Growing Up With 'Clueless': How the Teen Classic Helped the Complex Staff Blossom Into Bettys

'Clueless' is the most lit teen movie of the last 20 years.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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When Clueless was released on July 19, 1995, its immediate sleeper success and critical acclaim couldn't foretell the impact the film would have on generations of teens (and adults) for years to come. Alicia Silverstone's Cher Horowitz became a hero to teen girls everywhere. Paul Rudd became the actual nice guy crush of girls and boys alike. And the whole gang became immediate #squadgoals. 

Twenty years later, while very much a capsule of its time, Clueless's suprisingly biting foresight into fashion and technology (thanks much in part to Amy Heckerling's razor sharp writing) makes it feel eternally timeless. 

Here, the Complex staff shares how Clueless turned us from Monets into Baldwins and Bettys. 

 

Rollin’ With the ‘Clueless’ Homies and Listening to Maudlin Music

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It Was Like, Love at First Sight, Or Whatever

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You Don't Understand, This is an Alaïa.

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Cliff's Notes: Why We Haven't Had Another Clueless in 20 Years

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Are Dionne and Murray Still Together?

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While Clueless, the 1995 classic so great I accidentally-on-purpose went to see it in theaters two nights in a row, ultimately focuses on Cher's struggles in finding love, there's a bubbling romance that's so full of drama, lust, and wannabe grown-up vibes that is the backbone of the entire flick. It's a relationship that Cher tries to understand so she can know what to (or not to) do in her own search. It's quite possibly the only relationship that finds the two partners wylin' out for most of the movie, but ultimately sticking together because fuck the world... right?

You're damn right I'm talking about Cher's homegirl Dionne and her man Murray.

When we first meet this dynamic duo, it's intro'd by Dionne telling Cher her relationship problems. Cher tries to advise her that she just needs to dump homie, but let's be forreal: They live for conversations about phantom hair extensions and jeepin' behind each others back.

Have you ever been with a girl who's so engrained in your life that when you truly do some wild shit (like shave your head during a kick-ass party because "keepin' it real") that the first thing she does is call your moms?

That's love.

Real teenage love is losing your virginity after a harrowing ordeal on a busy Los Angeles freeway. Real teenage love is confronting your girl, wondering where she's been because she hasn't answered your pages.

Real teenage love is hoping your girl didn't jeep behind your back, and making sure your squad is behind you to make sure everything is okay. 

The only crime in Clueless is that we didn't get enough of Murray and Dionne's story. What the hell were their weekends like? Arguing about which movie to see to the point of saying "fuck it, we're going out to eat," only to continue arguing over whatever exquisite eats they were dining on? To then realizing what real teenage love they had between them and ending up making out to Coolio records?

Thank you, Clueless, for showcasing what a true, dramatic, real teenage romance was.

-- khal

 

Clueless Provided All My Future Life Lessons

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Clueless Was My Teen Gateway Drug

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