Clueless and Emma: A Direct Correlation
The novel Emma shows a young woman who was “handsome, clever, and rich with a comfortable home and a happy disposition” (Austen 5). The movie Clueless depicts a young lady who lives in Beverly Hills, with all the luxuries a girl could ask for, including unlimited shopping sprees. This is just one example of the numerous parallels between the novel Emma and the 1995 film Clueless. Emma and Cher are similar characters whose situations and actions are merely separated by a difference in time periods.
Cher and Emma have similar parental situations. Cher’s father is a powerful attorney who Cher tries to take care of by making sure he eats properly. He lets her do pretty much whatever she wants and gives her endless monetary means. Her mother died during a freak plastic surgery accident. Emma’s situation is similar. Emma’s mother had also died when she was very young, and her father was too lenient while raising her. Emma also takes care of her father, acting like a mother to him as she also tires to do to Harriet.
Snobbiness is also evident in the two girls. Cher, while trying to help a new girl named Tai, explains to Tai that “due to the fact that you are hanging out with Dionne and IâÂ?¦âÂ?¦well that just speaks volumes of you”. Cher is trying to mold Tai into what she considers to be a well-rounded human being. Emma’s snobbiness is shown in that Jane Austen explains Emma with the following, ” The real evils indeed of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself”(5). The snootiness of the two girls comes out when, in their eyes, they try to help two poor souls, Tai for Cher, and Harriet for Emma. Both of girls are of a lower social class than the two main characters. Emma insists that the friends that Harriet has made are “unworthy of her”, meaning that they were not of the right social class and thus not good enough for her. This situation is similar in Clueless when Cher decides to instruct Tai on the right guys to date. When Tai takes a liking to Travis Birkenstock, she informs Tai that “no respectable girls ever dates” guys like Travis.
A similar situation is evident in Emma, when Harriet falls for a farmer named Robert Martin. Emma says of Martin that he is, “a completely gross, vulgar farmer, totally inattentive to appearances, and thinking of nothing but profit and loss” (33). Ultimately, both girls, while exuding this snobbish behavior in both instances, also feel that they are doing good by helping someone who is less fortunate than themselves; when in reality, they are just doing it to feed their egos and make themselves feel better.
Cher and Emma succeed momentarily in the pairing of their “charity cases” with under privileged boys. They now both are on a mission to find an acceptable boy to date. Emma comes up with Mr. Elton. Emma tires to get Mr. Elton to take notice of Harriet by painting a portrait of Harriet. Mr. Elton enjoys the picture so much that he has it to be framed immediately. Emma, thinking that Mr. Elton has taken to Harriet, is unaware to the fact that he merely adored the picture because Emma painted it. This scenario is similarly mapped out in Clueless. Cher is taking photos of Tai. After she develops them, she shows a picture of Tai to Elton, a “acceptable” boy. Elton praise the photo and hangs it in his locker. Unbeknownst to Cher, he has hung in his locker only because it was taken by Cher.
Another situation that is similar between Emma and Cher is that the men that the girls are trying to hook their “projects” up with, take a liking to the “heroines” Cher and Emma. After a party, Emma must ride home with Mr. Elton. While riding along in the carriage she hints to him that she would pass any messages along to Harriet if he had anything to say to her. At this time Mr. Elton says, “Everything that I have said or done, for many weeks past, has been with sole view of marking my adoration of yourself”(131). Emma is shocked by this and Mr. Elton replies with that statement that he could not like Harriet because she is of a lower class. Cher’s situation is extremely similar.
Cher is forced to ride home with Elton from a party, due to the close proximities of their residences. While riding in the car Elton tries to kiss Cher. In disbelief, Cher pulls away exclaims that she thought he was into Tai. He explains that he put the picture in his locker because Cher took it, not because of Tai. He also points out that he could not date Tai because of her social status by exclaiming, “do you know who my father is?”. Both Cher and Emma’s plans take a wrong when they realize the realities of the situations.
Emma and Cher both encounter a similar character into their life. This is a male character with which both girls have a “crush” on. For Emma, it is Frank Churchill. For Cher, it is Christian. Mr. Knightley is not fond of Frank Churchill. He states that “My dear Emma, your own good sense could not endure such a puppy when it came to that point”(150). Josh, Mr. Knightley’s counterpart in Clueless, does not like that Cher is spending time with Christian. When Christian comes to pick Cher up for a “date”, Josh is downstairs with Cher’s father (it should be mentioned at this point that Josh is Cher’s ex-step-brother, if that makes any sense). Josh insists Cher’s father that he “go to keep and eye of her”. Even though Cher is falling for Christian, she finds out that he is a homosexual, which obviously means that he is not dating material. While Mr. Churchill is not a homosexual, which would have been extremely racy during that period of time, Emma realizes that, “Their affection was always to subside into friendship”(264).
Emma and Cher, being pretentious girls themselves, each experience a “downfall” of popularity or status. Cher experiences her’s via Tai. While Tai is at the mall, 2 mall rats hang her over a railing in the mall. She is frightened and Christian comes and saves her. Tai turns her story into a life threatening one, which leads everyone at school to take notice of her. This leaves Cher in the shadows, with no attention being given to her because it is all focused on Tai because, in Tai’s words, “I almost died”. Emma’s popularity blow takes place at Box Hill. Emma insults and mocks Ms. Bates. Mr. Knightley does not appreciate her actions, so her tells her how low she has gone in her actions. This is the first time in the novel in which we see Emma’s feelings and ego hurt. Jane Austen states that, “Never had she felt so agitated, mortified, grieved, at any circumstance in her life. She felt it at her heart”(376). By this situation tugging at Emma’s feelings, this will make her realize her actions and try to be a better person.
Another moment of failure is evident when Cher fails her drivers test. She never fails at anything. Emma also fails. She is asked to sing and play piano, but Jane Farifax proves to be more talented at it. This pulls at Emma’s ego as Cher failing her drivers test has pulled at hers.
Both of the girls, Emma and Cher, have a realization point, they realize that they are in love with the men that have been under their noses the whole time, Josh and Mr. Knightley. Cher comes to this realization when Tai asks Cher if her and Josh would be good together. Harriet also asks Emma about Mr. Knightley. Emma’s realization: “It darted through her, with the speed of an arrow, that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself”(407). Cher comes to this conclusion while shopping on Rodeo Drive. While stopping in front a spewing fountain she exclaims, “wait, I love Josh!”.
Ultimately, both characters end up with their men that were under their noses the whole time, Cher and Josh, and Emma and Mr. Knightley. While the young women, Harriet and Tai, end up with their original first loves, Harriet with Robert Martin, and Tai with Travis Birkenstock. And one of the most important aspects of these endings is that Emma and Cher are both happy for their friends that they ended up with the men they loved, even if they originally thought lowly of them.
Ultimately, Cher and Emma both come to the realization that you love who you love. Even though both character are pretentious, they go through situations that bring them to realize that their egos could get the best of them. At the end of both stories, Cher and Emma really are “heroines”. They both get a “reality check”. Cher gets what she wants, Josh, and learns some valuable lessons along the way. Tai is happy, and most importantly, Cher is genuinely happy for Tai. Emma is pleased with Mr. Knightley as she is pleased for Harriet being with Robert Martin. Even though Cher and Emma are 150 years apart, they still have the same lessons learned and are still challenged with the same decisions. Egos can still be crushed, and it is always important to appear to have the upper hand in situations. Times change, and so do people, but the lessons we learn in life stay the same, no matter the time or the place.
