Law and Culture in American Film
This course attends to representations of law in 20th century American film, particularly Westerns, gangster films, and courtroom dramas. The themes addressed include: the asymmetry of law and justice, the relationship between law and social change, the public and private identities of lawyers, anxiety that the rule of law fails individuals and minorities, and the disciplinary modes of both law and culture. It also attends to the convergence of narrative, visual, aural, and dramatic practices in legal proceedings and cinematic productions.