POL3311: Law and Justice: The View From Hollywood

Politics and the law have played major thematic roles in American films. This course analyzes eight films that focus on justice, the law, and the legal system, to see what they tell us about political and legal culture, and what messages (if any) they have for contemporary politics. To that end, we will read about, watch, talk about, and write about films. Mostly we will be focusing on questions about the relationship between law and justice, the practice of law, and the role of courts and trials in a political system; however, many other issues will arise in the course of these discussions—race/class/gender and the law, legal ethics, legal education, the adversarial system, the relationship between law and popular culture, among others. You should expect to develop a more in-depth understanding of these issues as well as a better appreciation of the cultural and political significance of the way that law, lawyers, and judges are depicted in the movies.

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