An interesting
research topic might consist of an examination of the made for television movies on the
subject of Amy Fisher compared with 1) the actual treatment of the case and 2) treatments
of teenaged girls in popular culture and in reality. Fisher has been compared to Vladimir
Nabokov's character Lolita in the novel of the same name. Is the comparison accurate? Is
there a tendency as one of the characters in Casualities of Love suggests to treat
young women in Fisher's position as temptresses and men in Joey Buttafuoco's position as
victims of a pretty girl's manipulative charms?
Resources for such
a topic might include
The videos made of
the story:
Amy Fisher: My Story (1992) (TV)(aka Beyond
Control), starring Noelle Parker
The Amy Fisher Story (1993) (TV)(aka Lethal
Lolita), starring Drew Barrymore
Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story
(1993)(TV), starring Alyssa Milano
Consider the point
of view for each film. How do they differ and what message(s) do they send the viewer
about guilt and innocence of each of the major characters (Amy, her parents, Joey, his
wife)?
Other videos
featuring young offenders:
You can also
compare images of other young women "lawbreakers", for example Billie (Helen
Slater) in The Legend of Billie Jean (1975), Caril-Ann Fugate in the docudrama Starkweather:
Murder in the Heartland (TV miniseries (1993), with Fairuza Balk as Caril-Ann, and Badlands
(1973) starring Sissy Spacek as Holly in a film based on Fugate's story. Does the public's
attitude toward these characters change over time? Does the filmmakers'? If so, how? Are
they reflections of changes in public policy and popular attitudes? Do filmmakers actually
have an impact on our perceptions of these kinds of events, or do they simply reflect
public perceptions, or is a more accurate description that the two interact?
Applicable federal
and state statutes:
Examine federal
and state statutes and cases involving juvenile offenders and their differing treatment in
the juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems. On what premises, assumptions,
public policies are such differing treatments based, how do they reflect current public
and governmental attitudes toward juvenile offenders and how are such attitudes reflected
(or not) in films, television and fiction about these young people? You might also look
through social work resources, psychology resources, urban geography and urban sociology
materials and child psychiatry studies for information and opinions on the culpability of
juvenile offenders and their ability to understand the "nature and quality of the
act." See Judy DeHaven, Special Report: Murder: When Couples Kill,
Courts Traditionally Are Harder on Men, Detroit News, January 20, 1997, at C1.
Other topics might
include the statutory rape law under which Joey Buttafuoco was ultimately convicted.
Should we have such laws on the books when we hold one of the parties as an adult in
another action? Amy was tried and sentenced as an adult offender.
Related topics:
Related topics:
"Dying for Love": the involvement of
juveniles in criminal activities. See for example recent tv movies To Die For
(Nicole Kidman as a local weathercaster yearning for fame), Murder in New Hampshire
(Helen Hunt as Pamela Smart in a dramatization of the Greg Smart murder), Stay the
Night (Barbara Hershey as a Georgia woman who entices her teenaged lover into killing
her husband), and Seduced By Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story (starring
Ann-Margret).
Other topics
related to question of responsbility of juveniles for their actions include patricide and
matricide by children who claim to have been abused. See "I Wish My Parents Were Dead" and "You'll Be Sorry You Laughed At Me": Children Who
Strike Back.
The Amy Fisher Website
(AIMEE) is available also.