Guide to Law and Film Resources

Originally published in the Fall 2012 SWALL Bulletin.

With film being used ever more frequently in law schools, academic librarians are playing an increasingly important role in providing support for law and film pursuits in teaching and scholarship. Since cinematic depictions of the legal system have influenced all of our perceptions of law and how the public views the legal profession, film can be used in a number of ways to enhance legal education, from movie screenings to discussions of film clips shown in the classroom.

Many law school libraries already have a wealth of law and film resources that faculty and even librarians may not be aware of. From DVD collections to books and journal databases, libraries are well-positioned to provide critical material for both film discussions and scholarly efforts. Although law and film has developed into a recognized academic field only in the last couple of decades, it can be a challenge to know which materials are the best match for a particular purpose. This narrative bibliography discusses some of the major law and film resources and how to most effectively navigate them.

Whether looking for materials in support of a movie screening or a faculty member’s scholarship, or preparing a bibliography, even a basic Internet search can provide valuable information about individual films or specific themes. Official movie sites, along with popular sites like Wikipedia  and the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), may provide enough background information and thematic summaries to make informed decisions about film screening choices. To formulate thought-provoking discussion questions, however, it will likely be necessary to seek out the in-depth analysis found in scholarly articles and books.

Scholarly Articles

Although most of us have access to subscription periodical indexes, Google Scholar is one of the fastest ways to find a broad spectrum of journal articles. Due to the interdisciplinary trend of law and film scholarship, even articles without a law focus can have a great deal of relevance and may spark some of the more interesting discussions about a film. For ongoing research needs, the Google Scholar Alerts feature is an easy way to stay up-to-date on new law and film articles. Because of the vast number of articles indexed in Google, it may help to limit alerts to specific films, directors, or topics.

Journals occasionally offer special law and film issues. Some cover a variety of law and film topics, such as the one produced by the Journal of Law and Society, while others offer a collection of articles about a single film, such as the 12 Angry Men Symposium issue of The Chicago-Kent Law Review.

Books

For finding suitable films for screenings, the best starting point is Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies (2006), which is the most comprehensive reference book in this area. The book is divided by area of law (family law, military justice, the death penalty) and broader concepts (justice, corruption, prejudice). Its rating of trial scenes and listing of films by title, rating, and legal concept (depositions, fruit of the poisonous tree) make it especially helpful for sparking screening ideas. For formulating discussion questions, it offers analysis of major legal films and shorter discussions of lesser-known, quasi-legal, and even poorly-received films. Analysis includes answers to real-life legal questions and discussion of cultural messages embedded in the films.

Another good starting point is Screening Justice–The Cinema of Law: Significant Films of Law, Order and Social Justice (2006). Despite its analytical focus on law and justice, this collection of scholarly essays includes brief mentions of almost any movie featuring a lawyer, from serious fare (The Accused) to family comedies (The Shaggy D.A.). A film festival section that suggests a number of possible double features makes this book instrumental for selecting films to screen. With each essay focusing primarily on one film discussed in a particular context, this book can also help generate a good set of discussion questions. Of special interest to those of us in the southwest is the inclusion of former CU Law Dean David Getches’ essay “A Wealth of Water Law, Not a Drop of Justice: The Milagro Beanfield War and Chinatown.”

Perhaps the most practical-minded book in this area is Movie Therapy for Law Students (2009). Marketed as a study aid for the bar exam, each film entry includes exam tips ranging from examples, memorization techniques, and general advice on taking the bar. The inclusion of statutory law, case law, and court rules covering ethics, evidence, and civil and criminal procedure, also makes this book a valuable companion for the use of film clips in class. Films are discussed in the context of one or more areas of law, including the usual first year subjects, as well as evidence, ethics, family law, business law, employment law, and intellectual property.

Most other law and film books have a more academic focus. While sometimes harder to search quickly for screening ideas, the more scholarly works can be valuable for both supporting law and film scholarship and formulating in-depth discussion questions. They also tend to take a much broader view of what constitutes a legal film, making them particularly useful for law schools moving towards the use of more non-law movies. The Celluloid Courtroom: A History of Legal Cinema (2005) defines the universe of legal films as including any movie that makes some sort of commentary on the civil or criminal legal system. In keeping with this definition, the several dozen movies discussed here cover a wide range of film types, including traditional legal movies (Anatomy of a Murder), quasi-legal movies (Body Heat), and non-law movies (Mrs. Doubtfire). The book is organized into sections covering four groups of players in the legal process (client, judge, jury, and lawyer) and focuses on the theme of how the portrayal of each group has changed over the course of cinematic history.

One of the earlier works in the field, Legal Reelism: Movies as Legal Texts (1996), features quasi-legal films focusing on broad concepts of crime, justice, and culture (The Godfather Trilogy, Thelma and Louise). Law’s Moving Image (2004) covers the most diverse and surprising range of films, including Hollywood classics (Rebel Without a Cause, The Searchers, Star Wars) and modern comedies (Muriel’s Wedding, Toy Story, Bend it Like Beckham). The essays here look at the multidisciplinary nature of law and film, with an emphasis on historical, cultural, and national aspects. The book offers a stronger focus on law than most with its inclusion of a case list, making it suitable for both faculty writing and classroom discussion.

Three other books are most noteworthy for their potential value to law and film scholars, though they may have some practical application as well. Film and the Law: The Cinema of Justice, 2d ed. (2010) takes an ideological approach in discussing why law and film is important in legal education and makes a case for the value of using film clips in the classroom. Along with a chapter on teaching law and film, it offers one of the more extensive law and film bibliographies. Organized by genre, group, or theme rather than by film, the book can be helpful for formulating discussion questions. Law on the Screen (2005) also discusses why law and film is important and argues that scholarship in this area should focus more on how image and narrative interact. Law in Film: Resonance and Representation (1999) focuses on the narrative aspects of both law and cinema and explains how law and film grew out of the field of law and literature. Though one of the more scholarly books, it discusses an interesting mix of non-law films (Blue Velvet, Flashdance, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).

There are numerous books on specialty topics within law and film, most easily found in the bibliographies of other law and film books. One of the most notable is Framed: Women in Law and Film (2006). The focus is on feminist jurisprudence in a criminal law context, but the in-depth analysis of ten films covers a broad enough range of legal topics to make it a good source of thought-provoking discussion questions.

Television Law

Books and articles on television law represent a sizeable percentage of law and film scholarship. Although the ongoing format of TV shows makes them less likely to be screened in full, they may well be used as the source of classroom discussion. Encyclopedia of Television Law Shows: Factual and Fictional Series About Judges, Lawyers and the Courtroom, 1948-2008 (2009) is a comprehensive source of basic information about all law-related shows, including comedies, dramas, and reality court shows. Lawyers in Your Living Room! Law on Television (2009) also has some encyclopedic elements, including an essay on history of law on television. It is mostly comprised of essays on individual shows, including non-law sitcoms (Green Acres, The Simpsons, Seinfeld). Prime Time Law: Fictional Television as Legal Narrative (1998) offers essays on both traditional legal shows (L.A. Law, Law & Order) and other TV genres (science fiction, sitcoms, soap operas, westerns). Law and Justice as Seen on TV (2003) is the most scholarly of this group, with essays on special topics such as “Cameras, Court TV, and the Rise of the Criminal Trial as Major Media Event,” and “Television and the Demonization of Youth.”

Popular Culture and Law

Although covering a broader range of media than just film, materials on popular culture and the law can provide a good framework for narrower film discussions. One of the more entertaining works in this area, When Law Goes Pop: The Vanishing Line between Law and Popular Culture (2000), presents a critique of the intermingling of law and popular culture. Due to its analysis of actual legal cases, it is a good source of ideas for classroom discussion. It covers an impressive range of films and TV shows, including classic movies (The Wizard of Oz), legal documentaries (The Thin Blue Line), and TV doctor shows (Marcus Welby, M.D.). David Lynch aficionados will appreciate the discussions of Lost Highway and Twin Peaks. The key classroom text in this area is Law and Popular Culture: Text, Notes, and Questions, 2d ed. (2012), which includes two business law articles by University of Colorado Law School Professor Peter Huang. Although the text covers a variety of media–film, radio, television, and novels–each chapter begins with a list of five Hollywood films relevant to the subject matter. A videography of clips and trailers for these films is available on the Filmography page.

One of the best online starting points for researching law and lawyers in popular culture is the University of Texas Tarlton Law Library’s Law in Popular Culture Collection website.The Journal of Popular Culture is a highly regarded, and entertaining, source for discovering films and television shows that are currently trending in the academic world.

A complete bibliography of the resources discussed here is available on the Suggested Reading page.