“Studying a pair of texts provides insights into the values of different contexts.” To what extent is this true of the two texts you have studied? Amy Heckerling has managed to creatively transform her 1995 teen film ‘Clueless’ into one of Jane Austen’s classic novels, ‘Emma’ (1815) by sustaining the same significant and important values and elements despite living in different contexts. This is depicted through the contrasting of cinematic techniques and narrative structure. The progress of the importance of social hierarchies and the revolution of self-realization is produced to be invariable. ‘Emma’ exposes the impacts of social hierarchies in the way people interact and behave with each other.
Transformations Essay “The Study of transformation explores the tension between continuity and change. “ Explore how this statement is true. Amy Heckerling’s film, Clueless, as a transformation of Jane Austen’s novel, Emma, explores the tension between continuity and change. Emma, written in the early 1800s, reflects the values and class hierarchy of the Regency period. Heckerling’s film has transformed Emma into a dramatic twentieth century teen flick that both exemplifies and undercuts the contemporary culture of 1990s Los Angeles defined by consumption and appearance while still maintaining aspects of Emma’s narrative and characterisation.
Emma Essay The values that shape the form and meaning of any text are reflections of their respective contexts. This notion is explored through the comparison of Jane Austen’s Emma (1815) and Amy Heckerling’s appropriation, Clueless (1995). While distinct parallels may be drawn between Clueless and Emma, Regency values of class, social mobility and courtship are altered in Clueless to reflect the liberal nature of 1990’s America. Austen’s Emma reflects the rigidity of social hierarchy with stringent notions of class determined by lineage and inheritance, which limits social mobility of individuals in Regency England. The contextual value of class as inherited status and wealth portrayed by the juxtaposition of the cumulative listing of the
Jameela Fuller Professor Liss History 108 2 October 2011 How Attitudes Changed Between the British and Indians in the Nineteenth Century: How often do we find ourselves attempting to fit in with someone else? The reasons for wanting to be apart of something may vary depending on different people but it is clear that at the end we wish to reach a certain goal, most of the time benefiting us in the long run. Sometime in the late 1600s the British were into relations with nations across the Atlantic. More specifically, later around the 1800s their main concerns rested with a certain Indian nation, the Mughals. Their main reason, among others, for wanting to be there was because of economics.
The novels ‘Lucy’ and ‘The Outsider’ by Jamaica Kincaid and Albert Camus respectively both have cultural contexts surrounding the protagonists. For Lucy, the legacy of colonialism on notions of power and social structure remains deep throughout the novel. Its pervasive influence resurfaces in contemporary settings. In coming to America, Lucy attempts to leave colonialism behind, however it still has a tremendous impact on her as well as the other characters as they have conflicting emotions and ideas throughout the novel. Camus discusses the estrangement - and later development - of an individual in a benign and indifferent universe, one in which conformity prevails.
How does your visual representation explore the connections between the two texts studied in class? Through the use of visual techniques, analogous themes and similar ideas between two texts, we are able to explore and identify the connections that are seen as either deteriorating or growing stronger as context changes. Pride and prejudice, Jane Austen and Letters to Alice, Fay Weldon, share a relationship of related concepts, which the composers establish either in the form of a novel (Jane Austen) or an epistolary (Fay Weldon). Concepts of marriage, love and social status are interrogated in these texts throughout, displaying the differences in views as well as sharing the resemblances of them in Pride and Prejudice, published in the early 19th century, an era of repression and Letters to Alice, published in the late 20th century, an era of mass consumerism. The theme of Family is widely acknowledged in both texts and the importance of having one as well as the feel of togetherness associated with this is seen as being fragmented as the two eras are contrasted with one another.
Amy Heckerling has transformed Jane Austen’s novel Emma to create Clueless, a film set in 90s America thatx appeals and is more relatable to a contemporary audience. Both stories are essentially about the personal development of their protagonists Emma and Cher as they reach self-realisation however there is a slight difference of values that relate to the different contexts in which the stories are set. Through different techniques, we see how Heckerling has retained the story of Emma as well as the way she has adapted it to suit more modern values and concepts. Social order is a prominent idea in both texts Clueless and Emma. Jane Austen presents the importance of family wealth in Regency England, as it is the defining factor of one’s position in the social hierarchy.
Evaluate the relative importance of differences or similarities between the texts, and the ways in which these differences or similarities reflect values in the text? In both Emma by Jane Austen and Clueless by Amy Heckerling the values have changed. In Clueless to suit a more contemporary society compared to Austen’s world in the 19th century. The similarities between the texts are how communication is valued. And the differences include how the value of marriage has changed to a value in sex and relationships.
The transformation of the Jane Austen’s novel Emma into the Amy Heckerling’s ‘teen-pic’ Clueless, involves changing the original text in to another medium set in a different context to allow a re-assessment of the values present in the text thus enabling the audience to gain a greater insight and appreciation of the ideals and concerns outlined by Austin in Emma. The themes presented by Austin in Emma are universal and timeless which enables Heckerling to adapt them to a context a modern audience can reflect and relate to, thus generating a greater understanding of the social commentary made by Austen on social class, marriage and education of the 19th century. Heckerling does not devalue Emma and the essence of what is said is not changed however Heckerling goes further than just a transformation and comments on modern issues such as sexuality, education and social equality relevant to her time. This allows the texts to resonate with each other with the known reflecting upon the new and the new reflecting on the known. Both Emma and Clueless deal with a society in which social structure and values are criteria for assessing people.
‘Literary approaches to the contestation of hegemonic masculinity continue to possess agency, despite the fact that literature no longer occupies a dominant position in the cultural sphere’ (West, 2000). Discuss how two core texts challenge hegemonic constructions of masculinity? The concept of hegemonic masculinity was first proposed during a field study of social inequality, the project provided empirical evidence of the existence of multiple hierarchies in gender construction. It was understood as a pattern of practice and not just a set of role expectations. It became distinguished from other masculinities, more so the subordinate masculinities of previous studies.