When we feel
impotent and out of control, and feel we are in need for a sanctuary in a place
where we could gather our thoughts and regain our strength, where would we go?
Well, according to Cher, we should go to the mall!
Clueless
is a comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling that was produced in 1995. The
story is based on Jane Austin’s novel “Emma”; however, the setting is
different, where the story takes place in Beverly Hills in the 1990s.
The
film portrays the material and non-material culture of Beverly Hills’ high
school kids, with all their values, beliefs, and norms. Cher, the main
character in the film, is a rich teenager, whose mother died long time ago
while undergoing liposuction. She is obsessed with fashion, shopping, and
matchmaking; yet, she is not interested in dating high school boys. Her ex
stepbrother Josh is a college student, who keeps teasing Cher for being selfish
and superficial, and tells her that her only direction in life is ‘toward the
mall’.
The
film portrays the popular culture in Beverly Hills using sarcasm.
Most of the people are materialistic, obsessed with fashion, dating, and
plastic surgery. For example, a lot of high school girls had a bandage on their
noses, and some on their chins, which mocks the fact that plastic surgery, and
especially having a nose job, is a norm
in this society. Moreover, one of the girls, trying to avoid tennis practice in
school, tells the teacher that her plastic surgeon doesn’t want her to do any
activity where balls fly at her nose. Another thing that contributes to this
irony is the death of Cher’s mom while undergoing a liposuction surgery. The
obsession with fashion is also exaggerated and observed when Cher designs her
clothes in the morning on a computer screen rather than on her own body.
The film portrays the materialistic life people in Beverly Hills live. They understand the language of brands, the shopping mall is considered to be a place where Cher can concentrate, think and get focused. As Josh, Cher’s ex-stepbrother, says, Cher’s ‘only direction in life’ is ‘towards the mall’. According to Coonie, ‘Cher’s main thrill in life’ is to give someone a makeover, ‘it gives her a sense of control in a world full of chaos.’
The
popular cultural represented in the film was shown to an extreme level of
exaggeration and irony, however 16 years after the film release this popular
cultural, based on materialism and consumerism,
is now found not only in the US but also worldwide.
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