Research into Clueless

Clueless (1995)

Clueless is a 1995 teen-film, written and directed by Amy Heckerling. It's based on the 1815 novel Emma by Jane Austen. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures, with a budget of $20 million - it's box office was $56.6 million, making it a huge success globally.

Target audience:

The target audience of Clueless is generally that of teens, but may so interest young adults around the ages of 20+. It was rated 12 in the UK, and PG-13 in the USA due to it's sex related dialogue and use of alcohol and drugs.

Genre and sub-genre:

• Teen Comedy 
• Romance 

Themes raised in film:

• Relationships - Cher becomes over-obsessed with finding Tai a boyfriend, as well as making Christopher hers. There is the relationship of Dionne and Murray. We see Cher trying to set up two of her teachers together. 
• Sex, drugs and alcohol - We see the usual high-school parties, in which there is alcohol and drugs. The issue of sex is raised in a few scenes during the movie. 
• School - There is a lot of school participation in the movie, such as events. 
• Shopping - Shopping is a very main part of this film, as it's what relates around the stereotype of Cher. 

Stereotypical characters:

Charlotte "Cher" Horowitz [the rich popular girl] - a very sweet, spoiled girl who lives in a mansion in Beverly Hills. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, and not very stereotypically of her popular girl persona, she is very intelligent and orientated. She plays the matchmaker on two of her teachers, in order to boost her grade up from a C+ to an A-. She takes on the mission of giving the new girl, Tai, a make over and finding her a boyfriend however in the mean time finds a love hopeless interest herself (Christopher).

Dionne Devenport [the other popular girl] - Best friends with Cher. Like Cher, she is rich and beautiful - they both have very similar personalities and once again, unlike their stereotypes are very caring and smart. She is always fighting with her boyfriend (Murray) and they always seem to be in disagreement, although Cher somehow admires their relationship.

Tai Frasier [the ugly duckling, transformed into a beautiful swan] - Tai is the new girl, and is given a makeover by Cher and Dionne. Cher tries to set her up with one of the popular boys, Elton to boost her popularity and eventually Tai threatens Cher's popularity. She ends up liking Cher's step-brother, Josh.

Josh Lucas [the annoying older step-brother] - Cher's step brother, who goes to live with them over the holidays. The two don't really get along at first, but begin to form a bond afterwards.

Melvin "Mel" Horowitz [the caring, over protective widowed father] - Cher's father, who is an expensive litigator in Beverly Hills. Throughout the film, he is working on a big case. He comes off as very protective of Cher, and also shows his love and concern for his daughter.

Christian Stovitz [pretty boy] - Cher's love interest. She seems to do everything she can to get his attention however fails. In the end we find out that he isn't interested in girls.