The makers of Clueless have tried to reinforce the self centeredness of Cher’s personality through the camera shots. In the close-up shots they concentrate on her hair, make-up and all the things that she is most concerned about. Cher believes that she is a trend -setter, when she’s walking into school we are led to believe everybody’s following her because of the way the camera is pulling away from her, but actually they are just coming into school the same as she is, this is another important element of a youth picture genre film because Cher thinks that everything revolves around her.
I am comparing two of the characters; Josh and Cher because of the differences between them. Notably Cher is a very shallow person and Josh is a very deep intellectual, Cher is mostly interested in herself, clothes, fashion and other people’s love life, where as Josh is interested with the world, the environment and unconcerned with his image.
Although, they see through these differences and are attracted to each other because of them, Josh likes Cher’s ‘Cluelessness’, her naivety and the fact that he feel protective towards her, Cher likes Josh because he’s reliable and accdepts her for what she is, she also likes the fact that he helps her to grow up and that’s the whole plot of the film to watch someone turn their life around and change their whole view of it. This is often found in a youth picture genre. In the last few minutes of the film Clueless Cher and Josh finally realise and admit their feelings and talk about their respect towards and acceptance of each other.
Josh tells Cher she is gorgeous and popular and they kiss, we can then hear Cher’s voice-over saying “you can guess what happens next… ,” this then cuts to the wedding of the teachers and Cher finishes by saying ” As if, I’m only 16 and this is California not Kentucky! ” At the wedding, Josh is fitting in as “one of the lad’s” and Cher and her friends are discussing their weddings. Cher then goes to catch the bouquet, there’s a lot of shrieking and jollity, and the film finishes with Cher and Josh kissing once again.
This is a classic happy ending with everything being tied up and resolved, Cher and Josh are together, the teachers are married, Tai and Travis are also together, so overall everybody is joyful and feeling good about themselves and everybody else. This is typical of youth picture genre as nobody is left out and they are included and involved with the ending. From watching the film and writing about all the elements, I have learnt a lot more about all the main ingredients that make up a youth picture genre.
A youth picture genre focuses primarily on the age of the characters, the locations used, the interests of teenagers and in my opinion the film Clueless includes these. Such as the love dilemma between Cher and Josh, the general settings(e. g. the local high school)and that all the main characters are aged between 13-25. I think that Clueless includes real teenage issue and the interests e. g. fashion, relationships and music, it also shows the transformations of people growing up and also learning to accept other people for whom they are, or want to be. That is why it is strongly evident that Clueless is a youth picture film.
