“We’ve Got to Work on Your Accent and Vocabulary”: Characterization through Verbal Style in Clueless

In her introduction to this “In Focus,” Melissa Lenos notes that Quote-Along screenings of Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 2005) are well attended on both sides of the Atlantic. It follows that when audiences derive additional pleasure from speaking words back to the screen, the dialogue must contain notable properties in the first place. Upon Clueless’s release, praise was frequently leveled at its use of language. In his review for Cineaste, Tom Doherty noted that “almost all the humor in [the film] is verbal—a patter of quotable epigrams, asides, and ironic by-play.”¹ Similarly, reviewer Peter Stack stated, “One of the curious delights of this film is how verbal it is.”² He praises Heckerling for capturing “the essence of teen-speak . . . so well that you feel as if you’re eavesdropping.” In fact, before writing the screenplay, Heckerling spent considerable time around her characters’ real-life counterparts; she watched plays and debates at Beverly Hills High School, attended skateboarding contests, and loitered beside groups of girl in clothing stores.³ This partly explains why comedy scholar Andrew Horton describes Heckerling as having a “razor-sharp ear for teen talk and slang.”⁴ He elaborated: “Heckerling has made “‘As if ’ and ‘Hello!’ . . . everyday phrases for millions of viewers. Everyone has their favorite lines and exchanges [from the movie].”⁵

Despite this, Clueless’s dialogue has received little in-depth analysis. The accompanying essays here go some way to address this by referencing the film’s verbal style from a variety of angles: Kyra Hunting identifies how the film’s linguistics flow “across the franchise,” including books and a CD-ROM, and in her essay on the use of makeover, Alice Leppert makes an interesting comparison between the tone of Cher’s (Alicia Silver-stone) condescending, didactic, and urgent comments about Tai (Brittany Murphy) and that of teen magazines. My essay focuses on the significance of verbal dynamics to the narrative as a whole and to characterization in particular. As well as outlining the characters’ notably different communication styles, I consider Heckerling’s skillful incorporation of irony and slang.

Cher’s Overstated Speech

Cher’s verbal style is generally marked by hyperbole, as captured through the constant exaggeration with adverbs: she is “brutally rebuffed” by a teacher, whom she later plots to make “sublimely happy,” in turn making the other students “utterly grateful.” She also emphasizes with adjectives; her life is “a royal mess,” and her father works on “a gazillion depositions.” Roz Kaveney rightly identifies totally as Cher’s “standard emphatic.”⁶ Totally in general goes where completely would, with characters totally “revived,” “paused,” or “choked.” Heckerling also incorporates way as a substitute for really throughout. Cher has “a way normal life,” insults are “way harsh,” and quotes can be “way famous.” Even negatives are phrased with emphasis, as when Cher describes the damage done to her shoes as “so not fixable.” But the dialogue is also self-aware and reflexive; late in the film when Cher describes the cartoon series The Ren and Stimpy Show as “way existential,” Josh (Paul Rudd) asks if she has any idea what she is actually saying. Arguably, he asks this on the audience’s behalf, and Cher’s reply (“No, why? Do I sound like I do?”) encourages us to reconsider how much of what she says has been purely for effect.

Although Cher has a rich vocabulary, including terms like capricious and replenish, Heckerling uses her to represent a tendency for young people to verbally stall. Cher opens her two-minute debate in class with content-free warm-up phrases such as “So, OK, like,” and she continues to use up her time with “but it’s like” and “so I was like.” Meaningless phrases such as “and all” further contribute to Cher’s excessive speech. As she tells Josh, “I can drive and all . . . and since you’re not doing anything and all.” Cher’s verbal style is also marked by ironic contrasts between current slang and historical references, as when she compares Tai to “those...