Module A: Comparative Study of Texts and Context
Elective 1: Transformations
Emma by Jane Austen
Clueless by Amy Heckerling
Presented by:
Larry Grumley B.S.E., Dip. Ed., M.A. (Hons)
Head of English
Catherine McAuley H.S.
Author HSC Study Guides and English texts
(Edited)
The HSC is going to test your ability to analyse language, the HOW.
Use personal language, style, flair, conviction, your own experiences and point of view. Don’t simply regurgitate what you read or are told.
When choosing scenes/quotes to discuss in Clueless or other texts, choose ones that personally impacted on you. Conviction comes from personal interest. Impress upon the marker your maturity, intellect, personal identity and flair.
Use your vocabulary. Don’t use the words “good” or “bad” – you learnt this (depending on your behaviour) at around age 2 – 4. Extend your meanings.
You are studying English as a subject. Use language specific to that subject – appropriate terminology and sophisticated vocabulary.
Jane Austen’s world compared to 1995 world. Are the texts appropriate representations of their time? Research the contexts and find evidence of them in the texts.
Find evidence of transformations and intertextualities. Which parts were used, left out and why.
Consider how you personally view the texts, if you read Emma first or saw Clueless first? Investigate this – you’ll find interesting responses. How does your personal context influence your reading?
You are studying the umbrella of transformation. Obviously, some definition of transformation at the beginning of your essay would be a good idea.
Consider why Heckerling chose Emma to transform into Clueless. Why not any other of Jane Austen’s novels? Why are Emma’s themes still relevant, which/why values are still important and applicable?
Transformation means something has changed – the text has been appropriated and is not a simple repetition. The new syllabus term, composer, suggests that contemporary publications remake/appropriate/transform something from earlier artists – there are fewer ideas/themes that have not already been explored and fewer ‘inventors’. This is a Postmodernist concept, that nothing is new. The transformation gives different insights.
Why has Heckerling chosen the film medium? How does this affect the transformation of Emma?
Film appeals to visual learners. Larger exposure to visual texts and popular culture.
Clueless has many uses of subtext – connotations, implications, ‘reading between lines’, nuances of language – throughout its characters, descriptions and dialogue.
Opening scene has varied camera shots, engaging the audience’s visual attention.
Voice over narration is reminiscent of Austen’s narrator intrusion.
Aural attention is engaged by music, which sets up the subject “Kids in America”.
Tone drips with sarcasm from the very beginning, suggesting that everyone should have a computer that matches your outfit “way normal”, and everyone looks and feels brilliant in the morning.
Clear sense of characterisation in complete explanations narrated by Cher, transformation from Emma.
Do not assume contextual/cultural contexts, especially of US culture. Be clear – research them. Clueless has many allusions and intertextual items such as Cher, Dionne, and idiomatic ideas.
The film medium, in using actors, asks the responder for a willing suspension of disbelief. What else makes it a film? Why is it a film?
Clueless targets the audience and uses techniques to stimulate responses. For example, we are quite aware Cher and Josh are getting together long before they kiss (dramatic irony is often used for humour), but we are still interested in events. How has Heckerling manipulated the responder?
The soundtrack summarises the scene “Kids in America”, “Fashion” and provides the orientation for subject focuses.
Elton scenes are explicit, direct parallels to Emma. Others are more implicit. Look for the balance between the texts individually and as a transformation.
Emma has a slower plot. Austen drew her characters fully, part of the conventions of her context. This was required before responder sympathy was given. She gives the responder the full nuance of character personality, motivation in life, relationships with family, friends and social standing.
Clueless has many teen-flick episodes, such as the abominable driving. Driving sequences create suspense and tension. The scenes jump quickly into action without full explanations of individual motivations. The responder is expected to be more accepting of the characters without knowledge. Film relies heavily on this immediate responder sympathy.
Heckerling switches the motivations of characters.
Austen gives us Emma’s motivations much earlier. She is aggressive, class-conscious, demanding, superior, and the Box-Hill incident brings her back to reality.
In Clueless, only Cher is given clear motivations. Other character motivations are assumed through stereotypes.
Culture and costume make the stereotypes:
Elton – constantly in upmarket clothing, “Inane” comments, not enough knowledge
Travis – stereotyped skateboarder, relationship sealed with his skill at skateboarding, in winning a girl
Cher takes both responder and her “project”, Tai, on an introductory tour to the social standing of a high school, categorising people into groups and areas, eg places of druggies, etc. Quick and simple. Culturally specific.
Emma is more universal, characters known in variety.
Clueless’s target audience is specific. American culture, TV exposure, allusions to infomercials, noxima commercials. Satire on Cher, Dionne, great singers becoming infomercial icons. Culturally reduced by choice of names. Noxima is a moisturising cream, exclusive originally to adults. Push later into youth market. Representation of period. Logos on clothing. Consumer market context.
Emma has an understood social protocol. Meetings and balls had particular structures. The dances had to be carried out in prescribed order.
Look at whether the texts reflect their contexts. If so/not, why?
The Clueless opening. Music starts at the Paranoma film as a part of the orientation. Bright colours are used for the credits, also a reflection of context. The camera angles are slanted, with varying focuses reminiscent of Montage. There are longer focuses on Cher and repetition. At the voice-over, there is a sudden control in camera focus, implying Cher’s control.
The father figure has been transformed, but Cher still fusses over her dad’s health.
You must be able to explain and clarify images in Clueless, in language specific to film.
We are presented bouncy, perfect imagery at Cher’s waking. She is confident, vibrant, strong and a good-looking character. This is portrayed through the upright body language, confident walk, intelligent/adult conversation and treatment of her father.
The contrasting heights between Cher and her father utilises visual language and the dichotomy of father/daughter.
The setting inside the house is pristine. It is an immaculate house with immaculate people. Count the number of times characters are ordered in the house. Order in Cher’s household reflects the order of Emma’ household. Examine how the visual in Clueless is used in contrast to the written language of Emma.
Clueless social protocol is conveyed visually, with mobile phones and plastic surgery a common theme.
A great book about Emma’s context is “What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew.”
In Clueless, the teenagers/kids are part of a consumer society. This is shown though many shopping scenes. Examine how infomercials and brand names have tried to add credibility to their products.
The university is juxtaposed with the high school context. Josh has a social conscience, in contrast to Cher at the beginning. The social sciences teacher who devotedly tries to engage interest is satirised.
The narrative structure of Clueless is everywhere. The film has been edited and put together with a stream of consciousness structure, a twentieth century concept. For example, towards the end in the shopping mall when Cher talks about social issues, she wavers suddenly and comments “Nice hat”, before going straight back to her original topic. Heckerling portrays the more chaotic structure of instant thoughts.
In contrast, Emma is steadier and very logical.
There is a satirisation of the youth, which is the target audience, adding irony. What visual images convey this? Look for a parallel in Emma and identify the language techniques.
The extension of the metaphor, when Cher talks about the refugees in a dinner-party analogy for Cher’s debating topic, is comparable to The Door.
The “Morning” subtext has snippets of conversation and minimalist dialogue. Note the style of composition.
Austen uses extended vocabulary in her verbs and descriptions.
Explore how the concept of families is portrayed in the two texts.
Emma has a typical nuclear family, transformed in the Cher’s single-parent with step-relations such as Christian. Is this a realistic tranformation for the context?
The father in Clueless is intuitive and supportive. The father in Emma however, is more of a mother figure. What transformation of the relationships between father/daughter has occurred?
“We’re friends because we both know what it’s like to have other people jealous of us.” Cher states this as the main reason for her friendship with Dionne, which is probably not a great basis for friendship. Strong, continuous sense of irony.
The dialogue is powerful, but sometimes also used as an afterthought. It reflects the fast-paced modern lifestyle.
Cher talks over her own actions. The world is observed through the eyes of a character, and Heckerling also employs the dramatic irony that Austen used, in that the responders understand more than characters themselves.
In Emma, it is in a carriage that Emma realises Mr Elton likes her.
In Clueless, it is in a car that Cher realises Elton likes her.
In both, there is a consistent responder recognition before the character realises (for Emma, usually evident only on second reading however).
The characteristic self-absorption of Emma is paralleled by Cher. However, when Emma steps outside the social protocol in the Box Hill episode, she is taken aside by Mr Knightley. In Clueless, there is no one episode, but constant commentary from Josh. When Emma broadens her social interests by volunteering, her father is immediately suspicious and asks Josh “Is this your doing?”
“I totally paused.” This is a modern idiom that suggests other things in subtext.
Austen uses formal language. Formality has a particular structure. Clueless is often stated to use colloquial language or slang. However, formality is dependant on the situation and context, and to merely label the language in Clueless as slang is a simplification. “As if” is a formal phrase in a teenage context. It is a language tool to communicate within a specific context.
The voice-overs parallel the authoritorial narrator intrusion in Emma.
Dionne’s boyfriend and his group of friends are introduced in stereotypical oversized trousers and background rap music. There is an immediate recognition of their group that draws on stereotyped assumptions from responder’s context.
“Jeeping”. Specific to California context, where jeeps are common. This limited context is recognised by Heckerling, and its use is immediately followed by the explanation “vehicular sex.”
Clueless could be viewed as a sexist text, with an incredibly limited female perspective throughout. For example, the responder is inundated with Cher’s social commentary “They’re like dogs.” Be aware of different responses to the text.
There is a transformation of the age of Emma to Cher, 21 to 16. Is this an appropriate reflection of changes in society and different contexts?
Heckerling uses intertextuality frequently. For example, Christian’s taste in movies gives hints about his sexual identity, “Spartacus”. In the explanation of Christian’s gayness, Dion’s boyfriend goes through a variety of terms to explain Christian’s gayness and Heckerling plays on dramatic irony as Cher very slowly realises.
The choice of the name Christian also conveys irony, in light of the Church’s disapproval of gay relationships.
In the classroom context, the award ceremony is satirised with Travis’s speech.
Heckerling has compressed the information. Note how scenes are constructed to convey their meaning and influence response.
Define in your own words what this module asks you to do and keep this in mind as you study the texts.
Discuss the title of each text and what they imply.
What makes a canon/icon, in terms of a literary text? As Emma is the canon/icon which ahs been transformed, what elements has Heckerling kept in her film? What elements have been eliminated? Why is there no “Box Hill” incident? What elements have been altered?
Often “value” is most clearly defined at the conclusion of a text – the ‘moral’ of the tale is then delineated. According to this belief, what value to the two texts portray and what are the similarities and differences?
Clarify your knowledge of the following aspects in each text:
Comedic structure – Humour, satire, irony, juxtaposition, allusion, ending
Style – Orientation, narrative voice, mood, creation of suspense/conflict
Setting – Social, physical, racial, political, economic, time, sexual
Characters – Stereotypes, age, family, psychological make-up, moral/ethical motivation
Remember that the choice of a certain camera shot is a conscious attempt to position the responder, just as word choice is used in Emma.
Find a scene in which each of the following is used and decide if it is a key aspect in positioning the responder:
Shots – CU, ECU, Medium close, Medium, Long, Establishing, Pan, Tilt, Zoom, Framing
Angle – High, low
Music – Type, lyrics, position in text, Soundtrack
Mise en scene, Blocking or proxemics, Voiceover, Lighting, Dialogue, Costume
How does the medium affect each of the two texts? How would you have written your film version of Emma?
Know your vocabulary to discuss these texts:
Context
Intertextuality
Point-of-view/angle
Responder
Composer
Subtext
Values
Postmodernism
Positioning the responder
Sample questions
“The process of transformation involves much more than just the adaptation of ideas and form to contemporary situations and audiences.”
Discuss this statement in relation to the TWO prescribed texts you have studied.
Write an interview with Jane Austen and Amy Heckerling in which they discuss the link between text and context.
Choose two scenes from Emma which are contained in some form in Clueless and discuss how they reflect the context in which they were composed.
Choose TWO characters from the TWO texts and discuss their similarities and differences as well as how these are represented in the two texts set for study.
In a speech to Year 12 2001, discuss the notion that for a full appreciation of the film Clueless, one must have read and understood the novel Emma.
Argue the case that one of the texts has more relevance than the other for distribution to a general audience.
