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law film and popular culture
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... People’s perceptions of law is greatly ‘formed, influenced, and reinforced by boring and colourless high school books…. ...
This essay will cover how forms of popular culture may influence people’s perceptions of law, lawyers in particular. Film, television and literature are very important in forming opinions:
“Most Americans learn about their legal system from television and film than from first hand experience” .
Since most people are alienated from the legal profession, popular culture becomes the only source from which we can form opinions, and the opinion varies greatly depending on the source. Television can give us law in either very factual realistic programmes or comedies. Books and literature may not be specifically based on law and the legal profession to influence us, though many are. They can have underlining morals, which can be related to law. ...
We watch these films and programmes, not to find out about law but to be entertained. ... But there has been a recent change in film representations of lawyers. ... The fantasy drama series ‘Angel’ shows the hero constantly at conflict with a large and successful law firm, Wolfram and Hart, which acknowledges that ‘the public seems to have a negative view of lawyers’ . ... The series may be fantasy but the stereotype of the lawyers is still typical to that put across in most popular culture.
Television can be very realistic in conveying the law and legal proceedings. ... They want to be entertained while they hear about the law. ... The stereotype of lawyers also exists in the show; the senior partner of the law firm, Richard Fish, concentrates on making money getting on television and womanising the judges, lawyers and clients. ... ”
The show is clearly not to be taken seriously, that characters are lawyers is irrelevant, it is what is going on in their personal lives that is important; law just sets the scene. ... We learn about laws that are being introduced, but law is not always the topic. ...
Film
“Perhaps everyone who saw the film took it as just a movie. ... Real life dramas, which are conveyed by film, tend to involve the law in some way. ... Producers can still portray the law in the way wanted.
One such film is ‘Murder in the First’. It strays from the true story to make the movie more dramatic, yet the film still tackles the interests of Alcatraz. ... The film shows how the case affects the lawyer, but mainly focuses on the torture and torments of prison. ... The film is based on the injustice of law.
‘The Devil’s Advocate’ is a film that has helped in reinforcing the modern stereotype. ... In trying to find out more, his father reveals his belief ‘that law is the embodiment of evil’ . ... Law does not come across well in this movie. ...
With the film ‘Liar, Liar’ the title really says it all. ... "
The film producers added this quote in since they felt that the reply should be a form of ‘self-deprecation’ that all lawyers undergo. ...
Each one of these films depicts a slightly different view of the law. ‘Murder in the First’, shows how unjust law can be. ... The Devil’s Advocate exaggerates the modern day stereotype of lawyers, linking law to Satan and all that is disruptive and evil; contradicting the reason for having laws, to create order justly.
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Paper Information
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Title: law film and popular culture
Words: 2677 Rating: None Pages: 10.7 submitted by: roorue
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