Within the first 30 minutes of Do Revenge, Netflix’s peppy new high school movie, the must-have element of the genre arrives. “We have to do…” begins spurned popular girl Drea Torres (Camila Mendes). “Oh, please don’t say a makeover,” interrupts new kid Eleanor (Maya Hawke). “It feels so problematic,” Eleanor protests. “It is, but it’s fun!” Drea replies, as the instantly recognisable guitar riffs of Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” begin to swell. If it feels reminiscent of Clueless, that’s because it’s meant to be.
After months of reports of cancelled subscriptions, Netflix is starting the new academic year with something genuinely exciting: a teen movie that could appeal as much to Gen Z as it does the millennials who were raised on them. Do Revenge, directed, co-written and co-produced by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, manages to pay a respectful homage to teen movies that have now become classics, while winkingly re-inventing them for a new generation. Watching it feels a little like cradling the socio-politically conscious lovechild of The Craft, Clueless, The Breakfast Club and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.
Eleanor and Tara in Do Revenge.
Kim Simms/Netflix,
Rewind to the mid-1990s, when costume director Mona May is piecing together the gargantuan wardrobe for Clueless, Amy Heckerling’s jaunty retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma. In the real world, teenagers were deep in grunge – ripped jeans and oversized tops. But the glossy fantasy of Heckerling’s LA entertained something both familiar and alien: a mishmash of high-end designer with schoolgirl styling. Girls came to school dressed as slutty sailors, or in top hats that looked like cakes. Usually, a costume fitting for a movie lasted two days; for Clueless they lasted seven, each one 10 hours long. Once Clueless came out, its impact could be seen on the streets: “It changed the way girls dressed,” May said. “The movie came out and flipped the nation in a sense; every girl had to wear over-the-knee stockings.”
Two decades on and the visual cues of such films have filtered through pop culture like urban legends at sleepovers. Clueless inspired the preppy plaid looks in Donatella Versace’s autumn/winter 2018 collection, and the high-school backdrop of Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX’s video for “Fancy”, while Depop search terms for penny lane jackets, inspired by Almost Famous, litter the app’s explore page.
What’s New On Netflix? Gallery 15 Photos
By Radhika Seth
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