Emma and clueless: speech understanding of transformation shaped by the techniques used by various composers in certain texts
...he wealthy even makes this class appear ridiculous and thus ‘unworthy’ of seeking social mobility to belong to. Moreover, the shift in both geographical location and time is arguably less significant than the shift in age group and the latter, transformed text – unlike Emma – unproblematically advocates underage drinking [the Valley party, Cher’s failed seduction of Christian], illicit drug use and underage sex [Cher is not sixteen though Josh is unconcerned by this fact]. Such changes perhaps constitute the largest new element of the transformation and reflect the film’s generic desire to pitch to ‘cool’ teenagers, unlike Emma. Terrible isn’t it? But if you would allow me, I would also like to discuss the fact that transformed settings constitute another important aspect of this transformation. In the case of Emma, for example, Highbury, a “large and populous village” in Surrey some “sixteen miles south of London” serves as Austen’s fictitious locale for this arguably conventional love story wherein “matrimony is the origin of change”. However, Highbury appears striking in its obvious omission of urban industrialism and subsequent misery that defined nineteenth century England. Consider, for example, the scathing attack on industrial brutality in Blake’s The Tyger some twenty years prior to Emma for an understanding of literary social critiques elsewhere in this era. In some respects, Highbury thus represents an England from an earlier, pre-French Revolution time when English life was ‘simpler’ and less morally complicated – in short, a genteel fantasy world that could probably only exist in fiction. Such a world view is also that of the titular protagonist and it is one out of step with nineteenth century English uncertainty. Similarly, the setting of Clueless also safely problematises class, wealth, heredity and material excess. Beverly Hills obviously embodies the superficiality and excess of modern mass culture – which Clueless ironically belongs to – and thus functions well as a satirical location for the action of the film. Such a critique is strikingly evident in the visual motifs of the ‘nose job bandages’ among many high school students and the repetitive and ridiculous usage of mobile phones by adults and teenagers. In commercial terms, the film also seeks to generically appeal to an American teen audience and thus a US location was inevitable. As such, settings can and do have thematic significance insofar as both feature a culturally dominant yet myopic superpower wherein greater vigilance is required from its ruling classes for longer-term survival. But no speech on this particular transformation would be complete without looking at how the change of characters from Emma to Clueless constitutes another salient aesthetic element of this adaptation from 1815 ‘comedy-of-manners’ to 1995 ‘teen-flick’. Given that the same basic character set of the “almost twenty-one” Emma [Cher], Knightley [Josh], Harriet [Tai], Mr Elton [Elton], Miss Taylor [Dionne], Mr Woodhouse [Mel], Frank Churchill [Christian] and Mr Weston [Mr Hall] prevails in both texts – with the omission of Jane Fairfax – many of the same underlying character dynamics remain. For example, Emma’s inability to handle her “intellectual solitude” is arguably reflected in Cher’s failure to drive a masculine Jeep and acquire her driver’s licence [she is failed by a male instructor]. Similarly, Knightley’s subtle efforts to ‘tame’ the ‘shrew’ Emma, hypocritically succeed whereas the latter’s efforts with Harriet and Elton fail dismally, just as Cher’s do when Tai becomes more popular than her. It seems to me here now and hopefully to you too that the “handsome, clever and rich” Emma/Cher must yield to the rationality of Knightley/Josh, arguably a type of Prince Charming/Heathcliff/Petruchio figure. In this sense, Heckerling’s transformation has maintained character types – even if the nationality, age and appearance of each profoundly changes. All of us here today should also recognise that in contrasting the specific techniques in each text, such differences clearly reflect the genre, text type and cultural consumption patterns of their worlds. In the case of Emma, the then dubious novel features knowing and judgemental omniscient narration – “How could she have been so brutal, so cruel to Miss Bates!” which clearly positions responders with the ‘rational’ narrator more than Emma herself while commenting on the etiquette and norms in the fantasy world of Highbury. Similarly, Austen’s use of formal language register reflects the strict social rules of the age wherein adherence to formality was paramount. Yet such prose is equally coloured with emotive resonances of the Romance novel: “as soon as she could recover from the flutter of pleasure, excited by such tender consideration” – a genre not noted for its satirical achievements. Can I also say that the chronological structure over roughly one year of Emma’s life also reinforces the notion of the narrative as a ‘rite of passage’ year for the protagonist, a device common in such texts. The narrative resolution of a wedding [symmetrically mirroring Miss Taylor’s departure through her marriage to Mr Weston at the beginning] thus serves as a conservative denouement which restores order to Highbury and Donwell [‘done well’?]. With Clueless, Heckerling’s ironic use of Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America” song to accompany the film’s opening shopping/socialising/driving montage is juxtaposed against the later actions of the main characters with their untroubled sex, drug and alcohol use – these are thus clearly not children or ‘kids’ but already adults. Furthermore, her extensive use of pop music to drive the tempo of the film forward and convey emotion – Eric Carmen’s famous “All by Myself” during Cher’s epiphany that “I love Josh” by the fountain – would obviously appeal to the teen audience. Cher’s immaculate grooming, expensive designer dresses and penchant for short skirts also position her as a sexually attractive and available woman – despite her age. In my opinion, it is typical of cinema grammar that Cher [Alicia Silverstone] is featured in numerous close-ups to position her as our primary character of interest and for us to sympathetically join her quest for ‘wisdom’ – a view emphasised by her first person voice-over [“I have a way normal life for a teenager”]. In the same way, the extensive visual and verbal jokes - “we were both named after great singers of the past who now do infomercials”...