Law in Film: Globalizing the Hollywood Courtroom Drama

Abstract

The courtroom drama is a prominent film genre. Most of the movies in this category are Hollywood productions, dealing with the legal system in the United States of America. What they have in common is that essential parts of their stories take place in court. These movies have a tremendous influence on the public's concept of justice even though very few of them accurately reflect legal reality. Anyone with legal training who watches films of this sort will notice in them all sorts of absurdities 1 which are not thoroughly investigated in this paper. Our concern here is to inquire why even movies that take place in continental Europe follow patterns of the American system and also why certain elements from American movies are repeated over and over again.

The People's Law versus Judge Judy Justice: Two Models of Law in American Reality-Based Courtroom TV

“…However, for international audiences too, the influence of American popular cultural representations of law and justice is undeniable. According to Machura and Ulbrich (2001), the power of American film and television to shape attitudes extends well into continental Europe. This influence has led ordinary Germans to be surprised when they encounter the inquisitorial legal process and has changed the actual practice of German lawyers, who are now expected by clients to put on ''more of a show'' (Machura & Ulbrich 2001:117).…”

Introduction: From ‘Law-and-Literature’ to ‘Law, literature, and language’: A comparative approach

“…Notwithstanding the fact that Germany aligns institutionally with the civil, inquisitional and deductive tradition, against the common-law, adversarial and analogical paradigm, in terms of its 'external' legal culture it is increasingly undergoing the influence of Anglo-American trial movies, television shows and novels. Work related to this globalisation of tropes from American and British courtroom drama has also begun to emerge (Machura and Ulbrich, 2001), and the ways in which popular culture intervenes in the understanding of law, its literatures and its languages, will no doubt constitute a further project for Law, Literature and Language.…”

Deterred from going to court? A survey at German schools on media influences

“…In a broader analysis, the TV judge shows are not different from typical courtroom dramas like "A Few Good Men" or "Witness for The Prosecution". These also show conflicts and emotions of the said type (Machura and Ulbrich 1999;Machura and Ulbrich 2001). Therefore, Thym"s scale is rather a measure of "trial stereotypes as conveyed by dramatic media portrayals" and is treated as that here.…”

“…Trial stereotypes were related to self-assessed media influences. The press, TV programmes and many films follow news and entertainment values (Machura and Ulbrich 2001). So they prefer sensational, mostly negative, news and emotionalising portrayals to attract readers and viewers; the daily functioning of courts and the ordinary trials do not make compelling drama.…”