The Watchers Watch Clueless

This week, Jodie and Andrea are covering Amy Heckerling’s 1995 teen rom-com, Clueless. It’s the hyperstylized, deceptively smart, deeply girly ’90s take on Emma that shaped a generation. We get into makeover culture, some casual narratology, teen magazine aesthetics, ska music, why Cher’s makeover actually fails, and how Wallace Shawn is honestly perfect. Plus, Andrea gives a breakdown of the elusive PC game, Jodie goes JSTOR mode, and we consider whether or not it really is a proto-feminist masterpiece.

Next week on The Watchers, we’re covering Mean Girls. Tina Fey’s sharp-tongued, early-2000s take on high school hierarchy, it’s a film with a massive pop culture footprint and a defining entry in the girlhood canon.

Recommended Reading: 

Playthrough - Clueless (CD-ROM, 1997) 

“‘Just a Girl’ Should Have Been a Hit From Clueless, and Other Behind-the-Scenes Secrets from the Soundtrack” by Jillian Mapes

“Clueless at 20: Revisiting the Soundtrack With a Classic Track-by-Track Review” by Kenneth Partridge

“Furiously Franchised: Clueless, Convergence Culture, and the Female-Focused Franchise”, Cinema Journal, Kyra Hunting

Both articles listed below can be found in ReFocus: The Films of Amy Heckerling edited by Frances Smith and Timothy Shary

• “Can I Please Give You Some Advice?: Clueless and the Teen Makeover” by Alice Leppert
• “Cher and Dionne BFFs: Female Friendship, Genre, and Medium Specificity in the Film and Television Versions of Amy Heckerling’s Clueless” by Susan Berridge