ReFocus: The Films of Amy Heckerling

by Frances Smith (Editor), Timothy Shary (Editor)

Overview

Refocus: The Films of Amy Heckerling is the first book-length study of the work of Amy Heckerling, the phenomenally popular director and screenwriter of Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. As such, the book constitutes a significant intervention in Film Studies, prompting a reconsideration of the importance of Heckerling both in the development of Teen cinema, and as a figure in Hollywood comedy. As part of the Refocus series, the volume brings together outstanding original essays examining Heckerling's work from a variety of perspectives, including film, television and cultural studies and is destined to be used widely in undergraduate teaching.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474425896
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	08/01/2017
Series:	ReFocus: The American Directors Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Frances Smith is a Teaching Fellow at University College London

Timothy Shary is Adjunct Instructor at Southern New Hampshire University's College of Online and Continuing Education.

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

Editorial Reviews

"The editors and contributors did an excellent job showing the impact and continued relevance of 'Clueless', 'Fast Times and Ridgemont High', and the 'Look Who's Talking' films. I was particularly stuck by the evaluation of the language and words used in her films, as well as the subtle ways that Heckerling was able to place women and women's issues into the films in a way that was not isolating and did not result in her films being labelled as 'chick flicks'." — Emily L. Newman, Journal of Popular Film and Television

From the Publisher

'The editors and contributors did an excellent job showing the impact and continued relevance of Clueless, Fast Times and Ridgemont High, and the Look Who’s Talking films. I was particularly stuck by the evaluation of the language and words used in her films, as well as the subtle ways that Heckerling was able to place women and women’s issues into the films in a way that was not isolating and did not result in her films being labelled as "chick flicks".'

Journal of Popular Film and Television - Emily L. Newman