Some
feminist art is hidden within films and tv shows without us even realizing
it. Amy Heckerling brought us a film in
the mid-90s that shaped my childhood. Clueless was one of my favorite movies
growing up. I was extremely drawn to the
character of Cher, without realizing exactly why. It is arguable that Clueless is not a feminist work and just a fun movie, but I see it
differently. It technically does not
pass the Bechdel test because although the main characters are 3 women, they
almost entirely talk about men throughout the film. However, the ways in which the film uses this
Bechdel test failure is to show just how ridiculous it is for women to be
constantly seeking the acceptance of men.
In this way I see Clueless as
a satire, or parody.
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| Amy Heckerling |
While
seeking the validation of men throughout the movie, Cher is in total control of
how she is perceived. She knows exactly
what men want to see from women and in that way is hyper-aware of the role that
women play in society as the gaze of men.
In one scene she describes how to get a man’s attention by sending
herself love letters and flowers to “show how desirable she is”, or by drawing
attention to her mouth. The best one is
when says, “sometimes you have to show a little skin, this reminds guys of being
naked and then they think of sex”. This,
to me, just shows how simple-minded men can be and Cher takes advantage of
that.
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| Cher proving she knows exactly how to get a man's attention |
The end of
the film is what really drives this theory home. Cher goes through major self-reflection to
realize what is really important in life.
Throughout the movie she displays a million ways of how women are
constantly trying to seek acceptance from men.
However, by the end of the film she discovers how truly stupid that
is. Heckerling describes her works as
exploring the teenage psyche. This makes
total sense in Clueless because as
teenagers boys, parties, and popularity might seem like the most important
things but we need to step back and analyze society as well as ourselves.
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