Emma

From Highbury to High School

via parallelism and parody

I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity,the

most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to
be an authoress
Jane Austen

Born on 16 December 1775, Jane Austen is one of English literatures most celebrated authors.
However, it was many years after her death that her genius finally began to be recognised, as
her novels had originally been published anonymously. Austen used her novels to cast a critical
and satirical eye over the landed gentry of England towards the latter part of the 18th Century.
As with most of her novels, Emma highlights the dependence of women on marriage, financial
security and social standing.
Some of the topics Austen covered in her novels are as relevant today as they were then, which
is why several re-workings and adaptations of her works have been produced.. Emma (1996),
stars Gwyneth Paltrow as the eponymous heroine attempts to stay as faithful as possible to the
novel, whereas Clueless (1995), starring Alicia Silverstone playfully integrates the serious topics
of Austens day into the shallow, commodity hungry, micro environment of the American High
School. At first glance it does not appear that Clueless is anything more than a teen flick or
generic rom-com. However, I intend to highlight examples of parallelisms between the movie
and Jane Austens Emma that, unless you have read the novel or seen an accurate adaptation,
you may not be aware of.

Death of the narrator

Emma Woodhouse,
handsome,clever, and rich,
with a comfortable home and
happy disposition, seemed
to unite some of the best
blessings of existence; and
had lived nearly twenty-one
years in the world, with very
little to distress or vex her
Emma (2015 p.7)

The instantly recognisable opening lines of Emma are delivered by an omniscient heterodiegetic narrator,
giving the reader a very quick appraisal of Emma. Unless the filmmakers decide to include a narrator that
is separate from the fictional world, they must show rather than tell the viewer that Emma is all of these
things.By casting extremely attractive women such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Alicia Silverstone, the viewer
can instantly relate them to the main character. However,Clueless does have instances of Free Indirect
Speech, just as the novel has, with the viewer being privy to Chers private thoughts by way of a voiceover
by the individual character.
The third person narrator continues in the novel to give a little background information about Emma which
is important to our understanding of her.One of the important factors the narrator imparts is the absence of
Mrs. Woodhouse, who died when Emma was two leaving Emma and her father alone.We are also told that,
up until recently the household had employed a governess- Miss Taylor,who had evolved into a good friend
and confident to Emma. However, Miss Taylor had recently married and left the employ of Mr Woodhouse.

Cher Horowitz, like Emma Woodhouse, has been

brought up primarily by her father. Her mother
also died, however, in order to bring the story into
the twentieth century and to depart from the
extra-diegetic narrator the details of her death are
discussed during their conversation at breakfast,
revealing that she died in the operating theatre
whilst undergoing routine liposuction. This
reference to liposuction as routine appears to
foreshadow the movies relentless mocking of the
American high class, just as Austen pokes fun at
the very same social class in Emma. Indeed
despite the many parallelisms in the movie,
Clueless appears to be one long parodic homage
to Emma, even though it makes no literal
reference at all,to either Austen or the novel itself.

Lessons in Love
Emma Woodhouse sees
Those soft blue eyes and all those natural
herself as a relationship
graces should not be wasted on the inferior
expert feeling that she
society of Highbury and its connections. The
was instrumental to the
acquaintance she had already formed were
unworthy of her. The friends from whom she
marriage of Miss Taylor
had just parted, though very good sort of
and Mr Weston.As such
people, must be doing her harm. They were a
she takes it upon herself
family of the name of Martin
to improve Harriet Smith
Emma (2015 p.24)
by convincing her to sever
contact with her old
friends, including the
gentleman farmer Mr Martin, Cher Horovitz also perceives
with whom she seems to be
herself as an expert in the art of
enjoying a fledgling
matchmaking. Whereas Miss taylor and
relationship.Emma explains
Mr Weston are already married as the
to Harriet that Mr Martin is
novel commences, we witness the
not elevated enough and
process of matchmaking by Cher which
culminates at the end of the film with the
she should set her sights
marriage of Mr Wendell and Miss Geist.
higher.
Unlike Emma, who is convinced that she
It does seem strange,
is merely a conduit for the improvement
however, that Emma feels
that Mr Martin, a comfortably and elevation of the life of Harriet Smith,
Cher is acting as Cupid for purely selfish
well off land owner could not
reasons i.e. to negotiate a better grade
comfortably care and
from Mr Wendell.As the two teachers
provide for Harriet. Emma
begin to embark on this new, albeit
believes that Mr Martin is
manufactured, relationship, Cher
not well read as he forgot to
decides she has a flair for matchmaking
access a book she had
and when new girl Tai Frasier turns up
recommended. She decides
at school, she decides that Tai will
that Harriet would be far
become her project, thus reflecting,yet
at the same time, parodying the Emma/
more suited to Mr Elton, the
Harriet relationship in the novel.
local clergyman, whom she
believes to be far better
educated and mannered.

The Emma/Harriet and Cher/

Tai relationships both appear to
be important satellite events
which, although not important
in their own right, drive the plot
forward. The main focus or
kernel event in both novel and
film is the journey of selfdiscovery by Emma and Cher,
a journey that culminates in
their understanding of their
societal places and roles being
turned on its head.

exactly the young friend

she wanted
Emma (2015 p.26)

Picture This
We only see what we want to see
Don Miguel Ruiz

This man is almost too gallant to be in love, thought Emma. I should say so, but
that I suppose there may be a hundred different ways of being in love. He is an
excellent young man, and will suit Harriet exactly; it will be an Exactly so, as he says
himself; but he does sigh and languish, and study for compliments rather more than I
can endure as a principal. I come in for a pretty good share as a second. But it is
gratitude on Harriets account.
Emma misunderstands Mr Eltons compliments, Emma (2015 p.48)
As Emma continues to fan the flames of, what she
assumes, is the burgeoning of their relationship
she suggests painting a portrait of Harriet, much to
the excitement of Mr Elton.Emma, for all her, self
supposed, skills in matchmaking, is totally oblivious
to the fact that she is the object of Mr Eltons
enthusiastic praise and not Harriet. The passage
above highlights this as the narrator describes
Emmas thought process of attributing all praise
and compliments to Harriet. Indeed in the first
sentence it appears that Emma believes Mr Elton
to be too gallant to express his feelings directly at
or to Harriet.

This example of Emmas habit of misinterpreting

events that seem perfectly obvious to the reader,
is prevalent through the novel.It seems ironic that
a woman so well educated in etiquette and
gentility can be so ignorant to the obvious
advances of a would-be suitor. It is through
examples such as this that the reader becomes
acutely aware of Emmas navet and her inability
to perceive true reality; instead viewing the world
as some kind of utopian wonderland. Emma
continues to misread the situation, when later in
the chapter Mr Elton volunteers to take the
painting to London in order to get it framed. She
still believes him to be acting this way in order to
impress Harriet, when in reality he is attempting
to gain favour from Emma.

The camera never lies

Thus, in this case I believe Cher to be justified in
believing that Elton asked for the photograph because he
admired Tai, whereas if Emma was as insightful as she
believes herself to be then she would have picked up on
Mr Eltons romantic overtones.
Another way that the filmmakers of Clueless try to
convey that there is nothing between Tai and Elton
besides the possibility of friendship,despite Chers best
efforts, is the extra-diegetic soundtrack that accompanies
this particular scene. Alright, by Supergrass makes
several references to having a good time with friends,
perhaps this is to accentuate the lack of any notion of
romance between Tai and Elton.

Say Cheese. Cher attempts to photograph Tai

and Elton together.

Clueless both parallels and parodies the painting

scene as well as bringing it into the 20th Century.
Rather than painting a portrait of Tai, Cher
attempts to photograph her and Elton together
under the guise of a group picture. However, the
framing and composition of the scene grossly
exaggerate both Chers misreading of the signals
and Eltons blatantly obvious preference of Cher.
The initial blocking of the actors in the shot
clearly show an exaggerated distance between
Tai and Elton, so much so that Cher has to
actively encourage them to acknowledge one
another.
It is also plain to see how much Elton is engaging
with the camera and the photographer i.e. Cher.
After the photo shoot Elton requests a copy of a
photograph of Tai which he sticks to the inside of
his locker door. This appears to parallel Mr
Eltons request to take Harriets portrait to London
in order to be framed. It does, however, appear to
mock the original even further. Whilst it is easy to
imagine someone framing a work of art,
regardless of the subject matter, it takes a lot
more effort to imagine anyone displaying a
photograph of a person in order to admire the
handiwork of the photographer.

.but Elton only has eyes for one girl

See our friends, see the sights- feel alright

-Supergrass

Conclusion
In its day Emma by Jane Austen would have been a topical, satirical and perhaps a little provocative finger
point towards the, sometime eccentric English gentry. Although still amusing today the topics it covered are
not quite as relevant. Clueless takes the novel, deconstructs it, then pieces it back together, not to deal with
current issues as such, more to illustrate how shallow we can be. Cher typifies how obsessed we seem to
be today with our appearance; through social media, through our constant hunger for latest trends and
commodities. We seem to worry so much about impressing people and involving ourselves in their lives that
we miss events that could improve our own. Both Emma and Clueless eventually work themselves into the
happy ever after narrative despite countless opportunities for everything to go wrong.
The mere fact, however, that despite the 200 year gap between the novel and the adaptation audiences and
critics alike were able to draw parallels between the two seemingly unrelated works is testament to the skill,
wit and observation of Austen. This could simply be Austens use of ordinary people in ordinary situations as
a benchmark for her works, therefore everyone can relate to her humour, as everyone knows
someone,somewhere that fits her narratives.

I dont begrudge her a boyfriendOoh, I wonder if they have that in my size.

-Cher Horowitz, Clueless

References
Texts

Austen, J. (2015) Emma, Bury St. Edmunds, Penguin

Byrne, P. (edited by)(2004), Jane Austens Emma A Sourcebook, Abingdon, Routledge
Montgomery,M.,Durant,A.,Furniss,T.,Mills,S., (2013),Ways of Reading 4th edition, Abingdon, Routledge
Webpages
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_indirect_speech
janeaustensoci.freeuk.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDLTyCtQum4