Emma and Clueless Transformation

1141 Words5 Pages
Clueless, Amy Heckerling’s 20th century cinematic reconstruction of Jane Austen’s 18th century classic Emma, transforms the rustic values and attitudes of the Regency Period into the dynamics of contemporary existence. Heckerling uses various features of medium to remould the socially stratified society, restrain perceptions on marriage, and patriarchal values into an apparatus of modernity. When reading Emma the reader creates imaginative representations of the characters by building on Austen’s descriptions. For instance, Emma is introduced as being “handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition” (page 7). However in the medium of film we are given the filmmaker’s detailed representation of the character: Cher in Clueless is tall, blonde, slender, obviously popular, wealthy, a slave to modern technology and happy driving her friends around in her jeep. The viewer sees and hears more of Cher in a few seconds than a novelist could convey in the same time through words and the readers’ imagination; however, the novelist has the advantage that the reader is more involved in creating the imaginative world of the text than the film audience who are spectators of the filmmaker’s imaginative interpretation. The narrative voice in Emma is technically third person omniscient yet Austen uses Emma as her focaliser. This works well in concert with dialogue to sustain an ironic depiction of the character of Emma; readers can see for themselves, guided by Austen’s subtle narrative skills, what Emma cannot see as she blunders her way through her matchmaking escapades. Heckerling does a similar thing in Clueless. The narrative is delivered in Cher’s voice-over. We hear Cher’s thoughts on teenage boys, Josh, her friends and her addiction to going to the mall. Heckerling has her heroine speaking with unconscious irony as Austen does, and the audience

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