WHATEVVVERRR!!

WHATEVVVERRR
This a film about a teenagers growing up in the superficial world of Beverly Hills, where everyone has money, style, is diluted beyond belief. I have to first begin by stating that I do actually love this movie however; I believe that to be only to the credit of an excellent screenwriter. A brief overview for those of you who have been under a rock since ’95, “Clueless” is a movie about young teenage girls looking for love, popularity, and of course a driver’s license. The movie begins with our heroine, Cher, a high school senior, who believes to know it all. We get to see Cher walk us around the school, demeaning all other types of teenage existence, she refers to the junkies, the slackers, the boys with the big baggie pants, and of course then there’s her crew, the “popular” kids. All goes well in Cher’s life, spending all her time with the best friend Dionne, (both are named after famous musicians who now do infomercials). Cher is the social queen bee in her school. She knows who the cool people are in her school. So when a new gawky transfer student arrives, she decides to make up the student in her persona; “show her the ropes”, so to speak. She's all too successful, as her new-found friend dethrones her from her seat of popularity and sets her sight on Cher's ex-step-brother, Josh, whom Cher pretends she hates but really likes. There are various meanings imbedded in this text about money, gender, and class, and the more that you have of each the better off you are. This is a very superficial movie that focuses on popularity and fitting in, so much for self-expression and freedom of mind, this film challenges those beliefs and brainwashes you into thinking that these are the only important things in life. As far as sexuality goes, the movie started with the two main characters being virgins however, half way through the movie that goes out the window for one girl and to be honest, I seriously doubt the other also held out for marriage.
I feel like this film is reminiscent of Laura Greenfield’s “Fast Forward”. I think that this is exactly what Greenfield was referring to in her pictures and writings of teens in Hollywood. These areas are filled with superficiality and how can teens in these towns help but to get caught up in it. I also thought this text reminded me of Thomas Hine’s piece “The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager”. I believe that this movie is exactly what Hine’s tries to make us acknowledge, the negative behaviors and undertones that we as adults have about teenagers, but how can we help it… We are merely a product of our environment buying into the “secret education” that binds us, as stated Linda Christensen (“Uncovering the Myths that Bind Us”).
Like I said, its not that I did not thoroughly enjoy this flick, it’s just that as a adult its humorous but as a teen its consuming, at the end of this movie you want to be this girl with all her problems, that’s not typically an issue however this girl, Cher, is living in a very distorted perception of reality.