ReFocus: The Films of Amy Heckerling

by Smith, Frances; Shary, Timothy

• ISBN13: 9781474404617
• ISBN10: 1474404618
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-03-01
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Summary

Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High are affectionately regarded as key foundations of the modern Hollywood teen movie. However, the director and screenwriter for these films, Amy Heckerling, is far from a household name, despite the major influence she had had on contemporary US cinema.

The first book-length study of her films, ReFocus: The Films of Amy Heckerling brings together a collection of original essays from a wide range of critical perspectives, aiming to recuperate Heckerling's place as a distinctive female voice in the contemporary Hollywood landscape. Divided into four sections, each examining a distinctive aspect of Heckerling's work, the volume draws on research from applied linguistics and audience studies, as well as from aspects of gender and film studies. Questions of gender, genre and identity, as well as the role of women in Hollywood and the implications of Heckerling's recent turn to television, are all considered in a volume that aims to refocus on the films and influence of this distinctive American director.

Part of the ReFocus: The American Directors Series, which aims to bring influential, yet neglected, American directors to the attention of a new audience of scholars and students.

Author Biography

Frances Smith is Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Winchester.

Timothy Shary is Lecturer in Mass Communication at Southern New Hampshire University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Film and Television Work by Amy Heckerling
Chapter 1: Introduction, Frances Smith and Timothy Shary

I: Heckerling in Teen Film and Television
Chapter 2: Cher and Dionne BFFs: Female Friendship, Genre, and Medium Specificity in the Film and Television Versions of Amy Heckerling's Clueless, Susan Berridge
Chapter 3: Fast Times with Clueless Losers: Lessons on Sex and Gender in Amy Heckerling's Teen Films, Zachary Finch
Chapter 4: "As If a Girl's Reach Should Exceed Her Grasp": Gendering Genericity and Spectatorial Address in the Work of Amy Heckerling, Mary Harrod

II: Ingenuity and Irony in the Heckerling Lexicon
Chapter 5: Consumerism and the Languages of Class: American Teenagers View Amy Heckerling's Clueless, Andrea Press and Ellen Rosenman
Chapter 6: "An increasingly valid form of expression": Teen-speak and Community Identity in the Work of Amy Heckerling, Lisa Richards

III: Femininity, Ageing, and Postfeminism
Chapter 7: Look Who's Doing the Caring: Shared Parenting, Subjectivity, and Gender Roles in Heckerling's Look Who's Talking Films, Claire Jenkins
Chapter 8: Amy Heckerling's Place in Hollywood: Issues of Aging and Sisterhood in I Could Never Be Your Woman and Vamps, Betty Kaklamanidou
Chapter 9: "Staying Young is Getting Old": Youth and Immortality in Vamps, Murray Leeder

IV: Reflections on the Heckerling Oeuvre
Chapter 10: "But seriously, I actually have a way normal life for a teenage girl": The Teenage Female Empowerment Payoff in Amy Heckerling's Clueless, Stefania Marghitu and Lindsey Alexander
Chapter 11: Clueless Times at the Ferris Bueller Club: A Critical Analysis of the Directorial Works of Amy Heckerling and John Hughes, Kimberly M. Miller
Chapter 12: Way Hilarious: Amy Heckerling as a Female Comedy Director, Writer, and Producer, Lesley Speed

Appendix: Other Films and Television Shows Cited in this Collection
Bibliography
Contributors