{"id":11002,"date":"2010-07-22T10:17:50","date_gmt":"2010-07-22T15:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=11002"},"modified":"2010-07-22T10:17:50","modified_gmt":"2010-07-22T15:17:50","slug":"norman-rockwell-and-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2010\/07\/norman-rockwell-and-storytelling\/","title":{"rendered":"Norman Rockwell and Storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., recently opened a new exhibit entitled \u201cTelling Stories:\u00a0 Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.\u201d*\u00a0 Rockwell\u2019s art speaks to filmmakers Lucas and Spielberg for its ability to tell a story.\u00a0 Rockwell\u2019s storytelling can also speak to lawyers seeking to use narrative in persuasive brief writing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The exhibit begins with a series of photographs that Rockwell used when selecting props in Back to Civvies<\/em>, a painting about a soldier returning home and trying on his old (and now too-small) civilian clothes in front of his dresser mirror.\u00a0 The photos show how Rockwell arranged real-life props such as a bomber model and poster, college pennant, and uniform jacket with campaign ribbons to depict the pilot\u2019s life before leaving for World War II and after coming home.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rockwell found details from his life, often things appeared from his work room or house in his paintings.\u00a0 Rockwell painted his own sofa in Let Nothing You Dismay<\/em>, and he painted a ship model in The Toy Maker<\/em> that can be seen hanging on the wall of his studio in a photo taken almost\u00a0forty years after the painting.\u00a0\u00a0 Those details convey precision, realism, and give his stories credibility.\u00a0 We can relate to these details: they present us with cultural and historical associations, and they evoke our emotions.<\/p>\n

Even his titles convey much.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Rockwell\u2019s Merry Christmas, Grandma . . . We Came in Our New Plymouth!<\/em> speaks of an era when having a Plymouth likely signified the rise of a middle class family.\u00a0 This piece appeared as a Plymouth advertisement in Life<\/em> magazine in December 1950.<\/p>\n

For George Lucas, Rockwell\u2019s work represents \u201clittle bits of culture, captured like snapshots.\u201d\u00a0 Lucas and Spielberg both talked about how they respect Rockwell\u2019s ability to put a composition together so that a viewer gets a large amount of visual information quickly and effectively.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a filmmaker does, and Rockwell could have been a filmmaker, Spielberg said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rockwell is quoted in the exhibit as saying that \u201c[s]tory illustrations shouldn\u2019t give away the plot.\u201d\u00a0 Rockwell liked to leave it to the viewer\u2019s imagination to think about what is happening outside the snapshot.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rockwell\u2019s approach to storytelling is relevant to narrative construction in legal persuasion.\u00a0 Consider Professor Richard K. Sherwin\u2019s discussion of the briefs to the United States Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona<\/em>.\u00a0 Sherwin notes in his article, The Narrative Construction of Legal Reality<\/em>, 18 Vt. L. Rev. 681 (1994), reprinted in<\/em> 6 J. ALWD 88 (2009), that similar to Rockwell, the defense used \u201cstrategic storytelling\u201d (113) in Miranda<\/em> to develop a \u201cstrikingly dramatic narrative, replete with biographical details about its central character\u201d (114).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sherwin demonstrates how Miranda\u2019s counsel strategically told his story.\u00a0 Like the viewer of Rockwell\u2019s paintings, who takes an active role in viewing the scene, \u201cthe reader of Miranda\u2019s brief finds herself cast in the active (one might say heroic) role of advancing a progressive movement within the law in the direction of basic beliefs.\u201d\u00a0 (114) \u00a0<\/p>\n

The approach in the Miranda<\/em> brief is analogous to Rockwell\u2019s view that \u201cstory illustrations shouldn\u2019t give away the plot.\u201d\u00a0 Sherwin writes that the Miranda<\/em> brief \u201cinvites the reader to fill in the normative content of [the] beliefs based on his or her own response to the surface tale about who Ernesto Miranda is and what happened to him while he was in police custody.\u201d\u00a0 (114)\u00a0 The Miranda<\/em> brief\u2019s surface tale \u201cactivate[s] the brief-reader\u2019s implicit values of fairness and equality.\u201d\u00a0 (114)\u00a0 The Miranda<\/em> brief weaves three main themes:\u00a0 \u201cfate, chance, and secrecy.\u201d\u00a0 (114) \u00a0Sherwin argues that these themes create associations and images from which the reader gains a \u201cframework for a proper outcome to the case.\u201d \u00a0(114)<\/p>\n

What can brief writers do to enhance strategic storytelling?\u00a0 Rockwell may have recommended using a combination of a strong current of themes with specific factual details that evoke associations, emotions, and the law to engage a reader.<\/p>\n

*My source for the information on Norman Rockwell contained in this blog is the current exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.\u00a0 Many thanks also go to Virginia M. Mecklenburg, senior curator, who graciously answered my questions and contributed additional details for this blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., recently opened a new exhibit entitled \u201cTelling Stories:\u00a0 Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.\u201d*\u00a0 Rockwell\u2019s art speaks to filmmakers Lucas and Spielberg for its ability to tell a story.\u00a0 Rockwell\u2019s storytelling can also speak to lawyers seeking to use narrative in persuasive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-writing","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}