preview

Comparing Jane Austen's Emma 'And Clueless'

Decent Essays

Good morning classmates. Today I will be discussing Jane Austen’s classic novel Emma, and how it has been transformed into the 1995 movie Clueless. I will be analysing the context, characters, and setting of the two texts by focusing on two specific themes which are central to both texts. The first theme is the value of self-knowledge and moral integrity, and the second theme is social hierarchy.

Amy Heckerling’s 1995 teen comedy Clueless is a cinematic transformation of Jane Austen's novel 19th century novel Emma. It reworks the primary themes of Austen's novel to comment on 20th century teen culture. Emma is set in the village of Highbury, a microcosm of 19th century agragrian England, while Clueless takes place in the consumerist American society of Beverly Hills in the 1990s.

The first theme which is going to be analysed is the value of self-knowledge and moral integrity. This theme is explored in both texts through the development of the protagonist from someone self-centred and borderline narcissistic, to a more self-aware …show more content…

In Austen’s times, social hierarchy was based primarily on one's name, wealth, and family connections. It was highly rigid, and the only way to improve one's situation was to marry up. This was reflected by the fact that while Harriet is deemed to be good company, she is never considered by anyone to be on the same social standing. So by manipulating her to refuse Mr. Martin’s proposal, Emma is doing her friend a huge disservice, for as “the natural daughter of somebody”, Harriet had no better option. Austen critiques the superficiality of the class system by contrasting the views of Mr. Knightley with those of Emma. Knightley deems Mr. Martin an “intelligent, respectable gentleman-farmer”, making an evaluation of his character. Emma, however, always sees a person’s status first and makes a judgment of character around that – and so she is immediately disapproving of Mr

Get Access