{"id":10342,"date":"2010-06-02T15:12:31","date_gmt":"2010-06-02T20:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=10342"},"modified":"2020-02-15T21:46:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T03:46:02","slug":"hollywood-and-the-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2010\/06\/hollywood-and-the-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood and the Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a fascinating article, \u201cOil and Water Do Not Mix: Constitutional Law and American Popular Culture<\/a>,\u201d recently posted as part of the Marquette Legal Studies Paper Series, Professor David Papke argues that American movies and television series have embarrassingly failed to capture what he refers to as \u201cmeaningful constitutional deliberation and discussion.\u201d Focusing on the movies First Monday in October<\/em> and The Pelican Brief<\/em> and the television series The Court<\/em> and First Monday<\/em>, Papke demonstrates how entertainment industry conventions make it impossible to seriously examine the process of constitutional deliberation in popular media.<\/p>\n

While I agree with Professor Papke that cinematic efforts involving the Supreme Court have resulted in dismal failures, there have been Hollywood movies that have addressed \u201cconstitutional\u201d questions with some insight and sophistication. The key, it seems, is to focus on the constitutional issue itself rather than on the court that decides it.<\/p>\n

I have in the past incorporated a few films into my American Constitutional History class (though not this past semester), and I would someday like to offer a seminar that focuses on the treatment of constitutional issues in film.\u00a0 An incomplete list of such films and their subject matter is set out below:<\/p>\n

The Birth of a Nation<\/em> (1915) \u2013 the meaning of the Civil War for American federalism<\/p>\n

Gabriel Over the White House<\/em> (1933) \u2013 the limits of presidential power in a time of crisis<\/p>\n

Judge Priest<\/em> (1934) \u2013 racial accommodation and the Constitution in the Jim Crow era<\/p>\n

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington<\/em> (1939) \u2013 the limitations of the American system of checks and balances<\/p>\n

Meet John Doe<\/em> (1941) \u2013 the problem of manipulation of public opinion in mass society<\/p>\n

Inherit the Wind<\/em> (1960) \u2013 the meaning of freedom of religion in a democracy<\/p>\n

Dirty Harry<\/em> (1971) \u2013 the legitimacy of the Warren Court\u2019s expansion of the rights of criminal defendants<\/p>\n

Walking Tall<\/em> (1973) \u2013 the legitimacy of the Warren Court\u2019s contraction of local and regional autonomy<\/p>\n

Absence of Malice<\/em> (1981) \u2013 the liability of the press for injuries inflicted by inaccurate reporting<\/p>\n

Poletown Lives!<\/em> (1983) \u2013 the limits of the eminent domain power; technically a documentary, but actually structured like a commercial film<\/p>\n

Separate But Equal<\/em> (1991) \u2013 the legitimacy of racial distinctions under the constitution (a partially fictionalized account of the case of Briggs v. Elliot<\/em>, one of the cases decided with Brown v. Board of Education<\/em>)<\/p>\n

The only one of the above films that devotes a significant amount of time to the United States Supreme Court is the final one, Separate But Equal<\/em>, and the depiction of the Court is the weakest part of the movie. The justices come off as narrowly drawn stereotypes, in contrast to the more fully developed parties to the case and their lawyers (although Sidney Poitier as Thurgood Marshall takes a little getting used to).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a fascinating article, \u201cOil and Water Do Not Mix: Constitutional Law and American Popular Culture,\u201d recently posted as part of the Marquette Legal Studies Paper Series, Professor David Papke argues that American movies and television series have embarrassingly failed to capture what he refers to as \u201cmeaningful constitutional deliberation and discussion.\u201d Focusing on the 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