Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) is a Beverly Hills socialite who’s attractive, popular and wealthy – her character from the “90’s cult classic” (Madden, S; 2014), Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995) has become a symbol of popular culture after, “searing itself into the hearts, minds and elaborate vocabularies of a generation” (Lyne, C; 2014). Inspired by the American film Iggy Azalea released her music video for the song ‘Fancy’ (Director X, 2014) on March 4th, 2014 with the trailer depicting Azalea as Cher and featuring artist Charli XCX as her friend Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy). After the release, the song went on to become Billboard’s ‘Song of Summer’ 2014 and the video has been viewed over 500 million times on YouTube.
The ‘Fancy’ music video employs Clueless to make the product more appealing to viewers and create a platform for Azalea build her identity as an artist. Diane Railton and Paul Watson argue that, “our identity is not something that comes from within… it is a product of our specific social, cultural and historical situation” (Railton, D & Watson, P; 2011, p.20). Consequently, by paying homage to the film in her music video Azalea identifies herself as a follower of popular culture like the audience. And through acting as Cher, she identifies with the character traits to build the identity of a relatively unknown artist. Similarities to character are created through the use of iconic clothing, such the yellow plaid ensemble, and recreation of key scenes from film, like the highway driving lesson.
However, an identity can also relate to a person’s differences, which the video uses to separate Azalea from the character and forge her existence as a rap music artist. This can be seen in “subtle changes,” such as the attitude she exudes in her body language when she struts down the corridor and the, “confiden[ce] and sex appeal,” she elicits when stretching at the tennis court and in the tighter and more revealing clothes than the original character depicted (Madden, S; 2014). Therefore, this re-enactment is not just a, “wholehearted love letter to a titan of pop culture,” (Lyne, C; 2014) but a ploy that uses nostalgia to gain interest and takes advantage of this vulnerability to fulfil it’s, “commercial agenda” (Railton, D & Watson, P; 2011, p.2).
References
Lyne, C 2014. ‘Clueless: the classic teen movie that continues to inspire,’ The Guardian (Film Section): http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/07/clueless-classic-teen-movie-iggy-azalea, March 2015.
Madden, S 2014. ‘Iggy Azalea’s ‘Fancy’ Video Is Basically An Exact Replica of ‘Clueless’,’ MTV: http://www.mtv.com/news/1723476/iggy-azalea-fancy-charlie-xcx-clueless/, March 2015.
Railton, D & Watson, P 2011. ‘Music Video and the Politics of Representation,’ Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp.1-40.