“It is thought that every original concept has been created hundreds of time over. Creativity is about transforming a familiar thought into something new and original. Pop culture is rife with ideas that have been re-imagined into something new. Pop-culture has a lot of potential in classic literature. It allows them to use tried and true concepts, but make them relatable.

Jane Austen has written many classics. One of the best known is Emma, which tells the story of misguided marriage and youth arrogance. Amy Heckerling, who has adapted Austen’s classic novel several times, modernized it to appeal to a younger audience.

Heckerling’s modernization rewrites the classics in a completely different way. Emma’s movie adaptations, which are historically based and set in the 19th century or earlier, try to capture that period. They recreate the clothing, speech patterns and social norms in the novel with great care. Clueless takes a radical departure from the original formula. The story is set in California in the middle of the nineties, almost 200 years in advance. By swapping the village Highbury for Bronson-Alcott High School, Clueless makes the story more relatable for Western audiences. Modern high schools resemble upper class English society from the early nineteenth-century, and serve as an familiar backdrop to battles for social standing and inane rumors. Highbury High, and Bronson High both exhibit rigid social hierarchies. They have an impact on their characters’ lives.

Clueless is a remake of Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse. The character has been reimagined by Cher Horowitz as a Beverly Hills teenager who is about to turn 16. Both Emma Woodhouse and Cher Horowitz are depicted as manipulative, vain, and extremely wealthy. Austen characterized their fathers’ overindulgence, and both women are able to dominate their own social circles without any maternal figures. Cher has a cell, high-tech clothes, a Jeep, and a handmade gown. Emma enjoys fine carriages, picnics, and handmade dresses. Clueless uses the same concept to show how the protagonists lack self-control, even though the interpretation of wealth and authority has changed over the years. Although human nature has not changed, social norms are a lot different.

Heckerling modernized Clueless to reflect the shift in society’s standards toward a more progressive outlook. Heckerling adds Dione to Emma, Cher’s closest friend. This character does not exist in the original book. Dionne is an African-American young woman, and so is Murray. Heckerling uses the characters in this movie to show off modern diversity and add some entertaining elements, such as Dionne’s turbulent teenage romance with Murray. Heckerling also uses Asian-Americans and Hispanics to contrast the Caucasian society of nineteenth-century England. This reflects the American melting-pot. Cher, who is adamant about diversity, introduces us to Christian, one of the many new students she falls for.

dylanwest

Dylan West is a 33-year-old education blogger and traveler. He has a degree in education from the University of Texas and has been blogging about education since 2009.