“How has Amy Heckerling used film techniques to portray the transformation of ‘Cher’ in her film, ‘Clueless’?”

In the hit film of 1995 -Clueless, director Amy Heckerling effectively uses film techniques to further portray the deep meaning of the story. The film tells the story of a selfish teenage girl who transforms into a responsible woman. In the beginning of the story, the main protagonist, Cher, is depicted as a narrow-minded, extravagant teenager. Heckerling uses vivid colour and extremity to show Cher’s unique characteristics. For her own interests, Cher begins to help others but begins to find more than just her own outcomes in the process. The director uses indirect actions to show the change in Cher’s character. At the end of
Cher’s transformation marks the climax of the film. It is the time when Cher finally begins to become more mature and unselfish. Cher first made a change when she decided to make her teachers Ms Geist and Mr Hall happier; this was because she wanted to make her report-card grades better. This action was purely for selfish purposes however Cher found interest in making people happy and became more ‘genuine’. After this, Cher’s class notices an overall improvement in their grades and they applaud Cher when she walks outside at lunch. When Cher said this, “Everything I think and everything I do is wrong. I was wrong about Elton, I was wrong about Christian, now Josh hated me. It all boiled down to one inevitable conclusion, I was just totally clueless.” she finally became conscious to her own thoughts and recognized herself. Cher marked the turning point of her life, in Clueless, by saying this. When Cher was found out that Christian, her desired-boyfriend was gay, then she began to transform. Also, Cher went to her father for advice, which is not very normal for her. The techniques employed by Heckerling in the transformation of Cher in Clueless were chosen and laboured methodically.

In the film’s climax, Cher’s transformation is illustrated using passive, non-direct techniques which display small but critical details that can be missed during script or need to be explained further. When Cher transforms Ms Geist, and she sets