Sandra M. Velez
Dr. Hidle
English 201
17 July 2014
“She Could Be a Farmer in Those Clothes”:
The Marxist Theory Representation within the Film Clueless Wouldn't we all like to be as wealthy as a couple like Beyoncé and Jay-Z? Almost everyone you encounter today would have the same answer for that question; we all want to be wealthy, and successful. In the 19th century, Karl Marx was the first to introduce the theory about class divide to the world. He spoke of the bourgeoisie and proletariat being the two classes that segregate society. The bourgeoisie is considered to be the middle class or above, which usually possess materialistic values or conventional attitudes. They have all the things the proletariat would like to have. The proletariat is what today is considered to be the working class. The film Clueless, directed by Amy Heckerling was released on July 19, 1995. It is based on the Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma. In this film, the protagonist Cher, is a wealthy teenage daughter of a high paying lawyer. Her best friend is also very wealthy, and they both share the same views in regards to their superficial lifestyle. When a new student arrives at their school, they both decide to take her on as a new “project,” and give her a makeover. She sure does lacks some direction in fashion and boys, according to Cher and Dionne. Her desire to help others as a good deed is really being disguised by the manipulation she accomplishes through all of these acts. This film indubitably depicts the Marxist Theory by displaying the bourgeoisie, and the affects they can have on others. This film uses Cher as the example of present-day Marxism, and the power the bourgeoisie hold over the proletariats within a society without being aware that one’s happiness shouldn’t be driven by materialism. In Clueless, the director validates the contemporary Marxist theory by using Cher as an example of what the bourgeoisie are like in today’s society, which includes the role of material things within their lives, and the distance it brings within their families. Karl Marx tells us in The Communist Manifesto, "All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relation with his kind"(38). Marx emphasized the importance that individuals place on meaningless objects. Henry Heller in "Marx, The French Revolution, and the Spectre of the Bourgeoisie" adds to the Marxist theory that "the bourgeoisie developed both as a class economically and socially" (187). It has damaged the values among families, and ruined the values of individuals by replacing them with great desires for material posessions in order to feel like a part of the bourgeoisie. The director’s depiction of the bourgeoisie shows the class segregation that was described by Karl Marx among the characters within this film, and the social hierarchy that is present in Cher’s life in high school. In the film, Cher begins to tell the audience about her privileged life, “Did I show you the loqued out jeep daddy got me? I don’t have a license yet, but I need something to learn on.” The director uses Cher as an example of what Karl Marx spoke of in his original theory and emphasizes on the privilege the bourgeoisie have due to their class within a society. For example, like the capabilities to obtain material things that those in the proletariat class are not capable of, but strive to acquire regardless of their financial situation. The director has placed Cher in a distinct category among her classmates, and all those who attend her high school. She displays the importance of material things in her life, and their representation of her true happiness. Throughout the film, Heckerling begins to show that change is capable within someone of her status, and her absurd expectations from everyone that surrounds her. Her material possessions define who she is, and anyone part of the proletariat class