Emma and Clueless

"My character’s rules are all about things. She follows these rules - which are totally from some book, but which are absurd. But her rules are right out there, and in the end she says it’s O.K. to like boys and clothes and be who she is. I’ve been meaning to read Emma, like, forever" ("Austen Anew" 55). This quotation revealing Alicia Silverstone’s take on her role in the 1993 hit movie Clueless is both strikingly vacuous and surprisingly insightful.

While she may have never picked up Emma, Silverstone illustrates in this comment why she and so many others are drawn to the text today: both Emma and Cher, the protagonist of Clueless, subscribe to social "rules" while subverting the expectations of their world through the assertion of free will. This dynamic hinges on one condition: the characters’ choices must conveniently live up to society’s demands. Cher and Emma are allowed to be individuals because they are ideal characters. Silverstone makes clear that while a heroine is allowed to "be who she is," such freedom comes only to those who embody a prescribed paradigm and who will make decisions that perpetuate social stability. Austen’s work lends itself to a particular social environment searching for a balance between mutating social convictions. Therefore, the fact that recent popular culture is "having an unprecedented love affair with all things Austen" (Mitchell) demands investigation.

The 1993 hit film Clueless, written and directed by Amy Hecklering, exemplifies how popular culture re-appropriates Austen’s novels to serve updated agendas. As a novel of manners, Emma creates a space between competing ideological extremes of the late eighteenth century. During this period the traditional "aristocratic ideology,"1 based on a hierarchy of social birthright, began to clash with a "progressive ideology" emerging from burgeoning notions of individualism and capitalism. Emma exists as a text enmeshed in this debate and presents a tenuous equilibrium upholding social stability. Correspondingly, Clueless creates a guideline for proper sexual relations in a society both obsessed with sex and terrified by the ramifications of sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS.

As a character, Emma embodies her unsettled social environment. While she aggressively asserts her individuality and follows her free will, she is also the most eligible woman in Highbury. She may act like a product of "progressive ideology," but her social position embeds her in a "traditional ideology" that assumes marriage for social benefit. While Emma appears to reject the expectations inherent in this position, declaring never to marry and eventually marrying for love, it is both convenient and contrived that Kinghtley is not only her choice, but her social equal. The message is clear: follow your heart as long as it is appropriate.

Similarly, Cher’s actions belie her appearance. She embodies a sexual stereotype that a modern audience will immediately recognize. A blond teenager dressed consistently in short skirts, tight tops, and thigh-high stockings appears promiscuous, yet Cher forsakes expectations and remains a virgin until she finds an ideal match. Clueless flips the message espoused in Emma to one that states: follow your desires as long as it is appropriate. Cher’s