Gary Handman [email protected] 3-8666 Doing Law in the Dark, Or: Popcorn and Hot Buttered Torts

Gary HandmanGary [email protected]

Doing Law in the Dark, Or: Doing Law in the Dark, Or: Popcorn and Hot Buttered TortsPopcorn and Hot Buttered Torts

Gary HandmanGary [email protected]



Who Killed Cock Robbin (Walt Disney, 1935)

1. (Briefly!) discuss the differences between film genres (documentaries and fictional films)

2. Describe the types of writing and research about film, both fiction and non-fiction

3. Introduce selected sources for finding booksbooks and journal articlesjournal articles about film in film studies & related disciplines

4. Discuss strategies for doing research

Ingrid, my Ingrid, my dear, it’s only dear, it’s only a movie!a movie!

……but a movie is but a movie is nevernever “only a movie” “only a movie”

•All films are social constructs and cultural “texts”•All films are “documentary” in one way or another (Bill Nichols)

•Records of the pro-film event•Documentaries of Wish Fulfillment (MOOOVIES)•Documentaries of Social Representation

The earliest law “docu-drama”? Georges Méliès. Dreyfus: The Court Martial at Rennes (1899)

Law and Documentaries of Wish Fulfillment (The Movies!)

•The legal process (and lawyers) as grist for high drama and melodrama…the stuff of engaging cinema

•Lawyers as archetypes: heroes and scoundrels in control of the destiny of their clients.

•Continuation of realist literary traditions of 19th Century

•Rich topic for parody

•Allows us to be spectators in a process often closed and/or mysterious to the public at large.

Documentaries of Social Representation as Judicial Arguments (Documentaries)

•Many/most documentaries are structurally and rhetorically similar to legal pleading and the legal process (regardless of the topic)

•Interrogation or prosecution of individuals, events, socio-political conditions

•Seeking revelation, justice, redress

•Evidence drawn from the historical (“real) world

•The audience as a jury to be convinced:

•An attempt to instill believe in the accuracy of the evidence

•An attempt to convince the audience to act on that belief

•Documentaries and the legal topics: the legal process itself under scrutiny

Scholarly and popWriting About Film

Docs of Social Rrepresentation

Docs ofWish Fulfillment(feature films)

Writing About Writing About Film…Film…

HistoricalHistorical

CurrentCurrent

ScholarlScholarly/y/In-depthIn-depth

IndustryIndustry

Pop and Pop and fanfan

•Periodicals (aka magazines, Periodicals (aka magazines, journals, serials)journals, serials)•NewspapersNewspapers

•Pop periodicals: Pop periodicals: ReviewsReviews

•Scholarly and professional Scholarly and professional periodicalsperiodicals

•ReviewsReviews

•Critical analysis/scholarly Critical analysis/scholarly writingwriting

•BooksBooks•From schlocky to scholarlyFrom schlocky to scholarly•Biography, genre writing, Biography, genre writing, individual films, individual individual films, individual directorsdirectors

•Web Sites (more about this later…)Web Sites (more about this later…)

•Other online databasesOther online databases

Sources for Film & Scholarship and Sources for Film & Scholarship and ResearchResearch

Reviews:

•Assessment of aesthetic and content merits of a film

Found in popular periodicals, film periodicals, and (less often) in more scholarly journals

In pop periodicals: Current and Historical (older)

Usually cover current releases, more pop theatrical releases

Tend to be relatively short and relatively superficial (with some exceptions and depending on the publication and who’s doing the writing)

Interesting sources of info about audience reception and “current think”

Reviews? Critical Writing? Reviews? Critical Writing? What’s the diff? What’s the diff?

Periodical Articles:Periodical Articles:

Periodical Articles:Periodical Articles:

Reviews? Critical Writing? What’s the Diff?Reviews? Critical Writing? What’s the Diff? Critical analysis: Discuss films in:

broader historical, cultural, political, artistic context and/orFocus on a specific aspect of a film, film genre, or filmmaker

Found in books and scholarly or film-related journalsTend to be longer, more substantive than reviews (with some exceptions and depending on the publication and who’s doing the writing)Often include notes, bibliographies, other scholarly apparatus

……But how do you locate this stuff?But how do you locate this stuff?

The Information UniverseThe Information Universe

Library Catalog(s)

Journal/NewspaperIndexes (article databases)

Library Catalog(s)

Pathfinder: UCB Library holdings only

MELVYL (CDL cat): All 9 UC Campuses

•An inventory of what the library owns

•Search by Author, Title, Subject

•Whole books and print and electronic journals, NOT what’s inside of those publications

The Information Universe: Books

Black, David A. Law in film: resonance and representation / David A. Black. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, c1999.

UCB Main PN1995.9.J8.B63 1999

Get da Book in da Stax

Call #

Look it Up in Pathfinder or MELVYL by Author, Title, or Subject :

The Information Universe: Finding ArticlesArticle Databases (Indexes/Abstracts)

• Allow subject/author searching in a group of journals in a particular discipline or topical area.

• Produced by different commercial publishers; often look/act differently from one another.

• Some indexes also offer:

•Abstracts

•Full-Text

•UC e-Links: links to UC/UCB holdings via MELVYL

Articles/Reviews Articles/Reviews (how do you find this (how do you find this

stuff?)stuff?)

Film-related (not many exist) Film-related (not many exist)

General news General news

Literary and ArtsLiterary and Arts

Other disciplines: e.g. Other disciplines: e.g. Women’s Studies, American Women’s Studies, American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Studies, Ethnic Studies, History and History and

LAWLAW

Article databases Article databases (aka Indexes)(aka Indexes)

Choosing an Articles database (index)

•Look at the listings of article databases available via the library www.lib.berkeley.edu: FIND FIND INFORMATION / ARTICLES / INFORMATION / ARTICLES / ARTICLE ARTICLE DATABASES BY SUBJECTDATABASES BY SUBJECT

•General Databases are often good places to start (particularly for newsy/topical issues)

Gary’s Desert Island Index/Article Database List

NoNow Playing

GH Desert Island Index/Article Database List

NoNow Playing

•Ebsco –

•Academic Search Complete

•Film & Television Literature Index

•ProQuest (Research Library)

•MLA (Modern Language Assn. Bibliography)

For law and film:For law and film:

•Legaltrac

•Index to Legal Periodicals and Books

All databases are not created equal (or by the same company)…All databases are not created equal (or by the same company)…

Common Search Features:

--Save list of good stuff--Mail Articles/Citations to yourself

But Remember: Not everything is online!!!!!:

•Article Databases: Generally only go back 10-20 yrs online (some exceptions – e.g. JStor; Historical Newspapers; PCI)

•Not every publication is indexed (e.g. weird ejournals and other film arcana)

•Fairly small (but rapidly growing) subset of the books and journal universe is currently available in full-text

Online is Cool

The Information Universe

Remember Also:

•Not every topic has lots written about it, either in books or journal lit.

--Research on very current topics--Research on radically specific topics--Research on topics off the beaten

academic track or off the pop culture radar

The Information Universe

What to do if nothing is turning up:

•Tweak your topic: Broaden it / select a different angle•Rethink your search strategy (new keywords, new concepts, etc.)•Bail out completely and choose another topic

How to Begin? Before you click: THINK

•Formulate a concise, concrete statement of

the research problem•Formulate your search in terms of

keywords and key phrases:

The impact of television advertising and television violence on school performance and pre-adolesecent social interaction.

How to Begin? Before you click: THINK

•Think of synonyms for key words/phrases

The impact of television advertising and television violence on school performance and pre-adolesecent social interaction.

ChildrenYouthAdolescents…etc.

CommercialsAds…etc.Academic achievement

Grades…etc.

MediaTV…etc

Socialization, relationships,peer interaction…etc.

A few cautionary words about research on the Net

LibraryLand

The NetGoogle Rocks!

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/FilmBibMenu.html

a growing listing of bibliographies on various film topics and individual films compiled by MRC (includes bibs for genres, filmmakers, national cinemas, and individual film).

Connecting from off-campus

…being driven over the edge by your research?

Call me:Gary Handman

[email protected]

1950’s1950’s1960’s1960’sFilm StudiesFilm StudiesFilm ScholarshipFilm Scholarship

Film Scholarship & Film CriticismMovies = 100+ YearsMovies = 100+ Years

Film Scholarship = 50 yearsFilm Scholarship = 50 years

Writing about film = fan and industry perspectives from the beginningWriting about film = fan and industry perspectives from the beginning

William Dickson (Edison labs)invents The Kinetoscope

18891889

1922 – Nanook of the North

Documents

Gary Handman [email protected] 3-8666 Doing Law in the Dark, Or: Popcorn and Hot Buttered Torts