Clueless was directed by Amy Heckerling and released in 1995. 2. The main character in Clueless is a blonde haired, blue eyed girl named Cher Horowitz. Cher’s father is a litigator, which is “the scariest kind of lawyer,” according to Cher. Judging by her father’s job and her brand new white jeep with “four-wheel drive, dual side airbags, and a monster sound system,” one can assume Cher belongs to the upper class. She lives in Beverly Hills in a huge mansion with columns at the front. Not only this, but she also has a maid, Lucy; a gardener, Jose; and a personal masseuse, Fabian.
In addition to all her helpers, she also has a computer that helps her pick out her stylish outfits each day. In her free time, Cher likes to go to the mall. She describes the mall as “a place where I could gather my thoughts and regain my strength. ” Cher also enjoys driving around Beverly Hills in her jeep with her best friend Dionne. Throughout the movie, she also attends several parties with her friends Dionne and Tai. In Clueless, Cher is 16 years old, as she directly states at the end of the movie, “I am only 16. ” She attends high school as a sophomore.
At first, she appears extremely unintelligent in school, mispronouncing the word “Haitians” in front of her entire class. Later in the movie, she reveals her true intelligence when she corrects her stepbrother’s girlfriend saying, “No, Hamlet didn’t say that, that Polonius guy did. ” Dionne is Cher’s best friend in Clueless. She also belongs to the upper class, as she lives in a giant house just like Cher does. Like Cher, Dionne also has expensive taste in fashion, as Cher adds, “I must give her snaps for her courageous fashion efforts. Viewers might also infer that she has a talent for makeup, as hers is always on point, and she does both Tai and Cher’s makeup in the movie. She also enjoys going to the mall and parties with Cher. However, unlike Cher, Dionne has a boyfriend named Murray, whom she also hangs out with. Dionne is 16, just like Cher, as they both have their permits. She is a sophomore in high school as well and is fairly smart. When Cher asks Dionne if she would call her selfish, Dionne responds, “No, not to your face. ” This proves that Dionne values her friendship with Cher.
Tai Fraser is the curly haired new girl at school who Cher and Dion decide to befriend. Judging by the way she dresses, one can infer that she belongs to the middle class. One girl in Tai’s P. E. class remarks, “She could be a farmer in those clothes. ” She also lacks proper etiquette at times, stating, “No shit, you guys got coke here? ” in which she refers to drugs. This implies that she came from a school where improper behavior, such as doing drugs, was acceptable. Tai is 16, but is slightly younger than Cher, as her birthday is in May and Cher’s is in April.
She is also a sophomore, like Cher and Dionne, but she does not measure up to their academic standards. She thinks Cher and Dionne “talk like grown-ups” compared to her. Cher has to help Tai improve her “accent and vocabulary. ” Josh is Cher’s nerdy older stepbrother. Josh is most likely in the middle to upper class, as he is going to school to become a lawyer. Cher describes Josh as a “slug who hangs around the house all day. ” She also comments on his outfit choice, saying, “So the flannel shirt deal is that a nod to the crispy Seattle weather or are you just trying to stay warm in front of the refrigerator? Judging by her lack of approval for his outfit, one can infer that Josh is not as wealthy and well-dressed as Cher is. Throughout the movie, he reads, eats, and watches TV while he is at Cher’s house. He informs Cher that “it’s considered cool to know what’s going on in the world. ” His concern for the environment is also evident, as he tells Cher, “I’m going to a Tree People meeting. ” Josh is about 18 years old and is currently in college to become a lawyer. He goes to live with Cher because he “wants to help out Mel,” Cher’s father, who happens to be a lawyer.
He reflects on his time there saying, “It was a good learning experience for me; I mean | want to be a lawyer. ” 3. Cher’s values drive the plot of Clueless. Popularity and appearance are both important to Cher. Towards the end of the movie, she becomes extremely jealous when Tai becomes more popular than her, calling it “an alternate universe. ” She also values her appearance as she boasts, “I don’t rely on mirrors, so I always take Polaroids. ” At the beginning of the movie, Cher also values materialistic items such as clothes.
Before her driving test, she throws a tantrum, screaming at her maid, “Where’s my white collared shirt from Fred Segal? ” She also yells at a boy at a party who accidentally spills his drink on her shoes whining, “ruin my satin shoes, why don’t you. ” Despite her own selfish values, Cher does have morals. She cares about her grades in school complaining, “Suddenly, a dark cloud settled over first period; I got a C in debate. ” Because she considers herself to be a motivated student, she tries to convince her teacher to change her grade. Cher also values love and is saving herself for the right person.
She tells Dionne and Tai, “I am just not interested in doing it until I find the right person. ” Dionne mainly values fashion and the relationship she has with her boyfriend. She cries, “I do not wear polyester hair,” indicating that she has a better sense of fashion. She also shoves a girl off her boyfriend, Murray, scolding him by saying, “What was that? ” This indicates that she truly cares for Murray and gets jealous when she sees him with other girls. As the new girl in school, Tai values fitting in as well as her friendship with Cher and Dionne.
In the beginning, Tai appreciates how welcome Cher and Dionne make her feel. She reveals to them, “I have never had straight friends before. ” This could indicate that Cher and Dionne are the most normal friends she has ever had. Throughout the movie, Tai listens to Cher and Dionne’s advice on how to be popular. She changes her clothes and dyes her hair to fit in. She also goes after a boy named Elton, only because Cher and Dionne approve of him. Towards the end of the movie, she even starts to act like Cher and Dionne, using Cher’s phrase “I’m outtie. ”
Josh values knowledge as well as service. He constantly wants to learn more about law, so he goes over to help Cher’s father with his legal documents. He also believes in helping others. He remarks to Cher, “Iflever saw you do anything that wasn’t 90 percent selfish, I’d die of shock. ” This indicates Josh’s disgust for Cher’s lack of consideration for anyone other than herself. 4. Some of the characters in Clueless, as well as some of the symbols used in the movie, match up with specific archetypes. In Clueless, Cher classifies as the apparently evil figure with an ultimately good heart.
At the beginning of the movie, Cher appears as a selfish, rich girl who only cares about herself. However, as the movie goes on her generosity and kindness become evident, as she helps her teachers find love, her friends become more popular, and her father and his assistants finish their legal case. Tai fits the damsel in distress archetype. After almost being pushed over the railing at the mall one day, Cher comments, “Boy considering how clueless she was, Tai sure had that damsel in distress act down. ” Throughout the movie, Tai constantly needs help. First, she needs Cher and Dionne’s help to make her popular.
Then, she needs help when she gets hit in the head at a party. At another party, she stumbles down the stairs and needs Cher’s help to get up. Finally, at the mall Cher’s friend Christian saves her when some boys threaten to push her over the railing. Water is a symbolic archetype present in Clueless. Throughout the movie water appears several times in the fountains at the mall and in the pool in Cher’s backyard. The second Cher realizes “Oh my god, I love Josh,” a fountain goes off right behind her. This water symbolizes her rebirth as a person. Cher goes from being extremely selfish and shallow to being kind and generous to others. . The overall message in Clueless is that sometimes doing things for others is more rewarding than doing things only for one’s self. Cher discovers this throughout the movie. First, she decides to intervene in her teacher’s love life, so he raises her grade. However, after doing this, she realizes seeing her teacher happy is even more rewarding than the grade raise she receives.
After this, she wants to do more good deeds and says, “Di, don’t you want to use your popularity for a good cause. ” This is when she decides to befriend the new girl, Tai Fraser, and “make her well dressed and popular. Even Tai admits to Cher that she has been “nothing but super-duper nice to me. ” At the end of the movie, she also decides to help out her teacher Miss Geist and donates many of her own possessions to help others. “I am captain of the Pismo Beach Disaster Relief,” she proclaims proudly. Cher finally realizes that helping others is much more rewarding than only doing things for herself.
6. I can definitely relate to Cher in Clueless. I relate to her worries about her grades in school. When she receives a C in debate she says to Di, “I totally choked my father’s going to go ballistic on me. I am also quite concerned with my grades and what my parents would think if I ever came home with a bad grade on my report card. I also relate to Cher’s extreme pickiness about boys. She claims, “Searching for a boy in high school is as useless as searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie. ” I definitely agree with Cher’s perspective on high school boys. Due to her high standards, Cher struggles throughout the movie to find the right boy for her, which I can definitely relate to. I also relate to Cher’s attitude. She says, “Sometimes I have more fun vedging out than when I go partying. I also relate to this, as I have always been a stay at home kind of girl with little interest in going out to parties. The relatableness of Cher is why I chose this movie in the first place.
7. At the beginning of the movie, I despised Cher, especially because of the way she treated Josh. The first time she saw him, she told him “Why don’t you torture a new family? ” I thought she was rude, selfish, and incapable of caring for anyone but herself. In the middle of the movie, when Josh asked her how long she spent grooming herself, Cher’s response was “Some people are not lucky enough o be as naturally adorable as you are. ” In this moment, it was unclear whether Cher was joking or not, but I thought it showed a sweeter and more playful side of her. At the end, her transformation as a person surprised me. I was not expecting her to be in love with Josh. This proved that she was able to look past age, looks, popularity, or any other quality that once seemed so important to her. She realized that these traits really do not matter. 8. I would definitely recommend Clueless to a friend. One of my favorite parts in the movie was seeing all of Cher’s expensive outfits.
I especially loved the yellow plaid skirt and matching shirt that she wore at the beginning of the movie. I also loved the actress who played Cher. I thought her blonde hair, blue eyes, and sassy attitude fit in perfectly with the typical Beverly Hills, California girl that she acted as. Also, even though this movie is over 20 years old, it is still relatable to today’s world. For example, many people, like Cher, become too caught up in their fancy cars, houses, and clothes to realize what is really important in life. The message this movie conveys about putting others before one’s self will always remain true.
