Cher is obviously a character who grows throughout the film. She starts as a “typical” Beverly Hills teenager, obsessed with shopping, beauty, and her popularity. She even chooses her friends because she likes projects, not necessarily because she likes them as people. Even her step-brother Josh thinks poorly of her, stating “You know, If Iever saw you do anything that wasn’t ninety percent selfish, I’d die of shock.” Despite being shallow and ditzy, she is a likable character.
Everything Cher does in the beginning of the movie is solely for her own benefit. She chooses friends that match her lifestyle, she shops to relieve stress, and even hooks up teachers to improve her own grades. When Tai expresses that she likes Travis, Cher shoots it down because he’s not high class enough for her. If Tai were to start dating Travis, Cher probably wouldn’t want to be friends with her anymore, because Tai would be out of the “group”. As the film progresses, there are turning points where she realizes that her current style of life doesn’t gain her much. This is a big realization for Cher, because everything she does in the film is to benefit herself.
It starts when her attempts to set Tai up with Elton backfire, and the major turning point is when Tai becomes more popular than Cher at school. After this, she begins to help out in the community. It doesn’t seem like she is helping out just because she wants to give back, however. The only reason she volunteered to help is to make herself feel better. When she expresses her desire to help out to her teacher, she states “I felt better already”. Everything she does in this movie is to benefit herself, even if she does channel that in the end so it also helps others.
The Quotes are from imdb.com (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112697/quotes)
Alicia Kelley
Adolescence in 1990s Films 
February 9th, 2014 at 6:46 pm
You make a very good point that while Cher may grow morally, she does not for all the right reasons. She is always looking to better herself, while doing these things throughout most of the beginning. While she begins to all these good deeds towards the end, she is doing them purely to gain her status back as the popular girl because Tai was beginning to overcome her.
February 9th, 2014 at 8:57 pm
I agree is may seem that Cher does do good deeds to benefit herself, but what if she doesn’t even quite realize how selfish she’s actually being? As we discussed in class, she’s living in her own little world. She was raised in a wealthy household with no concern for financial responsibility. If she wanted something she could purchase it, and considering her fathers occupation, if something wasn’t the way she wanted it to be she was taught that she should try to change it. Take the scene where her father praises her for arguing her way to a higher grade on her report card. He was very proud of her for doing that. As a result of her social class, she believes that what she does from a day to day basis is right, selfish or not. The name of the film is Clueless after all.
April 22nd, 2014 at 11:44 pm
Cher is the queen on being clueless; however, she makes good attempts to be morally good. She is capable of doing more than just doing things to benefit herself, like the charity drive at the end of the movie. Though her ideas for what to give the people in need aren’t exactly helpful, she is making the effort.
As the argument is about her being clueless and not becoming morally just, her attempts at bettering herself for others is honorable. Though throughout the whole movie her actions are to only better herself and her status in school (pairing the teachers up to better her grade), she makes a leap to better the lives of threes she doesn’t even know. That leap is shooting her in the right direction towards having a better outlook on life. She acknowledges her life style isn’t going to do much in the real world, so what better way to use it than to give to others?