n 1948, French film critic Alexandre Astruc coined the
phrase “caméra-stylo” (“camera-pen” in English) to
describe a personal and intellectual style of filmmaking
that would flourish during the New Wave era. In 1995, Amy
Heckerling made beloved teen film Clueless, in which
Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) held a pen topped by
a pouf of pink fuzz to her face as her voiceover mused
that, “Searching for a boy in high school is as useless as
searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie.” Then
she intentionally dropped the distinctive pen to get a cute
boy’s attention. Pens are such a quotidian object that their
cinematic symbolism can be overlooked. The fuzzy pen,
a staple of ‘90s teen girls’ desks and cheesy mall shops,
is an unsung hero and unquestionably one of the most
iconic stylos in cinema (sorry Alexandre). In addition to
Clueless, fluffy pens also make unforgettable appearances
in Legally Blonde (2001) and Gone Girl (2014). These pens
are rooted in the pastel trends of the ‘90s and today have
great nostalgic heft. On screen, they’re a perfect indicator
of a self-aware pop femininity.
In Legally Blonde, sorority girl turned Harvard Law
student Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) uses a fluffy
pink pen and heart-shaped notebook in a very serious
class. She is surrounded by boringly attired students with
laptops. The film is a frothy but empowering take on ‘fish
out of water’ clichés, and Elle’s fluffy pen, both frivolous
and functional, is a tidy representation of her personality.
Gone Girl, the most recent mainstream example of the
highly niche genre of fluffy pen cinema, unsurprisingly
features the most subversive appearance of the distinctive
writing instrument. Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike), a woman
who suddenly and mysteriously goes missing on her fifth
wedding anniversary, writes her diary with one of these
pens. Keeping one’s innermost thoughts in a diary is often
a gendered activity, and Amy uses this to her advantage.
The fluffy pen is part of her scarily precise act. Her diary
is fabricated, all part of the scheme to mastermind her
disappearance. Writing with the fluffy pen is a shrewd
form of method acting. She makes herself seem like
the perfect victim. A pen like that is cute. It’s not meant
to write anything too serious, but it helps Amy to take
on a more innocent persona. The fluff becomes sinister
as the audience realises just what Amy is capable of.
The screenplay describes Amy’s pen as “pink, feathered,
silly.” Cher and Elle are both a bit silly, in a lovable way.
They relish their girly-girlness, and are ultimately earnest,
good-humoured, and smarter than most people give them
credit for. Like Cher and Elle, Amy is intelligent and blonde.
Unlike them, she doesn’t use a fluffy pen because she thinks
it’s cute or it goes with her outfit. She uses it because she’s
determined to create a fake personality, and she realises
this seemingly garish yet functional accessory can be
a small part of helping her achieve this nefarious goal.
She ends up snapping the pen in half and tossing it from a
car window. In the screenplay description, the pen’s fall is
likened to a gunshot.
The fluffy pen, longer than it is wide and often wielded
coquettishly, can be seen as a winkingly feminine take on
a phallic symbol – but it’s more than just that. The pen
bridges the gap between fashion accessories and office
accessories. The women who use it are all type A. Cher, Elle
and Amy are all determined to get what they want, and a
fuzz-topped pen is a small but noticeable way of announcing
oneself. Their pens make the standard ballpoint seem drab
and lazy. If there’s one universal truth about the fluffy pen,
it’s this: women on screen never use them by accidentI
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