Ewick And Silbey: Film Analysis

Ewick and Silbey offer numerous reasons as to why “before the law” and “with the law” puts a perspective on how Americans have an opinion about lawyers. Through our culture’s portrayals of law through movies, media, TV, etc., we have this idea that lawyers happen to be either good or bad when in fact they are heroes. “Legally Blonde” and “Liar Liar” both display the heroic lawyer and provide us with how their demeanor affects the way Americans interpret beliefs of the law. From the past to present, it is difficult for Americans to consider lawyers as heroes when our culture exaggerates them as being dramatic and immoral. Lawyers should be considered heroes as they provide us with the services, legal rights, and protection to fulfill peace

Fletcher, having been a liar a great deal of his life, has used this skill to help him win many of his cases. Unfortunately, he wasn’t so fortunate with the case of his client Samantha. For example, Fletcher can’t lie at all because of a wish his son put on him, his performance is outrageous and he’s struggling to find a way to not lie, which puts his client in a difficult situation but in the end, the case was in her favor. This proves that no matter how challenging it was for Fletcher not too lie; he remained a hero in winning the case. In the reading, “Why the Haves Still Come Out Ahead” by Ewick and Silbey, they discuss how the power of the law doesn’t play a role when lawyers use that power for their well being. It states, “ Instead, they talked about the value of self-interest and the effectiveness of legal rules and forms for achieving their desires”. ( Ewick and Silbey, 1031). Fletcher becomes a prime example of this idea and we understand the perspectives of “with the law” is clearly evident in this film, throughout his life as a lawyer, he lied his whole way through, for example, the scene involving his client, himself and another lawyer, he expressed to his client that she was a strong woman, a victim and she needed to do what was right. But as the case went on, he realized that his client was only doing this so she

Cinematic Lawyers and the Delivery of Justice” by Steve Greenfield it offers evidence on lawyers and how films can twist how lawyers can be perceived. For example, as we see in “Liar Liar”, Fletcher’s heroic ways as a lawyer is to take initiative and lie his way through to support his client. Some people will see that as being immoral or others may feel no different for the reason that he still won. As Greenfield puts it in his reading, “ One of the problems with assessing the way in which lawyers are portrayed is determining the ‘type’ of the film in question and the role of the lawyer within the film. In one sense the whole issue of genre is vital though in many ways, seeking to define law films may, in itself, be problematic. (Greenfield, 2001, 5). I believe this has plenty of significance about how Americans can be pulled into the different way movies develop a lawyer’s persona because depending on the film that is being shown, that will determine how we view them. Before the law and with the law can influence this because both perspectives show us how a lawyer handles a case, either sticking to the law or lying to win a case, discouraging Americans from thinking of them as heroes.

As Americans, our culture always has a viewpoint on how we should imagine them. When it comes to law and lawyers, everyone’s different opinion on them stems from our experiences and when we put ourselves in front of the media, we are allowing them to give us