Emma and Clueless

In Austen's novel Emma and in Amerling's film Clueless, we watch two young women, fixated on being social matchmakers, ironically coming to a realisation that meeting and connecting with a partner does in fact call for genuine and heartfelt honesty.

Emma and Cher both play a game where they hold the pieces. The game becomes unpredictable when they are no longer controlling events but are themselves caught  up in the matchmaking game, their hearts being drawn into what was for them a passionless arena.

In short, both works juxtapose pretentious social posturing against the more sincere concern of genuine love.