Module A – Comparative Study of Texts – Emma & Clueless – Essay

Resource Description

‘In a comparative study of texts and contexts, one text lluminates the other.’ Discuss this statement in relation to Emma and Clueless.

Intro: Amy Heckerling’s 1995 postmodern teen flick Clueless can be appreciated on its own, but when it is viewed as a transformation of Jane Austen’s Regency comedy of manners Emma, meaning becomes deeper and a shift in values is highlighted. By cinematically re- contextualsing the genteel, idyllic Highbury to the fast-paced materialistic microcosm of a modern Beverley Hills high school, Heckerling’s film becomes a social commentary, giving responders an insight into both the parallels and realignment of social values and attitudes towards class distinction, marriage stability and gender roles over the past two centuries.

Heckerling’s Clueless represents marriage through the eyes of American teenagers as merely a distant prospect, a metamorphosis for the myopic view upon marriage and more specifically marriage suitability in rural Regency England, express in Austen’s Emma. In 1816 rural England, marriage suitability coalesces around the idea of a “good match.” This can be defined as a couple of near social rank and financial status. Emma speaks of Mr. Weston, – an “exceptional character, with good fortune, suitable age and pleasant manners” – and his companion Miss Taylor’s marriage. She states “how very acceptable it must be at Miss Taylor’s time of life to be settled in a home of her own, how important to her to secure a comfortable provision.” It is evident that Austen is commenting on the nature of marriage suitability through the union of Mr. Weston and Miss Taylor, as he is a genteel man, a representation of the rising middle class. Emma’s myopic view on marriage, “I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry,” is clever combination of both irony and authorial intrusion reaffirming the fundamental reality of the patriarchy and the concept of marriage for social benefit in Regency England. However, Emma is still a woman of her context as she ironically, eventually succumbs to social expectations and ends up marrying Mr. Knightley – the ‘knight in shining armour’ -, who embodies a perfect gentleman, at the end of the novel. This representation of Austen’s criticism of such values, allows the reader to understand that she truly believes marriage should be based on affection, or a true attachment, which engenders genuine ethical and moral behaviour. In contrast, as cultural contexts shift the notion of marriage suitability is transformed into match suitability, in order to maintain image and social status, as well as simply for love, due to the fact that women are not pressured to marry as they more financially independent