Projecting the judge: A case study in the cultural lives of the judiciary

Abstract

Various law and film scholars have noted that the judge occupies the place of a marginal figure in ‘legal cinema’ and in related scholarship. In this chapter I want to engage with the debate about the representation of the judge in film by way of an examination of a South African documentary, ‘Two Moms: A family portrait’ (2004). In the first instance this ‘family portrait’ appears to be neither an obvious candidate for inclusion in the canon of ‘legal cinema’ nor a film with a plotline dominated by a judge. But from this rather unpromising start this chapter explores how a film about an ordinary family made up of extraordinary people is an extraordinary film about law in general and about the figure of the judge in particular.

Citation

Moran, L.J. (2008), "Projecting the judge: A case study in the cultural lives of the judiciary", Sarat, A. (Ed.) Studies in Law, Politics and Society (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 46), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 93-115. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-4337(2009)0000046004