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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Frances Smith (Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Sussex) ,  Timothy Shary (Professor, Eastern Florida State College)
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
Weight:   0.429kg
ISBN:  

9781474425896

ISBN 10:   1474425895
Pages:   280
Publication Date:   01 August 2017
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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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 TelevisionChapter 2: Cher and Dionne BFFs: Female Friendship, Genre, and Medium Specificity in the Film and Television Versions of Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, Susan BerridgeChapter 3: Fast Times with Clueless Losers: Lessons on Sex and Gender in Amy Heckerling’s Teen Films, Zachary FinchChapter 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 LexiconChapter 5: Consumerism and the Languages of Class: American Teenagers View Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, Andrea Press and Ellen RosenmanChapter 6: “An increasingly valid form of expression”: Teen-speak and Community Identity in the Work of Amy Heckerling, Lisa Richards III: Femininity, Ageing, and PostfeminismChapter 7: Look Who’s Doing the Caring: Shared Parenting, Subjectivity, and Gender Roles in Heckerling’s Look Who’s Talking Films, Claire JenkinsChapter 8: Amy Heckerling’s Place in Hollywood: Issues of Aging and Sisterhood in I Could Never Be Your Woman and Vamps, Betty KaklamanidouChapter 9: “Staying Young is Getting Old”: Youth and Immortality in Vamps, Murray Leeder IV: Reflections on the Heckerling OeuvreChapter 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 AlexanderChapter 11: Clueless Times at the Ferris Bueller Club: A Critical Analysis of the Directorial Works of Amy Heckerling and John Hughes, Kimberly M. MillerChapter 12: Way Hilarious: Amy Heckerling as a Female Comedy Director, Writer, and Producer, Lesley Speed Appendix: Other Films and Television Shows Cited in this CollectionBibliographyContributors

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

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

'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

Author Information

Frances Smith is Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Sussex. She is the author of 'Rethinking the Hollywood Teen Movie' (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), which combines close textual analysis and critical theory to argue that the genre possesses a distinct narrative and aesthetic. Timothy Shary is the author of Teen Movies: American Youth on Screen (Wallflower, 2005) and Generation Multiplex: The Image of Youth in American Cinema Since 1980 (Texas, 2014). He teaches at Eastern Florida State College.

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