Clueless

Title - Clueless
Author- Jane Austen (Emma)/Amy Heckerling -Director
Publication Date : July 19, 1995

Plot - Amy Heckerling's 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen's Book Emma tells the story of Cher(Alicia Silverstone), a High School student in Beverly Hills who decides to take a social interest in a girl, Tai(Brittany Murphy), who would not normally be considered in her Social Circle.  Through her machinations she ends up convincing the girl that she is really interested in Elton( Jeremy Sisto). This does not work itself out as she eventually finds that Elton's interests are more in Cher herself.  All of which brings us back to the person of Cher, who comes to realize that sometimes the life that you should be most involved with is your own, as when you step away from getting involves in the lives of others, things do tend to work themselves out, for them, and for yourself.

Critical Review - Amy Heckerling does a creditable job of adapting the work of Emma to the big screen and giving it a teenage sensibility.  Although maybe Heckerling did not have to stretch that far to confer upon high school students that kind of Characters that Austen had envisioned with Emma.  You have the social outcasts, as well as the people misconstruing intentions, and gossip abounding in a small little community.  This would seem to fit perfectly into the high school atmosphere.  The pace is light hearted and fun.. and Cher finds her own Mr. Knightly in the end, or as Cher would put it, her own Baldwin.

Reader's (Watcher's) Annotation - Sometimes the life that you try to save, will ultimately be your own.  Cher, in attempting to fix everyone else' life finds that her own is in a fix, and she just might lose the person she loves, to the person she tried to help.  Can she fix things in time?

Information about the Author - Jane Austen lived the vast majority of her life on the fringes of the English gentry, giving her the perfect place with which both to view and critique the manners and mannerisms of the English social set.  These societies seemed to have their own set of rules that they thought were OK to follow.  What sets Austen apart is her biting social commentary and a keen understanding of human nature and the foibles that one may get into when trying to do the right thing for the wrong reasons, or vise versa.  Much of her novelizations are commentaries about class structure, and the importance of love and family.

Amy Heckerling has been a box office darling and one of the few successful female directors in the business.  Like Austen herself, she has had to face a industry dominated by men, but through her wit and charm and an understanding of human nature has been able to make herself a success in her chosen profession.  She has directed such hits as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Look Who's Talking, and Clueless, two of which have spawned TV series as result.

Genre - Movies, Comedy

Curriculum Ties - Discuss film adaptations of English literature - Literature

Booktalking Ideas - Do a combined study of Emma for a book talk and have a showing of Clueless at the Library.  One might also do a double feature with a film adaptation of Emma to compare it to.

Interest Age - Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - None

Why Included - I suppose aside from my love of Jane Austen and including another teen movie adaptation, there might be a side of me who is subtly paying homage to some of the former teen actors who have recently passed away i.e. Brittany Murphy.