The process of transformation of Jane Austen’s nineteenth century novel Emma to Amy Heckerling’s film Clueless has been sensational yet it retained the essential contexts of the original text. This means that while the original plot of Emma has been altered the themes in Clueless remain the same. Relationships and the significance of social structure are still palpable in both texts albeit some differences due to the time periods they were set in. Heckerling’s characters may use the language and slang of the 1990s and have modern-day hobbies and occupations, but they portray similar types of people with a semblance of Austen’s characters: they express egotism, vanity and practice deception, but also demonstrate bildungsroman and perceptive …show more content…
honesty. So, while the English setting of an earlier century has become 1990’s Beverly Hills, the essential themes and characterizations of Emma are retained in Clueless. Austen uses the medium of the novel, with extensive use of third person narrative technique, to give a satirical and at times humorous view of her nineteenth century world.
Heckerling, in her film, is able to present a similar moral with not only the script to help her but the camera, music and actors with all approaches and opportunities such tools may provide.
Relationships
Emma is a study of human relationships in a society where social hierarchy and attitudes construe the personality of a certain person in their community. Because this society’s values are based on wealth, grandeur and family line, it can be said this society’s values are artificial and superficial from today’s perspective
Emma portrays her dislike of the idea of marrying which is shown from the quote, “Fortune I do not want; employment I do not want; consequence I do not want. I believe few married women are half as much mistress of their husband’s house as I am of Hartfield; and never, never could I expect to be so truly beloved and important; so always first and always right in any man’s eyes as I am in my
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father’s.” The HUGE deal with relationships in Regency England was due to the social conventions - divorce was a huge scandal.
People married for security (The Eltons) - you marry once, you're stuck - hence Emma's 'having none of the usual inducements to marry' since she's loaded. Picking a partner and marrying became what people did all day, since it determined their future (Emma with Tai)
20th Century America recognizes this relationship freedom (Josh's Mum, Mel) and the fickle nature of relationships (everyone's dating) and explores the triviality of marriage (will Christian ever get married?). The marriage at the end of 'Clueless' shows the lack of importance of marriage (Mr. Hall and Miss Geist are pretty old, Tai and Dionne discuss superficial aspects of marriage)
I would say something about the factor class contributes to relationships, but evidently this isn't as strong, since Elton won't go with Tai (obvious quote: 'don't you know who my father is?")
The film Clueless at first seems so different from Emma and yet on reflection it does complement the original text. This is because both texts look at human nature and human relationships. Language changes, dress codes, setting, styles and technology change, but human nature does
not. Random thoughts on Social Structure? Social Values? Los Angeles, where Clueless is set, is heralded as a great centre of postmodernism, where fashion obsession and consumerism reach a pinnacle even in a postmodern country. Emma’s conception of Highbury as “the world” and the sixteen miles to London an incomprehensible distance reveals a rural parochialism, despite her privilege. In transformation, Cher’s habitat is global, due to the spread of technology, yet still confined and impotent. Dionne and Murray can’t find a party in the Valley, which adjoins Beverly Hills, and Dionne cannot navigate the freeway. Cher doesn’t know the difference between El Salvador and Mexico and thinks Bosnia is in the Middle East and Kuwait is in the Valley. Emma’s narrow experience of the world is a reflection of social stereotypes, where Cher’s mirrors a widespread political apathy and individual unconcern, despite extensive and easily obtainable information via the new technologies- television, the Internet and general electronics. The film complements the novel because the issues are timeless. One of the chief ingredients of Emma is the study of human relationships and its peaks and valleys, and while the psychology of human kind stays the same, the customs and fashions do. Emma is set in a nineteenth century English village with a rigid social structure and where impeccable manners are to be expected from every single one of the people of the village. It is also a world where the knowledge of one’s family background is vital for one’s survival in both socially and financially. The hierarchical structure of this quaint village is so rigid that newcomers would find fitting in as an arduous task unless your charismatic levels are out of this world. Despite both Emma and Cher’s flaws, we tend to like them for their mistakenly good intentions and their transformation from an ambiguous naivety to a more sensible mature acceptance of the status quo.
The concept of social division conveyed in Jane Austen’s novel Emma (1815) are creatively reshaped through the change of context and form in Amy Heckerling’s bildungsroman film Clueless (1995). The transformational text encourages a clearer understanding through a sense of relateability for a contemporary audience. The notions of class hierarchy and the role of women in society are refurbished in the film to the context of a modern society - Los Angeles in the 1990’s - thus allowing for the audience to affirm and create connections with new insights on social division that have evolved.
Clueless it is set in Beverly Hills in America and in Emma is set in
Many novels are turned into movies, and they often times share the same name. However, some producers break this trend because Emma “was the basis for the plot” of the popular film “Clueless” (ASU’S JANE AUSTEN EXPERT). The 1990’s production brings a modern and inviting twist on one of Jane Austen’s best works. Both “Clueless” and Emma are centered around an affluent young woman who “make[s] the match” between acquaintances and beloved friends (J. Austen 38). In both the novel and the movie, the girls find themselves in unfavorable situations as a result of their involvement in other people’s business. Emma Woodhouse is not only known for her outspoken personality, but also she draws people’s attention when she walks into a room simply by her air. This is not to say that her wealth also allows her to spend money on extraordinary apparel. A short article in Vogue references this phenomenon: “Dreamy… Emma Woodhouses let their party shoes peek out flirtatiously” (“twinkle toes”). As a journalist, this allusion is subtle, yet fully addresses the fact that women need confidence to be different, but also they need to be willing to live on the edge from time to time. During one of the many balls Emma attends, she decides to dance with a close family friend, but she is careful not to “make it all improper” (J.
Emma's arrogance shines through when she brags that she is exceptionally skillful at matching couples. She believes that she is in control of fate and must play matchmaker in order for couples to discover their true love. Austen confirms, "The real evils indeed of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself" (Austen 1). Although Emma is so spoiled and overbearing, she truly doesn't realize this fact.
Through this prospect, she has internalized the standards in fulfilling the norms. If she does not fulfill it, she creates a sense of futility, an accurate, unvarnished replication of the guilt feelings that she suffers. Emma lives out its real, logical, and bitter conclusion of the emptiness in the traditions of marriage and the masculine customs that go with it. By marriage, a woman, specifically Emma, losses their liberty in all its physical, social, moral and even spiritual consequences. She envies the advantages of a man saying, “...at least is free; he can explore each
“Clueless in the Neocolonial World Order,” by Gayle Wald is an article that analyzes the film Clueless and provides points that can be attributed to American society in the nineties and today; all while the film draws of social norms of yesteryear. Clueless is a teenage drama tht was written and directed by Amy Heckerling. This film is based off the novel, Emma, by Jane Austen. The following quote allows the reader to realize that Cher Horowitz is a foil of Emma Woodhouse; who represented consumerist and imperial Britain. “Clueless's representation of its protagonist's consumer identity is further complicated by its coding of Cher as Jewish.” (Wald, 60) In the 90s, Jewish jokes and stereotyping was made familiar by comedians like Jerry Seinfeld; one such instance is when George is thought to be a white supremacist. In the 90s, the audience would understand that most people would relate the modern Jew to being
Clueless, directed by Amy Heckerling is an extremely successful adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, as the 19th century novel is transformed in to a modern day film dealing with contemporary issues while maintaining parallels with the original.
Due to Emma’s wealth and being a masculine figure in her household these effects ruptures her understanding of the possibilities and limitations placed on women. Born in ...
Emma also transforms into a proper woman through correcting her original neglect. Trollope states that “[i]n every passage of the book she is in fault for some folly, some vanity, some ignorance, or indeed for some meanness” (7)19. Because of her ignorance toward attitudes of her neighbors, Emma interferes through their lives in a way that makes them unhappy, for “she had often been negligent” (Austen 359)20. Mr. Knightley predicts the outcome of Emma’s plans in the beginning of the novel when he states that “[y]ou are more likely to have done harm to yourself, than good to them by interference” (Austen 8)21 and also that “[v]anity working on a weak head produces every sort of mischief” (Austen 53)22. Not only is Emma stubborn toward her actions, but she is also negligent to herself when she convinces herself “I cannot really change for the better” (Austen 73)23. On other matters about her plans for others, Emma’s consideration falls short through her own selfishness and withholding of her pride, for “[t]he longer she considered it, the greater was her sense of its expediency” (Austen 27)24.
Emma, a novel by Jane Austen, is the story of a young woman, Emma, who is rich, stubborn, conniving, and occupies her time meddling into others' business. There are several recurring themes throughout the novel; the ideas of marriage, social class, women's confinement, and the power of imagination to blind the one from the truth, which all become delineated and reach a climax during the trip to Box Hill. The scene at Box Hill exposes many underlying emotions that have been built up throughout the novel, and sets the stage for the events that conclude it.
Emma's active decisions though were based increasingly as the novel progresses on her fantasies. The lechery to which she falls victim is a product of the debilitating adventures her mind takes. These adventures are feed by the novels that she reads. They were filled with love affairs, lovers, mistresses, persecuted ladies fainting in lonely country houses, postriders killed at every relay, horses ridden to death on every page, dark forests, palpitating hearts, vows, sobs, tears and kisses, skiffs in the moonlight, nightingales in thickets, and gentlemen brave as lions gentle as lambs, virtuous as none really is, and always ready to shed floods of tears.(Flaubert 31.)
To be a mentor is to hold influence over a person’s actions or education. Overall, “Emma” is a novel about the influence that people hold over each other, and how that influence can affect people. Conflict is built by different characters who view themselves as mentors struggling to assert their opinions over others and pupil characters who accept their mentor’s opinions without bothering to form their own.
Because she feels she is obligated to stay by his side, Emma decides not to marry. Emma believes that she is a good matchmaker, and tries to put together several couples throughout the novel. Emma believes that social classes are very important and refuses to see anyone cross over to marry someone lesser than themselves. In chapter 8-page 52, Emma is talking about Harriet’s situation with the farmer with Mr. Knightley. She says, “Mr. Martin is a very respectable young man, but I cannot admit to him being Harriet’s equal.
In Jane Austen’s social class and coming of age novel, Emma, the relationships between irony, insight and education are based upon the premise of the character of Emma Woodhouse herself. The persona of Emma is portrayed through her ironic and naive tone as she is perceived as a character that seems to know everything, which brings out the comedic disparities of ironies within the narrative. Emma is seen as a little fish in a larger pond, a subject of manipulating people in order to reflect her own perceptions and judgments. Her education is her moral recognition to love outside her own sheltered fancies and her understandings of her society as a whole.
...Emma’s voice in order to relate the inside ideology, while simultaneously using a somewhat ironic third-person narrative voice in order to provide critical social commentary on the social attitudes of the Highbury society depicted in Emma. Emma’s voice allows the reader to gain an unadultered insight into the lives of the people of Highbury, providing the narrative with a Austen uses a somewhat similar dichotomous technique in Persuasion, in which she splits the novel into two halves -- one in which advocates for the traditional system of formality, and another that works to eradicate the very same system that she extolled so highly in the first half. Under the deceptive guise of “political inaction,” Austen actually provides commentary on the underlying social and political issues that pervade the novel through the literary technique of heteroglossia (Parker 359).