Jane Austen Society of Australia: Study Guide

The Plots - Emma and Clueless

Summarised by William Simon for the English Teachers Association

Emma written by Jane Austen

The eponymous heroine, a character that the author herself has described as a ‘character whom nobody but myself will like’, is an ardent matchmaker. She is young, handsome, spoiled and not particularly accomplished in any of the arts but competent in all. She lives in the village of Highbury with her valetudinarian father and is under constant supervision of the elegant but much older Mr Knightley. In a span lasting no more than a year Emma finds love only after realising how wrong her perceptions were. Unlike other Austen heroines, Emma needs no ‘Mr Right’ to secure her financial future but marriage still rewards her socially and emotionally. Despite the outspokenness of the protagonists and some exemplary writing about the writing process, the text is essentially conservative at a time in English literature when feminism was beginning to emerge, for example, through the works of Mary Wollstonecraft.

Clueless, the story, directed by Amy Heckerling

In the film Clueless, Cher/Emma is a wealthy mobile phone-toting sixteen year old, with a wealthy, cantankerous litigator father. Her life revolves around fashion and designer culture which include a computerised wardrobe that allows her to model clothes on the screen and then on polaroid (‘1 don’t trust mirrors’) before committing herself to the day’s sartorial choice. In language, attitude and social behaviour, Cher’s life is humorously depicted as an intellectually vacant and trivialised existence in the economically over-privileged and socially exclusive Beverley Hills elite of style.

The film’s plot centres on Cher’s benevolent attempts to transform a new girl, Tai (Harriet Smith) from grungy Bronx skateboarder into Calvin Klein-clad fashion queen. The ‘makeover’ however, backfires when Tai, now more snobbishly popular within the Rodeo Drive school clique, fails to fit in with Cher’s plans for a match between Tai and the socially superior Elton (Mr Elton figure). Cher’s loss of social pre-eminence forces her into some recognition of her limitations. Elton’s rejection’s of Tai and his own amorous designs on Cher, coupled with Christian’s rejection of her as a potential sexual partner lead Cher to the awakening of new moral values. These provide the basis for her decision that ‘nobody but herself must marry Josh/Mr Knightley.

Reproduced by kind permission of the English Teachers’ Association (ETA), and the author, Mr William Simon, of Reddam House.