Superficial is the New Black

‘Clueless’ is a great coming of age film about a girl finally realizing that there are more things to life than shopping. Featuring Alicia Silverstone at the height of her Aerosmith fame, the late Brittany Murphy, and the does-he-ever-age Paul Rudd, the movie is endless quote-fodder for anyone who grew up in the ’90s, yours truly included.

Throughout the movie you get to watch and laugh as Cher (Alicia Silverstone) develops into a far less clueless being than she was, although still pretty clueless. She matures as a character just like Wild’s Reese Witherspoon has since ‘Legally Blonde 2.’ Cher actually reminds me of me. The story line of the movie while different from my own life definitely has similarities. The character realizes that who you hang out with, where you come from, what you do for a living, what you wear or look like are not as important as the person inside. Cher comes out of her experiences more mature and with some new great friends. Hopefully, I have too.

Of Course, “Clueless” would not have been half as memorable without its soundtrack. There was a time when even Radiohead had to play the teen-soundtrack game in the name of promoting their music — and so, they coughed up an acoustic version of “Fake Plastic Trees” for the movie.

This song depicts the ever increasingly superficial society we live in. Mass production, mass consumption, materialism, capitalism and the ultimate conundrum of self destruction or submission. Has sinister despair ever sounded more beautiful? I think not. The Internet was an infant when this video came out. I wonder if anyone ever thought it would be this relevant and relatable 20 years on.

“Her green plastic watering can for her fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth
What she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber bands to get rid of itself
It wears her out, it wears her out
It wears her out, it wears her out
She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns
He used to do surgery
For girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins
And it wears him out, it wears him out
It wears him out, it wears him
She Looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing
My fake plastic love
But I can’t help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run
And it wears me out, it wears me out
It wears me out, it wears me out
If i could be who you wanted
If i could be who you wanted all the time, all the time”

Ever tried to water a fake plant? Or fight gravity? Or rescue a dog that came under a car? Then you’d know that no matter how hard you try, it’s never going to work. The line, ‘If I could be who you wanted…..” simply smashes my heart though because of of how you try so hard to be the best you can for someone you love. And it doesn’t make you happy in the end, because you are not being yourself, you are just pretending, you are a fake version of you and you hate it.

Do you have a favorite song that was also the soundtrack of your favorite movie? Share please.