The Feminist Debate over Clueless

This BA thesis discusses whether Amy Heckerling’s Clueless (1995) can be called a feminist work or not, which is a modernized adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, Emma. It intends to prove that Heckerling’s movie promotes feminist ideas despite its criticism by feminist scholars. Firstly, in order to set a tone for the movie’s criticism, the original novel’s feminist reception is studied, highlighting the most debated questions evoked by feminist scholars. Secondly, Suzanne Ferriss’s feminist criticism of the movie is presented in detail (2001), providing the main points for the discussion of the movie, which are Cher’s sexual autonomy, the nature of the makeovers, and the ending of the movie. Additionally, the movie’s exaggeration and ironizing tone is also studied, in order to demonstrate the importance of the parody of the 90s teen culture in connection with the movie’s interpretation. By analysing the movie with the additional help of scholars such as Devoney Looser (2001), Libby BagnoSimon (2013), Kathleen R. Karlyn (2011), Stefania Margithu & Lindsey Alexander (2016), Nora Nachumi (2001) and Alice Leppert (2014), this BA thesis was able to prove the initial supposition that while some of the feminist aspects of Emma were lost during the adaptation process, Clueless should still be considered a feminist movie, since it represents teenage female empowerment.