“As if” Amy Heckerling could make another successful movie after “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” If you actually believe this, you must be really “Clueless.” This 1995 loosely adaptated version of Jane Austen’s acclaimed novel, Emma, may seem like another robotic movie about teen life in high school, but in reality this satirical comedy touches on society, politics, as well as the life of a mega-rich valley girl teenager in Beverly Hills, California.
Whether it is through the main character, popular match-maker extraordinaire Cher (Alicia Silverstone) falling in love with a boy who turns out to be gay, or that she is only friends with Dionne (Stacey Dash) because they, “both know what it’s like to have people jealous of [them],” the smart, witty dialogue suggests that these seemingly oblivious characters share a secret with the audience- they are, in fact, smarter than they wish to share with their fellow rich teenagers. Although not every driver only drives places that have valet, this flick is still relatable to children who only have one parent, people with abusive boyfriends, or those who feel excluded in high school.
Heckerling also comments on the societal views of beauty, mocking that one high school girl cannot participate in gym class because her, “plastic surgeon doesn’t want [her] doing any activities where balls fly at [her] nose.” She continues with this theme by highlighting the unimportance of outer beauty. Cher meets Tai (Brittany Murphy) a grungy unfortunate looking new girl in the eyes of Cher and her team of popular rich kids. She immediately makes it her goal in life to transform Tai into a popular girl, giving her tips and tricks on how to act, dress, and even speak. This obsession for perfection on the outside is, of course, in lieu of actually studying, where talking her way from a C+ to an A- received merit from Cher’s father, who expressed that he, “couldn’t be happier than if they were based on real grades.”
However, Heckerling points out that outer beauty is not the end all, be all. In the end, Tai ends up becoming popular, but turns on Cher, leading to her own social and moral demise. Cher finds herself falling in love with the quarterback of the football team and prom king? Nope, but her quirky older step-brother who is anything but popular or cute in the conventional sense, proving that it truly is inner beauty that matters. Cher embarks on a journey for outer perfection and in turn gets her own makeover, on the things that really matter.
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