Film Analysis Of Jane Austen's 'Clueless'

1995 Clueless Film It is known that not all films adaptations closely follow the novel that it is adapting. A lot of times film adaptations create something new and unique while still using novels to help. The 1995 film Clueless is an example of this as it used elements from Austen’s novel Emma. Clueless was released in theaters on July 19th 1005 and was directed and written by American director Amy Heckerling. In the film, Heckerling used characters and plot elements from Austen’s novel Emma while building something original and unique. William Galperin says that Emma’s courtship narrative is free standing throughout, whereas the story in Clueless focuses on language and fashion. Actress Alicia Silverstone plays the main character in Clueless

The way that these two antagonize each other shows a little similarity to the relationship that Knightley had with Emma (Parrill, 116). One way that Heckerling put a spin on the Emma adaptation is by changing the Knightley character to a student and changing the setting that Emma grew up in. The affections that Emma had for Mr. Knightley was quite a surprise; however, Lucas affection for Horowitz wasn’t a true surprise because it was hinted at early in the film. Brittany Murphy was cast as Tai Fraiser whom is similar to Harriet Smith in Emma. There is very little known about Fraiser and Smith. In Jane Austen and Co/ Remaking the Past in Contemporary Culture, Maureen Turim says that the only thing that is really know about Fraiser is that she moved from Brooklyn to Beverly Hills, wears grungy clothes, has street manners and loves

Cher and Emma have similar friendships with Fraiser and Smith in that they both become friends with them with the intentions to improve them. Also Cher and Emma both try to play match maker for Friaser and Smith in which Cher tries to hook Friaser up with a guy named Elton while attempting to keep her away from a guy named Travis. Emma tries to hook up Smith with a guy named Philip while trying to keep Smith’s attentions away from a guy named Robert. Justin Walker plays Christian Stovitz who parallels Frank Churchill in Emma he is a new student at the school and becomes Cher’s love interest for only a short time. Emma and Frank develop a friendship in the novel that would make you believe they will become a couple but they don’t because Frank gets married to Jane Fairfax. In Clueless, Cher attempts to win Christian’s heart but he ignores her attempts. It is not known until later that Christian is keeping a secret from Cher, just as Frank did with Emma. However, Christian’s secret is that he is a homosexual. The other characters in Clueless that are similar to characters in Emma is Stacy Dash as Cher’s friend Dionne Davenport interpreted as Mrs. Watson or Miss Taylor, Dan Hedaya as Cher’s father Mel Horowitz interpreted as Mr. Woodhouse amongst others