Jane Austen's novel, Emma, with its formal style describing the gentry of rural England, seems a far cry from the fast-moving world of the wealthy teenagers of Beverly Hills in the film Clueless directed, by Amy Heckerling.

However, different textual forms use different techniques to convey information. Emma may present important information in a letter while Clueless may have its characters talking on a mobile phone. However, they are both serving the same function: providing information. Both Emma and Clueless draw on similar issues for their inspiration and present them in different ways. Both texts are primarily about human relationships and the complications they can create for us.

The process of transformation of Jane Austen's 19th century novel to Amy Heckerling's 20th century film has been breathtaking but at the same time retained the essential ideas of the original text.

Although Heckerling's characters may use the language of...