Why is music important in Clueless and how is it used? Anonymous 12th Grade

A soundtrack is essential to any movie, music is used in various ways by a director - to portray emotion, create and introduce relationships and to also make references to the time period. In Clueless music is mostly used to highlight the major motifs in the movie and reflect the attitudes of the teenage characters.

The movie begins with the song "Kids in America" in which we see Cher and her friends and other teenagers shopping and partying. Straight away this highlights the main focus of the film - upper class teenage lives. The song is significant as it highlights exactly what the characters are - Kids living in Beverly Hills, America. "Kind hearts don't make a new story. Kind hearts don't grab any glory." These lines of the song are relevant to the movie because the majority of the characters are not presented as kind. This song is important as it reflects the attitudes of the characters; They are illustrated as spoilt and selfish who aren't interested in doing anything unless it involves personal gain. When Cher asks Dionne "wouldn't you like to use your popularity for a good cause" she replies simply and selfishly "no".

Then the music changes as the audience gets to see Cher in her bedroom the song that is played in...