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