Emma and Clueless - transformation

The transformation of Jane Austen’s novel Emma into Amy Heckerling’s movie Clueless does not trivialise the original text, but rather, enriches it by repositioning the responder. Clueless allows for a whole new understanding of Austen’s Emma. An apparently superficial teen flick whose onion-like layers of meaning are peeled back one by one. The class structure and social mores evaluated in Emma are transformed in Clueless, reflecting modern values and relationship powerplays.

The similarities of each text comments on the universality or unchanging nature to aspects of humanity. It is looking at the modern day equivalents in each text that we see can the contrasting values of these starkly different worlds. Thus, on close examination, comparisons are revealed, making the process a truly enriching transformation. By examining heroines in both texts, we are forced to revisit familiar themes and issues.

Heckerling’s characters may use the language of the 1990s and hav...