Clueless

Clueless was one of those movies I watched over and over again when I was a kid. Rewatching it in terms of how a female director-writer, in this case Amy Heckerling, affects it was a different experience than those youthful repeat watchings. Clueless is the typical high school coming-of-age romantic comedy, but the witty way the characters are portrayed sets it apart from other movies of its type. The main character, Cher, can easily be seen as just a blonde ditz, but her portrayal makes her endearing to the audience. I think this is largely thanks to the influence of Heckerling. A male director would have simply fed into the ditzy stereotype, portraying Cher as a shallow girl only obsessed with clothes and other "girl" things (like Legally Blonde), but Heckerling makes sure to demonstrate her more positive qualities to make her likable. Even though she can be shallow at times, Cher is intelligent in her own way, and is especially very perceptive. She's perceptive in a way that a guy couldn't be, because she knows how to manipulate other people's emotions (for example flattering her teachers or setting up their romance) and anticipates how other people react. For example, she makes over the new girl, Tai, to help her fit in. Again, you can see the female perspective because Cher isn't just making over Tai to help her get a guy. This is part of the motivation, but it isn't the main part. She mostly does it because she truly believes that this will positively benefit Tai. In the end she realizes that she was too pushy and involved, but along the way the audience is never led to view her in a negative way, such as seeing her as too manipulative. This is because of her sympathetic portrayal.

I noticed other little things that only a female would have thought of. Cher uses her period as an excuse for being late for class, which is something that guys don't think of. Another more important thing was that Dionne would get irritated when her boyfriend called her "woman." A male director probably would have included this without a thought, but Dionne's protests show the touch of a female director. It was easy for me to see how she would be offended by this, because him addressing her this way is a way of objectifying her, not seeing her as a person. However I think this is a subtlety that most men wouldn't think of.

Finally, the way Cher's romance with Josh is portrayed is again indicative of a female writer-director. Cher and Josh are friends first, constantly teasing each other and joking around, before they realize their attraction for each other (especially for Cher). This friends-first scenario and slow realization of their attraction is more of a feminine perspective on romance, because male portrayals just show the guy pursuing the girl with cheesy lines, and her instantly falling for it and falling into bed with him. However this movie was much more realistic as Cher and Josh slowly grew attracted to each other during their friendship, and I think that this is a more romantic portrayal, and much more realistic. Thus, this movie is not only entertaining, but also unique because it offers a female point of view on matters that are usually seen through a male lens.