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Amy Heckerling's 'Clueless' is a very entertaining film which can be viewed from a number of different aspects. It can be seen as an entertaining teenie about the life of a typical American teenager or as a very clever adaption of Jane Austen's well-known book 'Emma'. With an understanding of 'Emma', the viewer of 'Clueless would be able to reveal parallels between the two texts and also be able to recognise various similarities and differences between them. To that extent, an understanding of 'Emma would add a further level of enjoyment and analysis to 'Clueless'.
On its own, 'Clueless' can be seen as your everyday typical American teenie. It would be very entertaining and would be enjoyed by most teenagers of today. As the film is a teenie, it deals with everyday problems that todays teenagers deal with. Also, the music and fashion in 'Clueless' is appealing to these people an it is mainly contemporary and 'in'. They would enjoy and relate to it. Many people who have seen Amy Heckerling's film 'Clueless' have no idea that it is an adaption of Jane Austen's classic book 'Emma' and yet they are still able to enjoy it for its content.
Although they still appreciate the film without an understanding of 'Emma', they would probably enjoy is more if they had a prior understanding of 'Emma'. Amy Heckerlings has been able to cleverly transform 'Emma', and early nineteenth century book into 'Clueless', a popular film produced in the late twentieth century. She was able to do this by altering the book so that it is in a modern context and then presenting it in the form of a film. One fantastic example of this is when in 'Emma', the incident of the portrait occured. That is when Emma painted the portrait of Harriet and then Mr. Elton took it in order fo it to be framed.
In 'Clueless' a similar incident occured except this time the picture was in the form of a more modern photograph, not a painting. Another great example of this was when 'Emma', Emma got a ride home in the carriage with Mr. Elton where he declared his love for her. In the parallel to this incident in 'Clueless', the ride home was in a car, which obviously is due to the more modern context of the twentieth century. Amy Heckerlings also used various techniques in order to successfully transform 'Emma' into 'Clueless'. These techniques include costume, lighting, music, camera angles and setting.
The costuming in 'Clueless' is very modern. Outfits worn by Cher, the main character are all designer labels such as 'Calvin Ken', and 'Asian' originals etc. This shows that teenagers put a great emphasis on what they are wearing. The lighting in clueless in some cases represents various characters.
For example, when Cher finally realised that she was in love with Josh, a big colourful water fountain lit up in the background. The music in clueless is very modern, and the lyrics in each song had meaning as to what happening in the film. Most teenagers of todays would be able to relate to, and know of the music being played, as it is popular today. The camera angles let us see what is happening from the angle which has most meaning toward it. For example, when Cher had just been held at gun point and was on the good, the camera angle was a crane shot, from up above, and made Cher look very small and interior. The setting of 'Clueless' is in Beverly Hills, mainly at the mall or at school.
Both the school and mall are places where typical teenagers spend a lot of time. All of these techniques were used in order to emphasis the modern nature of the movie. As 'Clueless' is an adaption of 'Emma', it closely parallels the story in terms of characters and storyline. From the very begining of the two texts, we can see similarities between the two main characters Cher and Emma. They both belong to the upper-scale end of society, the both act rather superior toward others and both tend to think too highly of themselves.
For example, Cher wouldnt associate with the 'ladies'. She told Tai, who liked one of them that no respectable girl would actually date any of them. Emma, however would not associate with the yeomanry, she said "the yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do with. " The plot in the two texts are very similar and many incidents that occur in 'Emma' also occur in 'Clueless', but in a more modern society. Many of the characters in 'Clueless' are a counterpart from a character in 'Emma'. For example, Tai from 'Clueless' and Harriet in 'Emma' are one in the same, they are both from a lower social class than Emma/Cher and are attempted to be transformed into a more superior being by Emma/Cher. Frank Churchill from 'Emma' and Christian from 'Clueless' are aslo one in the same.
These two characters are both the objects of Emma/Cher's affection and yet both have a reason why they cannot be with Cher/Emma. In both texts Cher/Emma's father are very alike, they are both respectable and rich. As we can see, there are many similarities present between the two texts. Without an understanding of 'Emma' it would be impossible to make these connections. There are many differences present between 'Emma' and 'Clueless'. The major difference between the two texts is obviously the time period in which it was set. 'Emma' is set in the early nineteenth century while 'Clueless' is set in the late twentieth century, because of this, other differences have occured due to technology and also actions which are more socially acceptable today than they were then.
As we know, the characters Frank Churchill and Christian are one in the same and Emma/Cher liked him. In the end, Frank Churchill ended up being engaged to Jane Fairfax and Christian ended up being gay. That difference is apparent because of todays accepted social behaviour. This would not have been acceptable back then.
Also, the language is very different between the two texts. In 'Clueless', the language is very modern and contemporary whereas in 'Emma' the language is very old fashioned. Without an understanding of 'Emma', these differences would mean nothing. 'Clueless' is a very clever film which can be viewed with or without an understanding of 'Emma' and would be enjoyed either way. However with an understanding of 'Emma', the viewer would find the film more enjoyable and would be able to analyse the two texts in comparison to each other.
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Research essay sample on Character Analysis Of Emma In The Film Clueless
