13. Future directions in law and popular culture: a British perspective

Abstract

Law and popular culture has truly come of age. The books, collections of essays and individual essays which have been published over the past 20 years constitute a clear and growing area of academic endeavour on film (see Bibliography) and to a lesser extent television (ibid). Most recently scholars have reached out to emphasise the links with other related fields (see Wagner and Sherwin (2014); Ogletree and Sarat (2015); Sharp and Leiboff (2016); Picart, Jacobsen and Greek (2016)). There have been, however, limited links with the related field of law and literature and few individual scholars work in both areas. There is a wealth of both material as well as a range of different approaches. Some of these show the way in which the use of popular culture can supplement legal study and involve truly imaginative approaches to areas of scholarship (Robson (2005)). As with much intellectual endeavour there is scholarship which uses specialist language which demands a high degree of sophistication from the audience. There is also always the issue of methodology. In essence, why readers should find writers' comments and analysis convincing is not always made entirely clear. Studies in the field of law and popular culture are paradoxical. They are, on the one hand, highly international. We watch, it seems, the same films and see the same television series whether we are in North America, Europe or Australia. Developments, however, are significantly local affairs. Our legal systems are markedly different, whether it be approaches-common law to Codes-or personnel-elected judges to professional civil servants. Our educational practices are quite distinctive. The role of the media in the shaping of perceptions of law and justice are determined by