Emma/Clueless

Even though now Emma is considered a canonical text, during the time of first publication it would have been perceived the same way as Clueless (just another “teen flick”). The audience of both texts, to begin with were very minute, for Emma it would have been the upper middle class and the aristocrats, whereas Clueless would appeal to the female, western, teenage audience. The audience that have been enlightened by both texts (a minority no doubt) gain an insight into the values created by the characters in both texts as the different perception of these values reinforce each other.

Clueless is set in the late twentieth century in Beverly Hills, USA where emp

Emma and Clueless can be seen as patriarchal texts, where the fathers provide for the heroine’s lifestyles. Not only this but the rational, conservative, intelligent male figure educates the heroines to transform them from an ignorant, egocentric person to a self aware, emotionally mature figure after adopting the male perspective. This concept is highly valued by both composers even though their context varies vastly. Often the views of Austen are perceived through Mr Knightley who is the “true English gentleman”. He is genuinely caring and protective of the women in the community including Jane, Harriet, Miss and Mrs Bates and Emma. He also has a good relationship with his tenants and is the only character that ever criticises Emma and at the beginning he says “Emma is spoiled by being the cleverest of her family”. Josh is the equivalent of Mr Knightley, Heckerling is able to highlight his sensible manners and his strong social conscience through his costuming. He wears Amnesty International and breast cancer research T-shirts and is the only character to criticise Cher’s behaviour and attitude, “If I ever saw you (Cher) do something that wasn’t ninety percent selfish, I’d die of shock”.

In Clueless, education is valued differently…very differently. The same level of education is offered to both sexes and this allows opportunities for women not to rely on marriage or inheritance but to be independent. School is much more of a source of a social gathering and education is not regarded highly by the teenagers. The scene where Cher has to give an oral on violence in the media highlights the boredom and the lack of enthusiasm shown by the students. The students are constantly fidgeting and have no eye contact with the audience or Mr Hall. Immediately after Cher’s speech, Elton raises his hand to say, “My foot hurts. Can I go to the nurse?”. If everyone did this, nurses would be very well paid indeed! This obviously shows their attitudes towards education. Nevertheless, in Clueless certain skills such as negotiation and communication are valued just as in Emma where artistic abilities are valued and are shown through the accomplished Jane Fairfax. A perfect example of this is when Cher has persuaded and negotiated with her teachers to change her grades from a C+ to an A- and her father (Mel) “Couldn’t be happier than if they were based on real grades”. The change in context has evidently changed the perception of education.

Some topics in this essay:
Calvin Klein, Robert Martin, Tai Tai, Austen’s Emma, Jane Fairfax, Emma Clueless, Amnesty International, Beverly Hills, Harriet Emma, Jane Austen’s, social status, robert martin, similar perceptions values, insight values, beverly hills, values context, values reflected, education women, designer clothing, highly valued, contemplate profession governess, late twentieth century, contemplate profession,