Updating Emma: Clueless

„Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existance; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.“ (Austen, p.5)

„Cher: 'Okay, so you're probably going, "Is this like a Noxema-commercial or what?" But seriously, I actually have a way normal life for a teenage girl.'“ (Clueless)

Some things don't ever seem to change: whether it is England in 1816 or Holly¬wood in 1995, the stories of Emma Woodhouse and Cher Horowitz have a lot in common. Of course, the first one was written as a novel by Jane Austen and the other one is a movie directed by Amy Heckerling, one takes place in Highbury around the landed gentry of 19th century England and the other one is set in 1990's Beverly Hills, but when you take a closer look, the similarities are stunning. Even though it never was officially credited, it is clear that „Clueless“ is a contemporary adaption, or as Lesley Stern chose to call it, an update, of Austen's „Emma“. In the same time, it is the first one released during the 1990's, being followed by no less than ten different adaptations of Austen's work, amongst them Ang Lee's „Sense and Sensibility“ (1995 as well), the BBC-miniseries of „Pride and Prejudice“ (1995), two other versions of „Emma“ (both 1996) and the latest Hollywoos-success with Keira Knightly, „Pride and Prejudice“ (2005). This „Austen-movie-trend“ does not seem to stop – the Internet Movie Database names two tv-productions already completed for 2007 and another three (one Bollywood- and two tvproductions) being in production. But what is it that makes Austen's six novels, and especially three of them, so popular as draft for screenplays, for visual adaptations? On the following pages, I will take a closer look at the the update of „Emma“, Amy Heckerling's „Clueless“.