Meet the uni student who’s written her law dissertation on Clueless

Cher Horowitz would be so proud x


Clueless is one of the most iconic 90s chick flicks made, with so many quotable moments. But one final year uni student has taken this one step further, and based her entire dissertation on a Clueless moment.

Glasgow law student Toju has written a whole 10,000-word diss based on a moment in Cher’s debate class in the film, where she says: “In conclusion, may I remind you it does not say ‘RSVP’ on the Statue of Liberty.” Toju told The Tab she’s interested in human rights law and wrote her dissertation on refugees, basing it off Cher’s quote.

“And I’m an avid lover of romcoms, so I had already decided from the outset that I wanted the dissertation to have some kind of connection or reference to a romcom or something from pop culture— to bring together my two passions, romcoms and law!”, Toju said.

She’d also considered Legally Blonde, the obvious romcom X law crossover, but said Legally Blonde is more focused on criminal law whilst she preferred “the refugee angle that the quote from Clueless presented.

“It always seemed so logical to me, and finding ways to back that up and explain it legally was difficult but super interesting!”, she said. Toju works for a charity that provides grants to aid refugees, and Clueless is one of her favourite films, so it was a perfect match.

Luckily, her diss supervisor didn’t try and put her off the Clueless angle. “He didn’t really have much of an opinion to be honest!”, she says. “He was much more focused on the law I’m afraid.” 

About the actual diss content, Toju told The Tab: “I essentially argued that the definition of the refugee needed to be broadened to respond to more modern situations that may cause individuals to flee. A big example I focused on was climate change, which, despite causing an increasing number of individuals to have to forcibly migrate from their homes, is not recognised officially under the convention was a reason for granting refugee status.”

Done your diss on a unique topic you think we should know about? Email [email protected] for the chance to be featured

Related stories recommended by this writer:

Meet the third year who’s written her entire dissertation on Shrek

Elle Woods’ best Legally Blonde outfits, ranked from iconic to even more iconic

• Here’s exactly how Legally Blonde was made, from the bend and snap to Bruiser being a diva