NOTE: Please see the most recently updated version of my topic proposal here –

http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/springboard14/projects/topic-proposals/representations-of-law-in-literature-and-film/

Title: Representations of Law in Literature and Film

My project will focus on representations of law in literature and film, especially from the perspective of United States History. I will be reading a variety of books, and watching a variety of films, that deal with United States legal history. In particular, I am interested in jury trials. For this purpose, the film Twelve Angry Men will be instrumental in understanding how a jury works and how deliberations are conducted. This film provides tremendous insight into the dynamics of a jury trial, as well as the prejudices that many jurors may feel towards the accused and how those prejudices influence their decision.

It seems to me that United States society has, to a certain degree, an obsession with the law and a keen interest in carrying out justice. There are countless courtroom shows on daytime television, and the American people are incessantly curious about trials and legal proceedings, whether it be in the days of O.J. Simpson, Bill Clinton, or Casey Anthony. Thus, I feel that my undertaking to study the depictions of law in literature and film is a fitting one for a person who is majoring in history and has a particular interest in American Studies.

One aspect that I hope to focus on is the question of discrimination in jury trials. For example, in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the jury is prejudiced against the defendant from the beginning due to his skin pigmentation. In Twelve Angry Men, some of the jurors feel unsympathetic to the defendant simply because he is a “slum kid,” and there is a tacit presumption that all “slum kids” are up to no good. In Inherit the Wind, another film that I will be examining, there are many political and religious questions that lie beneath the surface. Certain people in the community, due to their staunchly held religious beliefs, are opposed to teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. They believe that anyone who would want to poison the minds of youth with this heretical theory is a traitor and an enemy. For them, it’s not just a question of what should be on the school curriculum, but it is also a deeply personal issue that centers on the religious values of their society.

My intended audience for this project will be primarily individuals who have an interest in law and United States history. It would seem that I will be targeting my project towards a somewhat academic audience, perhaps college students who are applying to law school. I think that my project will also be of interest to trial lawyers, since I intend to analyze the various nuances of a trial and jury deliberations.

There are a number of questions that I hope to be able to address in the course of my research. I am interested in learning to what extent a jury is prejudiced (or unprejudiced) towards defendants. It seems to me that the very fact that a person was arrested already creates a presumption that he is not entirely innocent. In addition, there are considerations of race, socioeconomic status, and other factors that determine a jury’s attitude towards any given defendant – and this is something that is reflected in the literary and film depictions of historical trials.

to be continued