Character personality analysis: traits, choices, and narrative impact

Big Five Personality Analysis

Cher from the film Clueless: Big five personality trait analysis

Openness

Openness is an appreciation for new ideas. On one hand, sixteen-year-old Cher is fairly unaware of problems that exist outside of her narrow world of Beverly Hills, and she is very judgmental of so-called 'stoners' at her high school, or people who do not fit in with her in-group. However, she is open enough to embrace a new girl named Tai who comes to the school, even though the girl seems very 'clueless' about how to dress and behave. Cher tries to teach Tai the values of the high school -- Cher's values.

Despite her apparent superficiality, Cher does have a clear sense of personal morality. She is open about the fact that she is a virgin, saying that she is waiting for the right person to enjoy 'first time'. This makes her unusual in her school, and shows that she has a value system that does not merely narrowly conform to the world around her.

Conscientiousness

Cher is highly conscientious about her personal appearance and reputation in terms of where she shops, who she dates, and how she looks. She is devastated when she fails her driving test for the first time. However, Cher shows little interest in getting good grades through academic effort. She enjoys wheedling her teachers into giving her extra points, but uses her negotiating skills rather than her academic ability to improve her report card. She earned praise for this: Her father says that he couldn't have been more pleased to hear of her ability to talk her way out of her bad grades, then had she actually legitimately earned the grades themselves. Cher would thus rate high on the attribute of conscientiousness, because she is very determined to meet certain benchmarks, as set by her society. However, these benchmarks do not include learning for the sake of learning, either at home or at school. Cher is not dutiful and obedient in a conventional fashion, but she is extremely determined when she puts her heart into something, although that 'something' is unlikely to be what her teachers want.

Extraversion

Extroversion is perhaps Cher's dominant trait. Even her personal hobbies are extroverted. When she is bored, she tries to fix up two of her teachers, romantically -- or to 'socially improve' and educate her friends in style. Instead of amusing herself with inward-directed pastimes, all of her energies are focused in an outer-directed fashion. She seldom reads and makes fun of her stepbrother for showing an interest in philosophy and not wanting to go to parties and shop. If something is not seen by others -- whether it is clothing, shoes, or a public act of kindness -- it does not exist for Cher.

Agreeableness

However, Cher, unlike some of the other girls at her school, is not mean-spirited. She does not constantly mock other people and make snide jokes, unless she is responding to someone else's comments. She is shocked when Elton, a boy she tries to get interested in Tai, says that he is beneath Tai. Cher's extroversion and focus on people is thus partially based in a need to be liked, but also seems to reflect a genuine interest in others. When she discovers that Christian, a boy she has been 'crushing on' is gay, she does not act homophobic or start rumors about him, but embraces him as a friend.

Cher's agreeableness is also manifest in the fact that she is popular -- although her school is intensely factionalized between different social groups, she seems to get along fairly well with most of the other girls. This is in contrast to Amber, who is snotty and nasty. Cher is pretty and rich, which is obviously a necessary component of success at a Beverley Hills High School, but she also has other attributes that make her particularly well-liked and attractive.

Neuroticism