It’s Time To Revisit ‘Clueless’, The Perfect Teen Film
'Clueless' is on Netfix, and it's one of the smartest teen films ever made.
Times are tough out there, lads. With the weight of the past few weeks which has felt like a year, in times like these where times are hard and uncertain, it can be a comfort to just seek the bright, the happy and familiar, such as old favourites — especially teen films.
I’m also turning to new films which I know fill me with a similar sense of ease and joy, such as the new adaptation of Emma. which has recently been released early onto video on demand.
Although I have not read the Jane Austen novel of which it is based (I know, I am a disgrace to the bookselling profession), so much of the film felt familiar to me. I do not mean this in an unoriginal or bad way — it’s because I am a massive fan of Amy Heckerling’s 1995 film Clueless, which is also based on Austen’s novel.
Directed by music photographer Autumn de Wilde, Emma. is about the young, handsome, clever and rich Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her consequential meddling in her friends lives in the pursuit of the perfect match for her new friend Harriet Smith (Mia Goth).
With Johnny Flynn making me swoon as Mr Knightley, Bill Nighy as Emma’s father (who, with his many screens to barricade himself away, is the 2020 Isolation King), Josh O’Connor notching up the sleaze to 100 as Mr Elton, and Miranda Hart as the bumbling Miss Bates, this film is a cracker of wit and over the top delight.
It also made me really want to watch Clueless again.
Modern Adaptations
As my first introduction to the world of Emma, each time I watch an adaptation of Austen’s novel which wasn’t Clueless — whether it’s de Wilde’s in 2020, or the 1996 version with Gwyneth Paltrow — I can’t help but be in awe of how gosh dang smart the teen film is.
Clueless is great for many reasons. It’s razor sharp script are full of iconic zingers which continue to be quoted to this day, including slang which has entered everyday vocab. It also understands that teen films aren’t dumb and doesn’t treat its subjects — or audience — as such.
When adapting Emma for a contemporary audience, writer/director Amy Heckerling was smart in how she translated the 1815 novel to a contemporary teen audience.
The handsome, clever and rich Emma Woodhouse became Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), the daughter of a high-power litigator in a Beverly Hills mansion. Beautiful, blonde, and ignorant about what she does not understand — but insightful and clever in what she does — Cher encapsulates everything that Emma is.
But it’s also more than translating the characters. Watching Emma. post-Clueless, there are scenes and characters I recognise with such familiarity as Heckerling pulls moments from the novel which blend seamlessly into the lives of 90s Beverly Hills teenagers.
Elton asking to keep the photo Cher took of Tai in his locker is seen when Mr Elton makes a fuss about framing the portrait Emma paints of her friend. The organisation of who will drive whom home after the Val party is everyone fleeing dinner at Randalls. Josh dancing with Tai at the party is Mr Knightley stepping in to dance with Harriet, etcetera etcetera.
Clueless (1995) pic.twitter.com/UqtMF38Xd8
— Women in Film (@w0meninfiIm) March 24, 2020
Teen Films are Lit(erature)
Clueless makes the work of Jane Austen more accessible.
It’s similar to 10 Things I Hate About You, based on the play The Taming of the Shrew, in how it makes for an accessible introduction into Shakespeare by placing the story in a setting which contemporary teens can relate to.
These attachments to literary classics also elevate the teen films.
Although I already consider the “low art” of teen film to be the highest form of art there is, there is a certain level of sophistication brought to the genre when they actively engage with comedies highly revered by readers and scholars alike.
In the book As If: The Oral History of Clueless Jen Chaney speaks to multiple Austen scholars who agree that Clueless is one of — if not the — best Austen adaptations to exist.
The setting may be unrecognisable from Austen-era England, but Clueless keeps the spirit of the novel alive.
Austen was writing modern comedies and romantic dramas which spoke to her time. However, her works are also timeless. Clueless pulls out the aspects and scenes from the novel which are still so relevant and recognisable today, not only from frequent adaptations, but because of how easily they translate into contemporary life.
No matter what year it is, trying to keep track of crushes, managing the tricky terrain of the friend group, learning from your mistakes and coming-of-age are moments we all go through, and always will.
Keeping up one's spirits with feel good films. Tonight that was… Clueless! Can't stop doing this now #IsolationLife #StayAtHomeAndStaySafe pic.twitter.com/zQl2DHEa79
— Cassie 🌻⚡📚 (@CassieKempSLS) March 28, 2020
A Welcome Distraction
When Amy Heckerling was making Clueless, she explicitly told her cinematographers and camera department that she wants the film to look as happy as possible.
This translates into all the California sunshine and bright technicolour’s we see in the film. De Wilde’s Emma. is similarly filled with so many delightful colours and confections. An explosion of pastels and girlish frivolities, if anything, the film is also incredibly pretty to look at.
It’s always comforting to return to a period film, especially one as bright and full of antics as this one.
By its very nature, the period film is a fantasy world, a chance for contemporary audiences to escape their mundane lives and into the world of men on horseback, dancing at balls and long walks through the countryside (ok, so that last one is probably closer to home these days #socialdistancewalk).
Clueless also lends itself to fantasy, because who the hell has a life/wardrobe like Cher Horowitz?!
During the director’s commentary of the 2005 Pride & Prejudice, director Joe Wright recounts a story of one of the make up artists whispering “I wish that was my life” during filming. He points out that wish fulfilment is important in drama, and by extension, film. Not only does it offer a reprise from everyday life, but it also gives us something to hold on to.
Wish fulfilment, fantasy, and a story where everything turns out alright in the end. It is because of these reasons that Emma and Clueless are the welcome distraction we currently all need.
Except maybe skip the part when they play Suck and Blow at the Val party in Clueless. Everyone putting their mouths on a random credit card?! In this pandemic?! *stress*
Emma. is now available on iTunes. Clueless is streaming on Netflix. This has been part of Junkee’s column TEEN SCREEN.
Claire White is a writer/bookseller based in Melbourne. She is a Teen Screen Tragic/Scholar, wrote a thesis about on-screen depictions of girlhood, and dyed her hair red to be like Molly Ringwald. Find her on Twitter @theclairencew.