Emma Clueless
Essay Preview: Emma Clueless
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Dear Miss Heckling,
Recently I viewed three extracts from the movie Clueless at its premiere, which I understand you directed. Almost instantly I was made aware of the resemblance between your film and my novel Emma, and by the end of the preview, I was certain that my narrative was the basis of your film.
Your efforts I must commend, while the context was different, and your film did not truly embrace the entirety of my complex narrative, many of the values represented in my text were mirrored in yours.
Your affirmation of family values in the second extract is one such example; Chers father is portrayed as protective of his daughter “I have a .45 and a shovel, I doubt anyone would miss you.” In this, you have subverted my character of Mr. Woodhouse, who is cared for by Emma and in no way as active as Chers father, but this scene also parallels the idea of family importance shown in my novel through the title characters staunch decision to remain with her father.
I was pleased to note that your film also interprets correctly the importance placed on finding the correct partner, incorporated in Emma. Portrayed in the first extract where Cher reproaches Tai on her seeming attachment to Travis, “Dont sell yourself short” and lists a number of acceptable boys she may date…hitting upon one she deems as perfect…with whom Tai is not even acquainted with. Similar to my character Chers matchmaking ignores feeling and reason, her point of argument for the match being
“… He is way popular”
Your direction also concretized Emmas blindness, in visual shots unable to be inserted in a novel. Though I may object to Christians appropriated sexual orientation, and view the removal of the Jane Fairfax plot a terrible pity, I do see the necessity within your genre of “Teen flick” for this simplification. I nonetheless admire greatly the framing of your dance party scene in the second extract, and the satire in the contrast of Chers dialogue with the visual medium. Chers positioning in the middle of each shot physically represents her unshaken belief in her central necessity and location in the life of those around her. Her blindness to Christians