Law and Popular Culture: A Course Book

Book Description
This book explores the interface between law and popular culture, two subjects of enormous current importance and influence. Exploring how they affect each other, each chapter discusses a legally themed film or television show, such as Philadelphia or Dead Man Walking, and treats it as both a cultural and a legal text, illustrating how popular culture both constructs our perceptions of law, and changes the way that players in the legal system behave. Written without theoretical jargon, Law and Popular Culture: A Course Book is intended for use in undergraduate or graduate courses and can be taught by anyone who enjoys pop culture and is interested in law.


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This textbook by Asimow (emeritus, U. of California at Los Angeles School of Law) and Mader (a former film professor at Loyola Marymount U.) was developed out of a University of California seminar in law and popular culture. Each of the 14 chapters offers a study of a particular film or television show, exploring both aesthetic and legal questions raised. For instance; the film To Kill A Mockingbird is used to explore the lawyer as melodramatic hero, connections between the films portrayal of events and the real-life lynching of the Scottsboro boys, the trial strategy of main character Atticus Finch, and other issues; while Kramer vs. Kramer is used to discuss the cultural context of the film in terms of divorce and the feminist movement, legal doctrines of family law, and lawyer- client relationships in family law. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


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