9:48 am
I suppose you could try The Office, but I don't know how serious your material needs to be.
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Digital Malevolence Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 2:06 pm
What about Boiler Room? Or is a scamming business not a good idea to look into..?
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Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:28 pm
Don't watch television, sorry.
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 1:41 am
kacisko Oh yeah, you can't forget Ugly Betty! With the two competing assistansts/secretaries. In the Polish version (a version much better than the American one) Betty eventually becomes CEO at that company, btw.
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 3:34 am
Horbatt kacisko Oh yeah, you can't forget Ugly Betty! With the two competing assistansts/secretaries. In the Polish version (a version much better than the American one) Betty eventually becomes CEO at that company, btw. You'd love it. Though, it's in Polish. And I tell you - that silly blonde 2nd assistant uses such funny wordings that would be totally hard to translate! Anyway - it's called BrzydUla in Polish (Ula is a short from the Polish female name Urszula, and the word brzydula means an ugly girl).
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 6:28 am
I see someone already made the suggestion, but Pam from The Office was the first idea that popped into my head.
It is a comedy though, and I don't know what type of nature you're looking for in a show.
Now there are two versions of The Office. The British version, and American version.
The character I mentioned, Pam, is from the American version.
Here is a link to a wiki page which gives an overview and tells the history behind the character.
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 10:49 am
Thanks everyone! I didn't know I'd get so many replies in such a short time. biggrin
I'm looking for various types of shows to see how different the assistant profiles are in different shows in different countries. I'll look into the shows you've mentioned over the weekend, maybe download/watch a few episodes online to get an idea. I'll still ask a few Finnish friends if there's any Finnish shows with assistants in them. Then I could compare how the Finns portray assistants in the media and how they are portrayed in eg America and Britain.
Kas - I think my friend has The Devil Wears Prada on DVD, so I should be able to see that easily. I once watched Ally McBeal (and Ugly Betty) but never really got into them, but I'll see if I can find some episodes online. And that Polish Ugly Betty seems much more interesting than the American counterpart. biggrin And I watch Bones, funny how I didn't think of that myself. xd
Volvy & Mondo - I've heard a lot about the Office (both British and American) so it should be fairly easy for me to find them somewhere and take a look at how the shows portray assistants.
Digi - That movie looks interesting, I'll have to see if I can find it anywhere. It looks like it takes place in an office environment so there's bound to be an assistant or two in it, and it doesn't matter what the subject of the movie is, just as long as I find some other mediums with assistants in them to compare to the info I found online.
Ash - No worries! I don't watch much TV either anymore, especially not like Finnish series that might have assistants in them, so that's why I turned to you, dear Internet friends for help!
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Digital Malevolence Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 8:24 pm
Dark_Mana
Digi - That movie looks interesting, I'll have to see if I can find it anywhere. It looks like it takes place in an office environment so there's bound to be an assistant or two in it, and it doesn't matter what the subject of the movie is, just as long as I find some other mediums with assistants in them to compare to the info I found online.
In that case I highly rec that movie, its one of the better ones I've seen. Even if Vin Diesel is in it. And how come no one mentioned Office Space? Definitely watch Office Space, its a great comedy.
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:17 am
Mana: you could also go to imdb.com and simply enter secretary as the search word. It returns quite a few matches, including movie titles with the word secretary.
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 9:55 am
Digital Malevolence Dark_Mana
Digi - That movie looks interesting, I'll have to see if I can find it anywhere. It looks like it takes place in an office environment so there's bound to be an assistant or two in it, and it doesn't matter what the subject of the movie is, just as long as I find some other mediums with assistants in them to compare to the info I found online.
In that case I highly rec that movie, its one of the better ones I've seen. Even if Vin Diesel is in it. And how come no one mentioned Office Space? Definitely watch Office Space, its a great comedy. It's funny you said that, I just came back to this thread thinking "I wonder if anybody mentioned Office Space?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 2:45 pm
Digi - I've never heard of Office Space either, I'll have to check it out.
Kas - I tried on IMDB, but I only got like a few movie titles and well, I don't know how big the role of the secretary/assistant in the movie is and how hard it is to find said movie, so I didn't bother. I should get plenty of material from all these suggestions I've received from you. 4laugh
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 8:47 pm
Digital Malevolence And how come no one mentioned Office Space? Definitely watch Office Space, its a great comedy.
Oh, and I thought of one: the movie Anger Management actually has a pretty good portrayal of a male secretary/office drone at an ad agency. And Jack Nicholson.
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