Law and Popular Culture: A Course Book, 2nd Edition (Politics, Media, and Popular Culture)

Both law and popular culture pervade our lives. Popular culture constructs our perceptions of law and changes the way that players in the legal system behave. Now in its second edition, Law and Popular Culture: A Course Book explores the interface between two subjects of enormous importance to everyone – law and popular culture.
Each chapter takes a particular legally themed film or television show, such as Philadelphia, Dead Man Walking, or Law and Order, treating it as both a cultural text and a legal text.
The new edition has been updated with new photos and includes greater emphasis on television than in the first edition because there are so many DVDs of older TV shows now available.
Law and Popular Culture is written in an accessible and engaging style, without theoretical jargon, and can serve as a basic text for undergraduates or graduate courses and be taught by anyone who enjoys pop culture and is interested in law. An instructor’s manual is available on request from the publisher and author.

From the Publisher

Explores the interface between law and popular culture

The book asks questions about popular culture and film, such as:

What can we learn about writing, directing, editing, or scoring? How are these narratives constructed? What’s the filmmaker’s hidden agenda? What makes a pop culture product seem “realistic”? Why should we care about the interaction of these subjects?

An in-depth reader designed for a course in law and popular culture!

Ideal for a wide range of undergraduate or graduate programs

This text is intended to deepen students’ understanding of both law and popular culture and the many ways in which they influence each other. The chapters examine how popular culture both reflects and constructs our perceptions of the law, and how it changes the way players in the legal system behave.

Each chapter is based on a particular film or television show involving law and lawyers Discusses how the lawyers in the film or TV show are represented Treats each movie or TV show as both a cultural and a legal text as well as a work of art and a product manufactured to entertain a mass audience and make a profit Considers questions about law and lawyers and focuses on filmmaking, film history, and film theory Tackles such institutions as law school, the jury, big law firms, and the economics of law practice Deals with many issues of criminal and civil justice and with problems of law practice and legal ethics Written in plain English, without theoretical jargon, and can be used or taught by anyone who enjoys popular culture and is interested in law

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers; 2nd edition (July 31, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 357 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1433113244
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1433113246
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 8.75 inches