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Paul Rudd has become one of my favorite actors from when I first noticed him at a young age with the film Clueless and then my interest grew with his appearances on Friends and then Stella and now his recent appearances in Judd Apatow films. I recently was lucky enough to meet Paul Rudd, saying it was an amazing experience would be an understatement, so I decided to post something I wrote about the film Clueless.

There have been written stories found and dated as far back as 2750 BCE and movies date back to 1895. Although film is much newer than written stories there is still quite a bit of history behind them. Therefore with all these stories it is almost impossible to create an entirely new story. There is bound to be repetition seen especially in newer stories and movies. But what makes an adaptation an adaptation is there being numerous similarities rather than just one or two, that being said, there are still many adaptations that still prove to be interesting and non-repetitive because of the differences they provide as well.

Clueless, even though it is not credited, is a clear adaptation of Emma. An adaptation is changing something so it can survive in a new medium but also keeping some things similar. There are two main aspects of a story that adaptors focus on when they are adapting; these are the cardinal aspects – the events that move the story along, and the catalyser aspects – the stylistic functions of the story. When it comes to adapting something, such as a book into a film, usually the cardinal aspects are the same or similar and the catalyser aspects of the book are more drastically changed. This is true in Clueless as well, because few events of the story are changed whereas the style of the film is drastically changed into a late 20^th century American idealized world as opposed to the original 19^th century British world of Jane Austen. Therefore Clueless is an adaptation of Emma but Amy Heckerling’s choice of style or catalyser differences is what makes this film more than just an adaptation but a satire of consumerism.

This film, besides satirizing the consumerist world, is also satirizing other films. “[T]he film pokes fun at the pretensions of ‘art’ films that use the classics as their basis even as it shows that an appealing comedy about teenage girls can be highly effective in presenting the truth in Austen’s critique of a status- and consumption-obsessed society” (Dresser, 237). Critics have considered both Emma and Clueless as low culture with no artistic value and rather poor literature and cinema. Just because this movie focuses on the lives of teenagers, and in particularly teenage girls, it does not seem to get as high esteem from the critics because they believe that focusing on these lives the film can not present any great value or lesson. These critics are definitely wrong and they are proven wrong with this movie, Clueless, because it deals with a very important lesson and that is too much consumerism has negative consequences. Clueless portrays this lesson, just as well as, if not better than, other films because there is humour and pleasure involved. “[T]his appealing comedy about wealthy young women succeeds in providing the truth in Austen’s satire of a consumer society much more so than the more traditional ‘art house’ rendering of Emma that came after it” (Dresser, 246). Heckerling’s adaptation of Emma into Clueless, a satire on consumerism and filmmaking, is made possible with the use of exploiting an idealized version of reality, the use of voiceover narration, and the application of irony throughout the film.

The beginning sequence sets up the film as a satire by showing the viewer an idealized version of reality, suggesting that there will be more to this film than what lies on the surface. “[L]ike Austen, [Heckerling] transforms a documentary rendering of the quotidian into an imaginative lively delight in fictionality” (Stern, 223). This sequence shows a group of teenagers from Beverly Hills living rich and fabulous lives that are very different from the majority of typical teenage lives. Then the voiceover of Cher, the main character, comes in saying “So OK, you’re probably thinking, ‘Is this, like, a Noxema commercial, or what?!’” This suggestion of their lives being like a commercial further emphasizes how they are living an idealized version of a life that the viewer dreams of living but can not. “Through its satire of this advertising, the film calls into question the message of control, providing a potent criticism of the role that consumption plays in defining the ‘new woman’ of the commercial advertising of the 1980s and 1990s” (Dresser, 239). As the movie progresses Cher’s transformation of Tai begins to go differently than planned because soon Tai has left nearly everything of her old existence behind and has become an extreme replica of Cher and her group of friends. This is an even more extreme replica of the already idealized version that the film creates of Beverly Hills teenagers. And with this, Cher begins to be disgusted with Tai’s behaviour suggesting that “just as Cher comes to rethink her social mores through seeing them parroted back at her [by Tai], Clueless suggests that viewers can learn to take a critical look at the role of consumption in their own society by seeing these practices imitated, albeit in excess fashion” (Dresser, 245).

Another aspect of Clueless that provides this film with satire is Heckerling’s use of voiceover narration. “Nora Nachumi astutely points out that this voiceover narration closely approximates Austen’s ironic third-person narrator” (Parrill, 117). There is a scene in the movie where Cher observes Tai and Elton dancing at a party and there is a voiceover of Cher thinking she is successful in matchmaking, “I had to give myself snaps for all the good deeds I was doing. It was so great. Love was everywhere.” This provides the audience with a false sense of security with Cher’s character. But later, Cher and the viewer realize that this was an incorrect assumption when Cher finds out that Elton is uninterested in Tai because he believes she is socially and economically below him. By the use of this voiceover in the party scene and then showing that Cher is incorrect helps the audience to realize that Cher is clueless just as the title of the film suggests, and this is reflected throughout the film because she is a product of her consumer-obsessed society. At the end of the film, after Josh and Cher admit their love for one another there is a voiceover of Cher saying, “Well you can guess what happened next,” then the viewer is shown a wedding scene in which Cher’s voiceover cuts in again and says, “As if! I’m only fifteen and this is California, not Kentucky.” The use of voiceover here, corrects the viewer’s preconceived notion that this is Cher’s wedding in which the movie will end with just another Hollywood happy ending. “The film does not simply present the happy romantic ending, but suggests it, then uses pleasurable, but not hard-biting, satire to make fun of the viewer’s expectation of such an ending for this movie” (Dresser, 243).

There are many uses of irony throughout the film to suggest its satirical content and commentary of the consumerist world and filmmaking. “[I]rony is a key element in its strategy of looking critically at Beverly Hills consumer society, which functions in the film as a microcosm of the American consuming lifestyle” (Dresser, 238). It is quite ironic when Cher explains that the death of her mother was caused by “a freak accident during a routine liposuction,” because Cher lives her life allowing consumerism and perfect looks control her, such as when she risks her life to save her Alaia dress, even though it was the same thing that took her mother’s life. Music is also used ironically throughout the film such as the song “Kids in America” played for the opening sequence suggesting that these are normal kids in America when ironically these are a very isolated and different group of kids than typical Americans. Another moment is when Cher is waiting for a call from Christian and the 2001: A Space Odyssey music is played while the camera focuses on Cher’s telephone. One more use of ironic music is when Cher descends down her front staircase and the viewer realizes Josh’s attraction to her by his gaze and the song “Gigi” is played. (Parrill, 122). The use of music from other films is Heckerling’s way of making fun of how the lifestyles of these characters are very movie-like and idealized, but at the same time, because of the irony of Heckerling being aware of this, suggests that there is more to this movie for the viewer to understand.

When adapting a book into a film the adaptor has many aspects of the original piece to question, what to leave in, what to remove, and what to change. But they also must have in mind the major lesson or theme they want to portray to the audience and how to create this theme through the changes they make. The theme throughout Clueless is the consequences of a consumer-driven life and also the hypocrisy of filmmaking in which is made possible with the use of exploiting an idealized version of reality, the use of voiceover narration, and the application of irony throughout the film, making this movie a satire as well as an adaptation.

Work Cited

Dresser, David, and Garth S. Jowett. Hollywood Goes Shopping. Minneapolis:

University of Minnesota Press, 2000.

Parrill, Sue. Jane Austen on Film and Television: A Critical Study of the Adaptations.

Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2002.

Stern, Lesley. “Emma in Los Angeles: Remaking the Book and the City.” 2000.

-Shavon Keller

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