Roman Polanski and the Rule of Law

I’ve been struck by the differing views in Europe and the United States regarding whether filmmaker Roman Polanski should be extradited. Polanski drugged and raped a thirteen-year-old girl in Los Angeles, and he then fled the United States in 1978, just before being sentenced. He lived openly in Paris and traveled and worked in Europe for 30 years before recently being arrested in Switzerland, where he remains in custody.

The sentiment among European politicians and artists seems to be that the extradition attempt is another example of uptight, moralistic Americans at work. Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, said Polanski was being victimized by vengeful Americans and their Swiss lackeys. The President of the German Film Academy was especially outraged because Polanski, an internationally acclaimed director, was arrested at a film festival. Franz Wagner, a German columnist, noted Polanski’s mother had died in Auschwitz and argued that Polanski should therefore be released “because he has suffered enough.” Perhaps the silliest comment came from French intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy. He thought Polanski, 43 at the time of the rape, should be forgiven for “a youthful error.”

Few of the European apologists or commentators have reflected how Polanski’s flight was an affront to the American justice system. Having pled guilty to rape, Polanski basically skipped bail and then continued to thumb his nose at the judge and courts for decades. This type of behavior is a more troubling matter for many Americans, given the central place a belief in the rule of law has in the dominant ideology. The rule of law is of course also held dear in Europe, but the Polanski affair makes clear Europeans are as likely to draw a sense of right and wrong from nationality, history, and a respect for art as they are to rely on a court of law.

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More on Literary Characters and Copyright Law

CC_No_11_Don_Quixote3This blog has seen an extended discussion on the topic of literary characters and copyright law.  It began with my post here, discussing the ongoing court case brought by J.D. Salinger over the unauthorized use of his Holden Caulfield character from The Catcher in the Rye, (Salinger v. Colting) and using a comparison to the novel Don Quixote to argue that copyright protection for literary characters should be eliminated.  It was followed by Professor Bruce Boyden’s post here, defending the law’s grant of exclusive control over literary characters to the original author because it provides an economic incentive to the creative process.  Professor Gordon Hylton responded with a post here, supporting my argument against copyright protection for literary characters by pointing to the post-publication history of Edward Bellamy’s popular novel Looking Backward.  The discussion continued with Professor David Papke’s suggestion, in a post here, that the resolution of this debate may depend upon how we define what it means to be an “author,” and whether authorship is an individual act of creation or the collective act of an entire society.  Finally, Professor Rick Esenberg contributed this post, discussing the crucial role of the reader in attributing meaning to the text, and implicitly questioning the idea that any author can control how his creation is used.

 I would like to add to this discussion by sharing the comments of my brother, Jim Fallone, on the foregoing debate.  I am aware, of course, of the popular movie Adaptation, “co-written” by screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his fictitious brother Donald.  In that movie, Charlie Kaufman takes the screenwriting process itself as the film’s subject, and plays with post-modern theories of authorship.  Let me assure you that, unlike Donald Kaufman, Jim Fallone is a real person.  Moreover, Jim Fallone has over 20 years of experience as an executive in the publishing industry, currently with Andrews McMeel Publishing in Kansas City, and is a published illustrator.  While this experience makes him dependent upon copyright law for his meal ticket, it also gives him some valuable insights into the creation and marketing of literary characters.

What follows, then, are the comments of Jim Fallone:

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Law School and the Hero’s Journey

129202-004-13CDB5F1Most law school professors are conflicted about their own experiences as law students.  We remember law school as an exceedingly unpleasant place, filled with crushing amounts of work and a hostile professoriate.  It is not surprising that law school is often depicted as a de-humanizing experience in the media, whether in books like Scott Turow’s One L or in movies such as The Paper Chase.  This recent post, by Professor Mazzie, seems to reflect a pervasive concern that the demands of law school can even erode our own sense of identity, a process that ultimately transforms students into soul-less apparatchiks of the legal system.  I, myself, have felt this way at times.

Some law professors (and I do not intend to include my colleagues in this group) respond to these conflicted feelings by endeavoring to reduce the stress of law school.  They reject the Socratic method as unnecessarily antagonistic and outdated.  They reduce the workload, and their expectations of the students, in order to leave more room in the students’ lives for the “real world.”  They may even take a rather forgiving view of the grading process.  Their intention is to make the current generation of law students happier during their law school experience than these professors remember being during their own.

The odd thing is that, when law students are provided with this de-stressed version of law school, I have found them to be even less satisfied with their law school experience.  Law students come to law school expecting to be challenged.  They want to have their abilities tested, and even found wanting on occasion.  In some sense, when students find the law school experience to be too easy, the law school experience loses meaning for them.

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