When Law Goes Pop

The Vanishing Line between Law and Popular Culture

Richard K Sherwin author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:10th Jun '02

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

When Law Goes Pop cover

In recent years, millions of TV viewers have devoured images of the law. Amy Fisher, O.J. Simpson, Rodney King and JonBenet Ramsey have become household names. To meet popular demand we have a cable channel devoted to trials and police dramas 24 hours a day. Quick justice-dealing judges preside over TV courtrooms resolving real-life conflicts. What are the consequences when legal culture and popular culture dissolve into eath other? What happens, asks Richard K. Sherwin, when law goes pop? Sherwin, a law professor and former New York prosecutor, offers a pathbreaking interdisciplinary study of law and popular culture. He argues that in the welter of communication technologies, an unrestrained marketplace and postmodern ideas, law is increasingly becoming a spectacle, mimicking the style, techniques and visual logic of advertising and public relations. How will law continue to function when truth becomes interpretation and reality and fiction can no longer be separated? To answer these questions, Sherwin draws on a wealth of fascinating material: the contemporary storytelling strategies of lawyers; notoriously popular criminal cases in American legal history; representations of the law such as Errol Morris's "The Thin Blue Line"; and examples of how lawyers and judges have used the media to legitimize the judicial process. The law can be a powerful and affirmative tool for realizing meaning in postmodern life, but not when it is buffeted by corrosive cultural practices. "When Law Goes Pop" is an examination of legal practice in today's world, one that should be needed by everyone concerned with the future of our legal system and the meaning we invest in it.

"[Sherwin's] knowledge of how media culture affects the courtroom is valuable, as is his rigorous examination. Can we prevent America's legal system from going 'pop' - losing its legitimacy by becoming just another part of popular culture? Given America's courtroom obsession... it's about time someone did some explaining." - Julie Scelfo, Brill's Content; "[A] brilliant analysis of the jury system in our media-saturated age.... [D]iscerning readers will see a truly integrative intelligence at work, proposing possible solutions rather than simply bemoaning problems." - Publishers Weekly

ISBN: 9780226752921

Dimensions: 23mm x 15mm x 2mm

Weight: 454g

332 pages