...The 1995 cult classic, Clueless, is a film that, 20 years after its initial release, continues to relate to adolescent viewers through its engagement of time-transcending subject matter. In this paper, I will analyze the themes presented in Clueless to note how they align or diverge from theories that have been discussed in class. I will be focusing on identity formation, changes in self-perception, cognitive and emotional changes and the impact of the relationships of various characters in the film. Cher, the main protagonist, is at the top of the social food chain of her high school. She comes from a well off family and is presented as one who is self-assured and well-adjusted. Her life is strikingly different than most teenagers who struggle...
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...A “Clueless” Analytical Paper The movie I decided to analyze for my analysis paper is a classic 1995 teen film called “Clueless.” The movie “Clueless” is about a young, rich, and popular teenage girl who’s life revolves around materialistic accomplishments and boys. In the movie, Cher and her best friend Dionne befriend the new girl, Tai, who is in desperate need of a makeover. Tai’s rugged look and over-sized boy shirts is not the ideal look to this fashion guru. Cher ends up doing an excellent job with Tai’s makeover and soon realises she got a makeover as well. Cher learns that riches, style, and materialistic things isn't what lifes all about.(IMDB website) In this paper I will analyze and explain the many sociological themes throughout this movie. The first sociological concept I identified was the concept of...
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...kerlingHow does Heckerling Use Satire in Clueless to Ridicule, Expose and Criticise People’s Stupidity or Vices in the Western World? Through the use of satire in Clueless, the director, Heckerling allows the audience to delve into a text which highlights materialist consumerism and the lack of morality in teenage behaviour. It enables us to closely examine society’s flaws as well as how these flaws influence teenagers to act in such shameful manner. Heckerling ridicules the concept of materialist consumerism by using black humour and satirically depicting characters such as Cher in a shallow light. This provokes the responder to criticise society’s obsession with materialism. Thus, the film exposes the negative impacts of fashion labels on teenagers’ views on status and self-image. Moreover, Heckerling criticises our disconnection from human values and represents this stereotypically continuously. Throughout the film, we are aware that it is what they own and how they wear that count, not who they are. This social commentary directs us to the superficiality and the absence of ethics of teenagers because of the materialism and consumerism they embrace. Society’s fascination with materialist consumerism drives individuals to self-indulge excessively. Heckerling ridicules the flamboyant lifestyle people seem to lead today and the heavy influence of commercialism. The issue is raised from the beginning of the film where we are introduced to Cher’s life through a series of montages...
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...The main attribute of the movie that is criticized is that its story is inaccurate. This is true, there are a few scenes presented by the movie that are just incorrect compared to the book's story. For example, the first half of the movie showed Hester and Mr. Dimmesdale developing a deep intimate relationship. The couple could not hold back their temptation to love for seven years. For seven years was how long they must wait to safely marry and display their affection in public. Hester eventually gave birth to a baby and she was put under arrest for not speaking the father's name and for adultery. In the book, Hester is first in prison for unknown reasons and is later put to the scaffold with her baby and garment which also all have unknown reasoning at that point in...
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...Aaron Jordan English Language September 15, 2015 The fiery red velvet flames came bursting in full effect all of a sudden catching each person off guard. The dark cloudy sky raced into the city showing no mercy, leaving each person clueless, stranded with no where to run. Had we known this fire was coming our way, we would’ve made other plans. July 8, 2013 was the day my family lost one of our prized possessions. We were on our way to the movies, eager awaiting for the time to arrive. As we drove to the movies it became hot, hotter and extremely hot. Even with the air conditioning on there was a massive heat wave spreading in the air, as the sweat drained down each of our faces. We finally entered the movie theatre and shouted, “Hooray” and started jumping up and down, simultaneously hitting our hands against each other. My family consisting of 4 members tried to enjoy the movie, but found it difficult because of the oppressive heat in the miniature room. When the movie finished, we raced outside to catch some fresh air, but we were surprised by the fiery red flames in the cloudy jet black sky. We had no idea what to do but run to our vehicle. There was one huge problem the fire blasted into flames by the parking lot. We all panicked and followed the crowd. They then led us towards the mall’s entrance. We stood there until the massive fire had been extinguished. In conclusion, this was the first fire experience my family and I experienced. It gave us quite...
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...All Germans must die for what they did to the Jews, right? For putting the Jews through torture, the endless days of pain and agony. Only the men and women who were eligible to work were to live. Many women, children, and elder were sent to die. Living in concentration camps, not knowing when their last day will be. The Jews have lost their lives in the most cruel ways possible. Dying of disease, being shot, hangings, and sending them to burn in chambers. What if the Germans weren’t aware of what was going on? They were completely clueless of what was happening. The Germans were not responsible for the Holocaust. Before the ending of WWII, The Germans took a survey regarding their knowledge of the Holocaust. They surveyed throughout Cologne, Dresden, and Berlin. 9.85% of the Germans knew about the Holocaust, which is 255 people. 85.12% Germans didn’t know about the Holocaust, 2,289 people had no idea what was happening to the Jews. Should the ones who didn’t know be the ones to blame? The one’s to blame are the ones who knew about the Holocaust. Why didn’t the Germans stand up for the Jews? They knew about it, so why didn’t they say anything? The Germans had great fear of Hitler. They feared o stand up for the Jews. They risked their life if they were to do so. You can’t blame all the Germans for the Holocaust. You should blame the one’s who knew about the torture the Jews had gone through. They’re the one’s who should’ve spoken up. If they were to stand...
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...A decoding machine is introduced and Lt. Cmdr. Alvin D. Kramer says that “America is decoding the messages faster than the Japanese embassy.” It is pointed out by Admiral Richardson that if a battleship were sunk in the mouth of the harbor and it would bottle up the whole fleet. As the film goes on the diplomatic relationship between Japan and America deteriorates further finally getting to the point that the State Department gave up hope of a peaceful settlement. The comment about the battleship is very interesting and a foreshadowing to later in the movie when the Japanese pilots try to do just that and close the...
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...Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young, and Westcott Clarke. Throughout this film I maintained both a sense of anxiety as well as humor. There were many parts that I couldn’t help laughing at (when he was attacked by birds and when he was trying to come in late to work). However, there were also many parts that caused me to feel anxious and left my palms sweaty. Throughout the entire film I was anxious about the main character lying about his job to his fiancée and I was also very nervous when he climbed the building and kept getting faced with obstacles along the way. The film left me with a feeling of relief that he had successfully climbed to the top of the building. However, I was also left a little frustrated that his fiancée was still clueless about his job position and money situation. The city had a definite impact on the style of this film. To me, the style seemed to be the style in the city. There was hustle and bustle, people were dressed very well, and the emphasis on ambition all reflects the style of a city. The style was consistent throughout the film. The theme in this film seems to be the ambition for success. The director seemed to be trying to tell the audience not to lie about your job, but also to work really hard for your positions in life. For the most part I did believe what was happening on the screen. In my opinion, some things were overexagerated. However, this was done successfully and in a way that while I was watching the film I did...
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...Ian Addington How is the movie most useful - as a film about Reconstruction or as film about how people in the early twentieth century understood Reconstruction? Birth of a Nation was one of the world’s first films on reconstruction. It was the time after the Civil War where the south and the north came together. They sacrificed their beliefs and settled for a government they could agree on. Reconstruction ended around 1875 and “Birth of a Nation” was made in 1915. The timing of the film was great in this aspect. That many are still upset about the outcome of the Civil War and it brought a big outrage. It is also one of the first films to be in theater so the people flocked to come see it. When this was made, the Black community was just starting to form their place in the government and this movie upset things. It brought about a new beginning for the Ku Klux Klan, outraged many people in both communities, and caused a stir in the film industry. Scholars have argued that the movie helped increase racial tension and stereotyping in the early 1900s. Do you think that movies (or television shows) have the power to shape attitudes? Movies indeed have a lot of power and influence over the community. This movie is just one of many examples. Not only do movies influence social behavior, it also influences what we say (catch phrases, movie quotes, jokes, etc…), how we dress, and to determine the social norm. Movies can spark an uproar depending on the...
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...The legacy of the 1988 black comedy movie, Heathers is still prevalent 29 years later, as its dark take on high school social hierarchy is a breath of fresh air from its descendents, Clueless (1995) and Mean Girls (2004). The movie follows Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder), token genius and witty teenager, who ‘befriends’ Westerburg High’s most popular clique. They are collectively known as the Heathers, due to all three girls sharing the same first name. During a Q&A enacted by the Heathers during their lunch period, Veronica encounters Jason Dean (Christian Slater), or JD for short. He is immediately proven as an outlandish and extreme figure, when he shoots a blank during an exchange with two stereotypical jocks to create a truly memorable...
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...This coke bottle instantly seems to turn into a gift from the gods. Everyone in the tribe starts to fight over it and even use it as a weapon at one point. A tribe member is sent to throw it back to the gods. On his journey back he kills a goat, not knowing the meaning of “property”. He is put in jail where a man that used to be in his tribe saves him. He and his buddy then save Kate (the school teacher) from some guerillas and continue his journey to ”the end of the world”. He later gets to a cliff that may seem to him like the end of the world where he chucks the bottle and returns to his tribe. This movie not only makes the tribal people seem ridiculous unintelligent it makes them seem clueless in a sense. They find a bottle and al of a sudden start to go mad. I did enjoy how dim some scenes are in this but this as about all I enjoyed. The lack of realism that the movie shows is a part that makes it seem as if it could never happen. Overall Jamie Uys (director, producer and writer) do not do a good job making the plot and story realistic enough for any of this to be...
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...and is far from her ambition which is to have a shop that people would flock to from far away, just to eat a bowl of her ramen. In the beginning of the film, Tampopo was clueless as to the reason why her business is lacklustre until one of the walk-ins gave her an honest feedback that her fare is something less than popular and less than appetizing. What Tampopo needs to achieve is a transformation of her business into a popular and profitable small restaurant that serves high quality food which people from within and outside the neighbourhood would patronize and come back to on a regular basis. 2) Describe and deploy the following aspects of quality in Tampopo and identify the metrics for each: a) Product quality – Product quality would definitely be dictated by the taste of ramens they serve. It was mentioned in the movie that a clear indicator that a customer is satisfied is by means of leaving an empty bowl on the table. Perhaps what Tampopo should do is get a percentage of empty bowls versus the number of customers that visit the place on a periodic basis. Other indicators of product quality should be the following: • Firmness of the ramen • Taste and temperature of the broth • Freshness of the ingredients and meat served with the ramen b) Service quality – There was one scene in the movie where Goro had a timer to measure how fast Tampopo can serve Ramen to a customer. Serving a customer his Ramen shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes. The restaurant also underwent...
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...that inclines his whole little soft body toward her. “For which, believe you me, I’m grateful. I cultivate gratitude. That’s part of the system of clichés I’m here to live by. An attitude of gratitude. A grateful drunk will never drink. I know the actual cliché is ‘A grateful heart will never drink,’ but since organs can’t properly be said to imbibe and I’m still afflicted with just enough self-will to decline to live by utter non sequiturs, as opposed to just good old clichés, I’m taking the doubtless hazardous liberty of light amendment. Albeit grateful amendment, of course.” Charlotte Treat looks over to Gately for some sort of help or Staff enforcement of dogma. The poor bitch is clueless. All of them are clueless, still. Gately reminds himself that he too is probably still mostly clueless, even after all these hundreds of days. “I Didn’t Know That I Didn’t Know” is another of these slogans that look so shallow for a while and then all of a sudden drop off and deepen like the lobster waters off the North...
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...phrase “FYI” became popular through the widely televised show “The Simpson’s.” From there the phrase caught on among teenagers, other TV shows, and even fashion. Another popular TV show that used the phrase was The American situation comedy “Murphy Brown.” Murphy Brown was a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for, ‘’FYI,’’ a fictional CBS television news magazine. This phrase dates back to 1941, and along with many other ones it also showed up in corporate lingo. You would use this phrase when a ‘’know it all’’ person would try to correct you to which you would say,” FYI” to make them feel embarrassed in front of everybody. The phrase “TMI” became popular through many tv shows. The first tv show to use it was Scrubs then Clueless and many more. You would use this phrase when somebody would tell you more than you needed and wanted to know. You would say this to the person who gave you every little detail of an event. I remember my mom asked me what me and my best friend were talking about on the phone so I told her what we were talking about, because I was always told that it is disrespectful to not answer your parents when they asked you a question. When my mom asked me I replied and told her then after I was finished she had a shocked look on your face, to which she replied, “TMI”.I smiled and said well you asked me what we were talking about so I told you. The last phrase is “Talk To The...
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...Cyrano De Bergerac in order to demonstrate how in the newer version, Roxanne and Charlie end up together and happy, whereas the original version kills off the character of Cyrano. I feel that Roxanne was a better movie because it has a happy ending unlike Cyrano De Bergerac that has a tragic ending. Isn’t it better to assume that the characters would rather have a fist fight than a sword fight? Isn’t it easier to accept the character as a firefighter rather than a French cadet? I believe so. To me, isn’t it more genuine to have the movie set in modern times in our country than Cyrano which is set in a time and place that no one alive can relate to? For example, the plots are the same, the ugly man wants the attractive girl but she is being swayed by looks rather than brains, but they are very different characters. Steve Martin’s Roxanne portrays love and happiness while Rostand’s Cyrano is a complicated and serious man, but both are similar in the way that they both appealed to people of that generation. I connected more with the version of Roxanne than the original version because it was easier to understand because it was more natural; as such, there was more to relate to because the fist fights were in a bar rather than a sword fight in a movie theater. Many people today think that sword fights are outdated and far fetched. I myself...
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