Transcript November 29, 2011

November 29, 2011
Giglio on Hollywood Lawyers
 “What does Hollywood have against lawyers? The
answer is ‘nothing’ because the studios hire many and
work closely with them. How, then, to explain their
screen portrayals? One explanation is that the
entertainment media has turned lawyering into a
performance art. In a culture dominated by the visual
media, the screen courtroom is no longer a venue for
sifting through the facts to discover the truth. Rather it
is an opportunity for lawyers to sway jurors with
emotional appeals, bombastic rhetoric, and courtroom
tricks.” (p. 171)
Evil Female Lawyers
 Glenn Close in Jagged Edge
 Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
in Mass Action
 Barbara Hershey in
Defenseless
 Jessica Lang in Music Box
 Kelly McGillis in The Accused
Giglio, pp. 168-9
TV Shows Featuring Lawyers
 The Good Wife
 LA Law
 Boston Legal
 Perry Mason
 Law & Order
 The Defenders
 The Practice
 Ally McBeal
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Rumpole of the Bailey
Damages
Night Court
Judging Amy
JAG
Civil Wars
Matlock
Mainstream Films of the 1960s
 James Bond spy movies
 Advise and Consent (1962)
 The Best Man (1964)
 The Ugly American (1963)
 The Green Berets (1968)
 Patton (1970)
Christensen
and Haas,
Ch. 8
President Nixon Loved “Patton”
“One of the most fascinating sections of Nixon at the
Movies is its discussion of a film close to the President's
heart: Patton (1970). It stars George C. Scott as the
American General, a devout Christian who believes in
reincarnation, leading his forces in a series of victorious
battles across North Africa, Sicily and Bastogne in France
until he finally ploughs through to Germany
itself. Patton is shown as brusque, disconcertingly frank,
a believer in the rightness and efficacy of American
military might.”
Source: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sukhdevsandhu/blog/
2009/01/23/nixon_and_the_movies
Counterculture Films of the 1960s
 Easy Rider (1969)
 Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
 The Graduate (1967)
 Z (1969)
Paranoia and Cynicism in 1970s
Films
 The Candidate (1972)
 All the President’s Men (1976)
 Network (1976)
 Being There (1979)
 The China Syndrome (1979)
Christensen and Haas, ch. 9
The New Patriotism of the 1980s
 The Rambo franchise
 Top Gun (1986)
 The Right Stuff (1983)
 Chuck Norris films
 Clint Eastwood and Arnold
Schwarzenegger films
Science Fiction of the 1990s
 Later Star Wars episodes
 Men in Black (1997)
 The Truman Show (1998)
 The Matrix (1999)
 Minority Report (2002)