Clueless: The Politics of Social Elevation in High School
Amy Heckerling’s 1995 comedy, Clueless, stands strong at almost 30 years. The stylish high schoolers swaggering around Beverly Hills still make for a lively cinematic environment. The ironic one-liners run through the movie like a river, painting the characters as self-aware and hilarious. The film targets teenagers, but anyone with an ear for sarcasm can enjoy this, it’s a great high school comedies. While the film is light and bright, it succeeds in depicting the high school pressures of popularity and “popping your cherry.”
Beautiful and popular Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) spends her days shopping, hanging with her friend Dionne (Stacey Dash), and learning to drive her Jeep Wrangler. Following in the steps of her lawyer father (Dan Hedaya), Cher constantly argues her way out of problems. After successfully getting two teachers to date and rewarding herself and her classmates with excellent grades, she takes on a new challenge. Cher gives the “clueless” new girl, Tai (Brittany Murphy), a makeover. Consequently, Tai becomes more popular than Cher, and Cher reevaluates her passions and motivations.
Cher’s clothing, hair, and manners are always on point, which keeps her social status elevated at school. When giving Tai a makeover, there is something they disagree on: sex. Cher is not interested in sex right now, but Tai is. Cher establishes her opinions on high school boys from the very beginning. “I don't know why Dionne is going out with a high school boy. They're like dogs. You have to clean them and feed them, and they're just like these nervous creatures that jump and slobber all over you.” After making that remark, a guy puts his arm around her, and she yells in agony, “Ugh, as if!” This is one of the most memorable parts of the film, but many forget that it regards Cher not wanting to have sex. This seems to be a part of the film left out of the discourse, but for teenagers in the same situation as Cher, this is a crucial representation of a topic that remains taboo 27 years later.
A scene that centers on virginity is when Dionne and Tai start talking about sex in a restaurant and point out Cher’s lack of experience. “Shhh…don’t scare her. Cher’s saving herself for Luke Perry,” jokes her best friend Dionne, prompting Tai to immediately say, “Cher, you’re a virgin?” Dionne calls Cher “hymenally challenged,” and Cher defends her choices saying she’s waiting for the right person. Tai and Dionne are friendly about Cher’s virginity in this scene, but later in the movie, Tai uses it against Cher during a fight after Cher is judgemental of Tai’s new crush, who happens to be Cher’s crush. “You’re a virgin who can’t drive.” Cher’s virginity serves as a way for her friends to judge her, which makes Cher question her choices.
Social elevation is Cher’s motivation in everything she does. Because she feels judged after talking about sex with her more experienced friends, Cher goes after the new handsome boy in school, Christian (Justin Walker). Cher invites him over to her house to have sex, and Christian doesn’t engage. We later learn is because he’s gay, making Cher the real “clueless” one.
After things with Christian don’t go as planned, Cher starts to let go of her fixations with social trappings to discern the actual value of the people around her and feel confident in herself. She grasps that she has overlooked many less popular peers. This realization about what’s valuable about humans also makes her realize that she likes Josh (Paul Rudd), her ex-stepbrother, who disapproves of Cher’s motivations to reinvent Tai from the start. Josh helps Cher realize how good it feels to help others. Cher ends up dating Josh, who she previously said was a “loser,” because she realizes he’s a kind person, and she also doesn’t explicitly decide to have sex either, even though she met the right guy.
“It’s a personal choice every woman has got to make for herself” is a line that many viewers should take with them as they go through high school. Unfortunately, it’s common to stigmatize those choosing not to have sex in high school. Clueless is a movie that perfectly touches on the social aspects of telling others that you are doing something different, and questioning your choices. This movie teaches valuable lessons about doing things because you want to, not because you feel others will respect you more for doing them.
Original content created for Zhive Media
