The mid-1990s witnessed a great revival of Jane Austen in the mainstream
media. The works of the English novelist had been filmed before, but it
was BBC's 1995 TV mini-series Pride and Prejudice which started a
whole wave of Austen adaptations. Among the adaptations were also films
that were not so ostensibly Austen. These included Clueless, a 1995
film set in an American high school and concerned with such modern
phenomena as liposuction and shopping sprees. This may seem a far cry from
the doings of 19th century English gentry, yet the undercurrents of Amy
Heckerling's Clueless can clearly be traced back to Jane Austen's
Emma. But how does 19th century rural England turn into 20th
century urban America?
This paper discusses the adaptation of Austen's romantic story from
book to film from the point of view of the 'Core American Values'
identified by sociologists Robin Williams and James Henslin. Which
elements of the story and the principal characters are kept and how have
they been modified? What has been added and what has been cut? How do
these changes reflect the Core Values? Keeping in mind that book and film
are two completely different media and that heavy abridgement of a story
is required when shifting from one medium to the other, this paper
concentrates on the main characters and pivotal events, leaving aside the
'natural selection' which cuts less essential characters and sub-plots
from the core of the story.
Background: Concerning Emma
Jane Austen wrote Emma in 1815. Essentially, it is a story of
match-making: Emma is the self-satisfied and generally admired young
heroine, whose uneven course of true love Austen begins to unfold. While
professing to know how to successfully pair off those around her, Emma
fails to understand the workings of her own heart and risks losing the man
she has unwittingly valued more than anyone else. The story begins with
Emma's former governess and dear friend Miss Taylor getting married; now,
left alone, Emma herself decides to try her hand at up-bringing and
cultivating. She befriends Harriet Smith, a pretty young girl of obscure
background — namely, being 'the natural daughter of somebody' (Austen
14) — and decides to turn her into a lady. Harriet gives Emma
something to do and acts as a flattering companion: her ignorance and
unreserved admiration of Emma give our heroine a certain right to think
well of herself in comparison with Harriet.
In the enterprise of transforming Harriet Emma is lectured by her
brother-in-law Mr Knightley, the only person able to find fault with her.
He thinks Emma is merely making Harriet vain and denying her the
possibility of finding happiness with farmer Robert Martin, who genuinely
loves Harriet but isn't fine enough for Emma's taste. Mr Knightley
encourages Emma to befriend Jane Fairfax, a well brought-up orphan girl,
who excels in many talents a young lady of those times was supposed to
have: she is elegant, intelligent and musical. However, Emma can't stand
Jane. In her own opinion, this is because Jane is so very reserved; in Mr
Knightley's opinion, it's because Jane is an accomplished young woman,
such as Emma herself wishes to be regarded as. Stubborn and self-willed,
Emma refuses to listen to Mr Knightley. Her schemes regarding Harriet,
however, seem doomed, as the man she has chosen for her friend proposes to
Emma instead. When Emma turns Mr Elton down, he marries a young wealthy
woman from Bath and causes Harriet to be heart-broken.
Meanwhile, Emma's own interest is roused by Mr Frank Churchill, a very
fashionable and lively young man, who seems the perfect mate for Emma.
They flirt very openly with each other, and Emma is delighted to find that
Mr Churchill doesn't think Jane Fairfax is as perfect as everybody else
seems to believe. The pair jests very wittily at Jane's expense, and
irritates Mr Knightley. Emma almost fancies herself to be in love, but
then the truly unexpected happens: Frank Churchill confesses to a secret
engagement with none other than Jane Fairfax! For fear of disinheritance,
Frank wanted to keep the state of things secret and only flirted with Emma
to hide his true feelings. Emma's pride is hurt, but she comes to the
conclusion that she can't have been in love, after all.
Soon after Frank and Jane's engagement becomes known, Harriet reveals
to Emma that she has begun to harbour feelings for Mr Knightley, the true
gentleman of the story. In a sudden shock, Emma sees into her own heart
and realises that Mr Knightley is the man she truly cares for. Emma has to
experience all the agony of love in doubt before everything finally falls
into place and the perfect match is made.
Background: The parallel story of Cher
The heroine of Clueless, Cher Horowitz, is like Emma: beautiful,
popular and rich. She lives in Los Angeles with her litigator father and
is often visited by her former step-brother Josh, a socially conscious
college student who dislikes Cher's selfish and care-free style of life.
In order to raise her grades on her report card, Cher decides to bring
romance into two of her teachers' lives: her idea is that people in love
act more graciously towards other people, and are therefore more likely to
give better grades. Her match-making succeeds, and for the first time Cher
discovers the joy of extending a helping hand to someone who is really in
need of it.
Like Emma, Cher continues her good deeds, and sets to rescue an
'adorably clueless' (Clueless, Scene 5) new girl, Tai, from the
throes of unpopularity. After
putting Tai through a make-over, Cher starts looking about for a suitable
boyfriend for her star-in-the-making. Tai herself likes Travis, a lovable
underachiever, but Cher is absolutely set against him because of his habit
of smoking weed. Her plans for Tai involve the handsome Elton, the most
popular boy in the school, but the outcome is as unsuccessful as in
Emma: Elton makes advances on Cher and is refused, and Tai, like
Harriet, ends up snubbed and miserable.
Cher, who has refused to date high-school boys due to their lack of
maturity and style, meets Christian, who catches her interest with his Rat
Pack elegance and sense of beauty. Cher's advances on Christian are,
however, determinedly refused, and Cher later discovers that Christian is
gay. Meanwhile, Cher's rescue-mission has succeeded beyond expectations,
and Tai is well on the way toward becoming the most popular girl in
school. To Cher's distress, she reveals she's beginning to fall in love
with her step-brother, Josh. This is Cher's moment of revelation: like
Emma, she realises she herself is hopelessly in love with Josh — the
most unexpected person imaginable. Cher sets about mending her ways in
order to be worthy of Josh; finally, happiness is achieved by one and all.
Travis gives up drugs; the former attraction between Travis and Tai is
revived; and Cher and Josh finally realise their mutual feelings for each
other in a perfect Hollywood ending.
A comparison of characters
Most of the principal characters in Emma have been given a role
in Clueless. Some, like the character of the heroine herself, have
been merely transferred to the late 20th-century USA with appropriate
modifications, such as putting them into school and giving them modern
hobbies like aerobics; others, like the character of Frank
Churchill/Christian, have undergone more thorough alteration. This section
of the paper examines the main characters in both Emma and
Clueless, describes their roles in the story, and discusses
differences in the film compared to the original book.
Emma and Cher
Austen treats her heroine with gentle irony. To the reader, many of
Emma's mistakes and blunders are clear from Austen's words, even when the
character herself is unaware of them. In the same way Cher, who is also
the narrator in Clueless, is portrayed in a lovingly mocking light:
the loved and sheltered girl has a naïve way of observing her surroundings
from her own limited perspective.
Narrator (Cher): 'So, okay, you're probably going, "Is this
like a Noxzema commercial1 or what?" But
seriously, I actually have a way-normal life for a teenage girl. I mean I
get up, I brush my teeth, and I pick out my school clothes.'
(Clueless, Scene 1)
The opening scene shows Cher with her friends shopping in fancy
boutiques, partying by a paradise swimming pool, and chatting in a café.
This might well be 'normal life' for some teenage girls, but Cher's
dresscode speaks differently: she and her friends dress in a very elegant,
chic way, which does not resemble the baggy fashion of the mid-1990s. And
when Cher picks out her school clothes, she does it with a special fashion
program on her computer. The ostensible contradiction between the words
and the image sheds light on Cher's character. Her voice as the narrator
sounds unpretending and sincere, so she truly believes her life to be
normal; yet the average viewer watches her life from the outside and sees
it as the privileged way of living it really is. Cher immediately becomes
naïve, yet still charming.
The same effect is reached in Emma in a more subtle way. Austen
describes the mode of life she herself and most of her readership were in,
so any strong comparison between Emma's life and the reader's isn't
possible. Emma's limited views and short-sightedess with regard to herself
are shown in the contrast between her speech and the narrator's remarks,
and sometimes between Emma's speech and some other, more broad-minded
character's words. For example, when Harriet has received a letter of
proposal from Robert Martin, Emma is very scrupulous in not wanting to
influence Harriet's decision, yet she puts her words in such a way as to
make it perfectly clear she wants Harriet to refuse him. And when Harriet
finally decides to write a non-favourable answer and Emma protests against
giving any assistance as to the wording of the letter, her help is, in
fact, 'given in the formation of every sentence' (Austen 38).
On another occasion, Mr Knightley and Emma talk about Robert Martin,
who is one of Mr Knightley's tenants. Mr Knightley describes the young man
as 'open, straightforward, and very well judging' (Austen 41); Emma,
however, can only see that Mr Martin is not a gentleman and must therefore
be 'coarse' (Austen 22) and 'clownish' (21). The reader is not given the
chance of making up his or her own mind about Mr Martin, as he is not
given any lines in the novel and is referred to only in the speech of
other characters, but given Mr Knightley's more mature years and the good
sense he is attributed with, the reader is more likely to take his part in
the argument.
In Emma's world it was the responsibility of the wealthy to take
care of the poor through material assistance. Emma herself visits the poor
in her home town and provides food hampers for her not-so-well-to-do
neighbours. She is shown to be socially conscious, but in a proud way: her
material generosity doesn't always extend to her heart. In
Clueless, Cher's social consciousness is more carefree and
ignorant. In a foreign policy debate concerning the immigration of
Haitians to the United States Cher states that 'we could totally party
with the Haitians' (Clueless, Scene 2) if the nation's wealth was
distributed more evenly. The viewer sees that she means well, but also
that she probably has no idea of the large-scale issues involved in the
immigration of the Haitians.
Mr Knightley and Josh
Mr Knightley is the elder brother of Emma's sister's husband, and a
very close friend of the family. He is described as a true gentleman in
both social status and manners, and his firm opinions and the ability to
see Emma's faults give him credence; he voices many of the thoughts the
reader might have of Emma's behaviour which all other characters seem
blind to, so he is shown to be shrewder than the others. This is perhaps
best seen in the above-mentioned conversation Mr Knightley shares with
Emma on Robert Martin.
Josh, on the other hand, isn't given as much screen-time in
Clueless. The difference of the medium prevents the intimate
thoughts of the characters (other than Cher) from showing explicitly, but
the viewer can make suppositions based on such things as the facial
expressions of the characters, on the way they speak to and of each other,
and on their general appearance. Through these means the viewer finds out
that Josh goes to a good college, wants to study environmental law,
watches the news and reads Nietzsche. All this sets him up as a
well-informed, socially conscious person, who can see the selfishness of
Cher's way of life. He, like Mr Knightley, provides the voice of reason in
the story.
Harriet and Tai
Harriet Smith is a simple, good-humoured girl, whom Emma befriends and
starts to educate. In 19th century class-conscious England, obscure birth
would have been considered a very great hindrance to entering the best
society in a country town, so to a 19th century reader, Harriet and Emma's
friendship would have seemed questionable.
In late 20th century urban America the difference in Cher and Tai's
social standing must be portrayed in a different way: if Tai didn't know
who her parents were, this might arouse curiosity, but she would not be
sneered at the way Harriet is in Emma. Neither would naïveté alone
stamp a person as being stupid. So, in a slightly satirical twist, Tai is
made to look and act strangely in comparison with the other girls in the
film. Where Emma's life would seem normal to Austen's readers, it is Tai
who looks and acts normal in Clueless. She wears a checkered shirt
and baggy trousers, speaks colloquially and ungrammatically, and is a bit
awkward — like an average fifteen-year-old. She stands out in Cher's
luxury world and seems like a misfit.
Robert Martin and Travis
As a character in his own right, Robert Martin is not important;
however, as Harriet's first love and the means of curing her infatuation
with Mr Knightley, he is essential. He is described by Mr Knightley as 'a
respectable, intelligent gentleman-farmer' (Austen 43); as such, he is
below Emma and all the other principal characters of the book. He
proposes to Harriet in the beginning of the novel, after Harriet has spent
the summer holidays with his family. Emma takes it for granted that Robert
Martin is ignorant and vulgar and only wants to marry Harriet because it
would raise him in society. He might love Harriet, but there could be no
question of his feelings being returned by someone who had every right to
marry a gentleman.
In the case of Travis Birkenstock in Clueless, similar reasons
wouldn't work because of the different social structure in which the film
is set. Cher doesn't look down on Travis because he belongs to a lower
class, but because he is in the habit of smoking weed. As Cher puts it,
'no respectable girl actually dates [loadies2]', so Tai is persuaded into not liking
Travis anymore. Travis is more prominently present in the film than Robert
Martin is in the book, and he certainly acts in a very different manner
from Robert. Where Robert is clever and respectable, Travis is sweet but a
bit ridiculous.
Dionne
Dionne is Cher's best friend and her equal in popularity, beauty and
wealth. In Emma, there isn't really a character who could be
compared to Dionne. There is the idea of Jane Fairfax and her preferred
friendship with Emma, but the two don't grow close until the very end of
the book. Neither is Miss Taylor, Emma's former governess and close
friend, quite equal to Emma (partly because of her own blind love for the
girl). However, Dionne occasionally acts as the narrator's shrewd voice in
the book. She comments on Josh disapproving of Cher's lifestyle ('Is Josh
giving you shit because he's going through his post-adolescent idealistic
phase?' (Clueless, Scene 4) and explains to Tai why Cher likes
make-overs ('It gives her a sense of control in a world full of chaos'
(Scene 5). These are unexpected observations from a fifteen-year-old and
make Dionne something of a sage.
A comparison of events
Due to the different medium of storytelling in a novel and a film,
Clueless is unavoidably shorter and more condensed than
Emma. Like in any process of film-making where the story is based
on a novel, many events are cut out and many have been merged. At the same
time, much of the information given in words in the book is brought
forward in the film through other media, like sound or image. In this
section, the pivotal events present in both stories are described and
compared.
The picture
In Emma, Emma wants to paint Harriet's portrait for practice.
She is strongly supported by Mr Elton, who is adamant in wanting to be the
one to take the finished painting to London to get it framed. Emma
believes, and leads Harriet to believe, that his enthusiasm is all in
compliment to Harriet, whereas the reader is in a position to interpret Mr
Elton's words as expressing warm admiration for Emma. In Clueless,
the portrait turns into a photo which Cher takes of Tai; the girls later
find out that Elton, the person Cher has selected to be Tai's boyfriend,
has one of the photos taped inside his locker. Of course, the girls
interpret this as a sign of Elton's liking Tai, but it later becomes
apparent that Elton has kept the photo as a memento of the photographer
— Cher.
The dance
Harriet Smith's road to recovery from a broken heart begins at a
country ball. Every other young lady has been asked to dance, and only
Harriet is still sitting. Mr Elton, while having danced every previous
dance with good cheer, bluntly refuses to dance with Harriet; he professes
himself to be 'an old, married man' (Austen 234) whose dancing days
are over. The
kind-hearted Mr Knightley sees Mr Elton's insult and himself asks Harriet
to dance; a compliment which Emma fully appreciates, knowing that Mr
Knightley never dances.
In Clueless, the same event takes place at a disco, where Cher
goes with Christian and Tai comes alone. The late 20th century American
social decorum isn't as strict and ostensible as it was in England in
Austen's day, and neither is there any particular snub toward Tai on
Elton's side. Yet the viewers' sympathies are raised when Tai is shown
standing alone outside a dancing crowd. Cher feels sorry for her when she
notices this, but in the next moment she sees Josh approaching Tai and
asking her to dance. She knows, as Emma did, that Josh doesn't often
dance, and feels warm gratification towards him for making Tai feel
better.
Cher and Christian's movie night
It is vital for the story line to make the heroine's first
love-interest (in the novel, Frank Churchill, in the film, Christian)
unattainable in some way to turn her thoughts to Mr Right. In the novel,
this is achieved by having Frank Churchill divulge his engagement to Jane
Fairfax; an engagement in Austen's day was practically undissolvable. For
a modern-day audience, an egagement wouldn't be seen as intractable an
objection, and, considering Cher and Christian's ages, it wouldn't even
seem likely. To make Christian unattainable for Cher, therefore, he is
made gay. Cher discovers the truth after she has spent a movie night alone
with Christian, doing her best to seduce him, yet failing miserably. When
she tells of her experiences to Dionne, Dionne's boyfriend cackles and
assures the girls that Christian is 'a cake-boy' (Clueless, Scene
11). The viewers might have had their suspicions already, because
Christian is seen turning a cold shoulder to girls at the disco and
chatting very eagerly — even flirtingly — to other boys
instead. Cher, however, is shocked and feels she has made a fool of
herself.
Harriet and Tai's moment of danger
After the country ball at which Harriet dances with Mr Knightley, she
is walking on a lane and runs into some gypsies stopping in that area.
Frightened out of her wits, Harriet fumbles for her purse and is shoved
and pushed by boisterous children. Frank Churchill happens to pass and
rescues Harriet, which sets Emma's imagination in motion: at this point,
Frank's engagement isn't yet known, although Emma has begun to feel that
she doesn't really care for Frank anymore. Instead, she begins to
entertain a hope for Frank and Harriet's falling in love with each other.
Emma's misconception becomes important later on in the story: in
accordance with her own wishes, she believes Harriet to be warming up to
Frank, when she's really beginning to love Mr Knightley.
In the film, a similar plot twist would no longer be possible, after
Christian — the Frank Churchill in Clueless — has
turned out to be gay. Tai does have a 'brush with death' (Clueless,
Scene 11) experience, however, when two boys jokingly pretend to push her
over a handrail at a shopping centre. This scene serves to lend Tai some
glamour in the eyes of the high school students, and Cher seems to be
shoved out of the spot-light she has usually dominated.
Insult and reprimand
Both Emma and Cher are used to being looked up to and admired. However,
both have someone to put them right when they're too self-assured: in
Emma's case it's Mr Knightley, in Cher's case it's Josh. In Emma,
there is a scene where a group of people have gone out on a picnic, and in
the course of the conversation, Emma jokes at an old lady's expense. Mr
Knightley severely rebukes her for her want of feeling, and Emma's
reaction is very strong. She can't bear to think of Mr Knightley having a
bad opinion of her and is determined to mend her ways.
Cher has a similar experience when Josh hears her arguing with the
housekeeper, Lucy. Cher asks Lucy to talk to their gardener about clearing
out some bushes which have been frowned upon by the fire department. 'He's
your gardener; why you don't tell him?' asks Lucy. 'Lucy, you know I don't
speak Mexican', returns Cher. 'I'm not a Mexican!' retorts the affronted
Lucy (Clueless, Scene 12). Josh tells Cher she has upset Lucy
because Lucy is from El Salvador, not Mexico. Cher is in a temper and
doesn't see what difference it makes,
and Josh calls her a brat. He manages to truly hurt Cher's feelings, and
she is rather puzzled by her strong reaction. Can it be that it matters
very much to her what Josh thinks about her? Cher is preoccupied with her
confused feelings and, as a result, fumbles through her driving test and
fails it.
The burning of the mementoes
Harriet and Tai have both treasured some keepsakes from their former
crushes. In both Austen and Clueless, there comes a moment
when Harriet or Tai wants to destroy these keepsakes as proof that her
former feelings have died. Emma believes Harriet no longer cares for Mr
Elton because she has seen Mr Churchill's superiority, and her
misconception of Harriet's feelings strengthens. Tai shows considerably
more pluck in burning her keepsakes, and immediately reveals to Cher that
she's 'so over Elton' (Clueless, Scene 12) because she's falling
for Josh, instead. When Cher doesn't seem too pleased with the idea, Tai
storms out of the house and leaves Cher feeling unhappy and confused.
Cher then begins to unravel her own feelings and realises that she
herself is in love with Josh. In Emma, this self-revelation comes a
little later: it is not until Frank and Jane's engagement becomes public
that Emma's error is set right and she learns that Harriet has been in
love with Mr Knightley all along. Emma makes the same discovery as Cher
does, when she tries to understand why she should feel so bad about
Harriet marrying Mr Knightley.
The above comparisons show that the story has gone through various
degrees of change on its way from book toward film. The social setting has
been modified to fit the more democratic times of mid-1990s, characters
have been modernised, and events have been cut, added or merged. In the
following section, the modifications are examined more closely through the
Core American Values: first the values will be presented in a concise
form, after which it will be shown how the modifications reflect the
values and the American culture from which they have sprung.
A Look at the Core American Values
According to Professor Henry Schissler of Quinnipiac University, all
Americans share a set of cultural values, which they learn as children in
the socialisation process. These learned values embody 'the American way'.
The core values were first identified by sociologist Robin Williams in
1965; a decade later James Henslin, another sociologist, added three more
values to those listed by Williams (Schissler).
The list of core values presented below has been quoted from Professor
Schissler's weblog, where it can be viewed in full, with each value
elaborated (see Schissler).
Robin Williams's list of core values from 1965:
- Individualism ('Consistent Persistence')
- Achievement and Success ('Success Emphasis')
- Activity and Work ('Work for Work's Sake')
- Efficiency and Practicality
- Science and Technology
- Progress
- Material Comfort
- Humanitarianism
- Freedom
- Democracy
- Equality
- Racism and Group Superiority
James Henslin's addition from 1975:
- Education
- Religiosity
- Romantic Love
These values can often be observed in American mainstream films,
especially in the genre of romantic comedies, which are wholly constructed
on the core value of 'romantic love'. Values such as 'freedom', 'equality'
and 'individualism' were essential to the birth of the nation in the days
of the Western frontier; even today the equal opportunity of making it
from rags to riches can be thought of as a particularly American ideal.
There is, unfortunately, no room in this paper for an exhaustive
analysis of the whole set of values as reflected in Clueless.
Therefore, only a selection has been used to shed light on the
transformation of the book into the film.
Equality vs. Group Superiority
Schissler describes equality as a central value in an American life
(Schissler). It is this value that lies behind much of the socially
related modification in the story: in class-conscious, 19th-century
England, the unequal status of many of the story's characters is taken for
granted, an accepted way of constructing a society. Whether the unequality
stems from wealth, birth or occupation is unimportant; some people's
superiority to others is a fact of life.
However, in a mainstream American film such silent condoning of
superiority and inferiority would not be accepted. Although it is a core
value, equality does not reign throughout the country; hence the value of
group superiority. But it is an ideal which a mainstream film would want
to promote and which viewers would sympathise with. In Clueless,
the case is therefore rather tricky: Cher is clearly a very privileged
girl, wealthy and popular, but she should also be likeable, someone whom
the viewer could relate to. She is therefore made more affable than Emma,
less conscious of her own affluence. Her reason for disapproving of Travis
is one that the viewers can accept (weed-smoking), whereas Emma's
disapproving of Robert Martin (lack of social standing) strikes the modern
reader as smug and narrow-minded.
Individualism
Mr Knightley is a gentleman and the principal inhabitant of the region
of England where Austen takes place. He is wealthy, good-mannered and
intelligent, and comes from an old and respectable family. Yet he is never
seen working on his estate (or anywhere else, for that matter); he seems
to have nothing to do with his time than attend dinner-parties and deliver
clever remarks. He owes his high social ranking rather to his being the
first-born son of an upper-class family than to any great endeavour of his
own. Josh, Mr Knightley's equivalent in Clueless, is altogether a
very different kind of person. He dresses a bit shabbily, is often rather
rude to Cher, and works very hard to pursue his goal of becoming a lawyer.
He appears to live in a very different world than Cher, and where outward
appearance is concerned, he clearly is inferior to her. Josh is shown to
be intelligent, however, and he can be expected to have a bright future;
it is plausible that Josh will eventually become an influential public
figure like Mr Knightley is, but he must work for it himself. This is in
accordance with the core value of individualism: success must be earned.
Humanitarianism
Helping the poor was the unquestioned duty of the upper classes in
Austen's time, and Emma acts out of that duty very good-humouredly. When
she strives to become better in order to be worthy of Mr Knightley, she
tries to extend her heart's kindness together with her material kindness
to her neighbour Miss Bates, but no more is said of her charitable
ambitions. When Cher wants to become a better person, something more
substantial is required, so a fictional event called 'The Pismo Beach
Disaster' is brought into the story. A hurricane plays havoc in the city
of Pismo Beach, and Cher decides to help. She becomes the captain of the
disaster relief and uses her popularity to inspire other to help, as well.
She works with great zeal, although not always very effectively (as in
wanting to donate her skiing equipment to the ailing citizens of Pismo
Beach). The generous aid provided by Cher in the mass disaster presents
the core value of humanitarianism even more strongly than her general
goodwill towards others in the first part of the film.
Freedom
When Emma acts ungraciously towards one of her former neighbours, Mr
Knightley rebukes her severely and in a slightly condescending manner. He
takes upon himself the task of guiding Emma's behaviour, which implies
that Mr Knightley always knows how to behave. Josh's manner of rebuking
Cher after her argument with the house-keeper Lucy, however, is more like
an angry outburst from a frustrated brother; although this is more in
character for Josh than any analytical remonstrance would be, it could
also reflect the core value of freedom. Although Cher does wrong in
upsetting Lucy, Josh's placing himself consciously above her and dictating
to her from that elevated position would violate her personal freedom.
Material Comfort
Raising the level of domestic comfort with electrical gadgets designed
to lighten house-work falls within the value of material comfort. In
Emma, the heroine enjoys material comfort of a different sort, in
being able to keep servants, even if electricity is out of her reach.
Cher's use of a computer to help her select outfits from her excess of
clothes represents a very high level of material comfort, which serves to
further her position as someone enviable. The same effect is reached when
Cher and her friend Dionne are showed talking via mobile phones when
walking together down the same corridor. Mobile phones were not as common
in 1995 as they are today, and having a mobile of her own adds to Cher's
affluence.
Achievement and Success
Harriet Smith is very timid and humble. Her counterpart in
Clueless, Tai, begins as being rather timid and uncertain, but as
the story moves on, Tai becomes more self-assured and proud. She strives
for success and personal popularity, and her will to outdo others reflects
the value of achievement and success. But Tai takes her efforts to become
popular a little too far, and she is shown to be capable of rudeness and
smugness. She insults Cher in a way which directs the viewer's sympathies
to Cher; although the girls later make up, Tai's insolence acts as an
example of too much self-confidence and not enough kindness. It's all
about finding a balance between success and humanitarianism.
The Values in the Core of Clueless
The purpose of this paper was to discuss the changes made in Jane
Austen's 1815 novel Emma when it was adapted into the 1995 film
Clueless by Amy Heckerling, and trace the changes into Robin
Williams' and James Henslin's core American values. The presupposition was
that many of the changes would reflect the core values, but also that some
would have been made in the 'natural' course of adapting a story from book
to film.
As has been shown, the pivotal elements, as well as the inter-character
relationships, in Jane Austen's original story have been transferred from
book to film. The central role of the heroine's demeanor and situation in
life has been modernised, but remains essentially the same for both Emma
and Cher. The less-fortunate friend in need of help (Harriet, Tai), the
clever and self-assured brotherly figure (Mr Knightley, Josh), the
questionable would-be lovers (Robert Martin and Mr Elton, Travis and
Elton), and the dashing young man out of bounds (Mr Churchill and
Christian) are all present in the film. As regards the events, Cher's
career as Cupid and her gradually growing insight into her own feelings
follow the path laid down in Emma, and all the crucial turnings
have their allotted place in the film.
Out of the core values, eight seem most prominent in the adaptation.
One — the core value of romantic love — is, of course, a
reigning feature
in the original story. Group superiority is also very much present in
Emma, but it is a matter of course and accepted by all the
characters. It is shown in a different light in Clueless: Cher is
conscious of Travis's belonging to an inferior group of people because he
uses drugs, but she is unaware of the fact that due to her affluence she
herself can be thought to manifest group superiority by belonging to a
superior group of people. Likewise equality shows in the character of
Travis. His counterpart in Emma, Robert Martin, is objectionable
because he is only a farmer. Travis's affluence and his family's social
status are irrelevant, and his inequality in Cher's eyes is only due to a
personal bad habit.
Other core values revealed in the adaptation are humanitarianism,
material comfort, individualism, freedom, and achievement and success. Out
of these, the last three are perhaps the most prominent, because they
would be so out of place in early 19th-century England. They all reflect
the idea of equality and the right to be who you want to be, not who you
were born to be. They are universally acceptable, and therefore they serve
in making the film plausible and relatable to many audiences.
Clueless in its outward appearance is perhaps not a generic
depiction of American high-school life. Its characters for the most part
are very well off and privileged in many ways, and if that was all there
was to the film, not many Americans, let alone non-Americans, could relate
to Cher and her friends. However, the general American core values
underlying the film adaptation are probably relatable almost throughout
the world, and the gently satiric way in which the film treats its
characters makes them appealing and likeable. This makes Clueless a
popular film and enables it to tell Austen's story to a wider audience
than perhaps Emma itself has been able to do.
- The film's opening montage with its young, beautiful people and light
music is reminiscent of facial product commercials; Noxzema is a
skin-cleansing product marketed by the Noxell Corporation.
- 'Loadie' (Clueless, Scene 5) is the term used by Cher for the
high-school students who
take drugs.
Works Cited
- Austen, Jane. Emma. London: Penguin, 1994 [originally published
in 1815].
- Clueless.Written by Amy Heckerling, based on a novel by
Jane Austen. Dir. Amy Heckerling. Perf. Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash,
Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Breckin Meyer, Jeremy Sisto, Justin Walker.
Produced by Lawrence and Scott Rudin. 1995. DVD. Paramount Pictures, 2007.
- Schissler, Henry. Core
American Values Handout. talking sociology [Weblog]. 9 May
2008. Site consulted 21 March 2010.