Emma&Clueless - Transformation

The external mechanism of literary transformation is a physical modification of form and concept in the mode of the derivation of one text from another. Whilst the new is fundamentally different to the old, recurring thematic similarities afford an appreciation of cultural fluidity and the progress of ideology and representation. The art of transformation engenders critical literary investigation into the relationships between text, context and the reciprocal interrelation of texts. Amy Heckerling’s Clueless (1995) is a sovereign text, yet reflects Jane Austen’s Emma (1815) in theme, style and structure: a modern reading of a historically canonical text. The transformation contemporises Austen’s plot, setting, characterisation and gentle irony, thereby shaping new meaning alongside the universality of Austen. Each text is a construct of the context that produces it; the transformation of one to the other provides a partial basis by which to examine the constancy of our culture.
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