Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/54537

Title

'Rafferty's Rules': Australian legal dramas and the representation of the law

Author(s)

Bainbridge, Jason

Abstract

This paper explores the problems involved in representing the Australian legal system on film and television, how these problems are addressed, and what commentary these texts are making about the practice of law in Australia. It is suggested that the formal and dress requirements of the Australian legal system make the trial process a ritual based around the reification of the lawyer and the stigmatisation of the accused---in short, a degradation ceremony---and that Australian legal dramas reflect this. But because of this lack of dynamism in the courtroom, Australian legal dramas must seek alternative sits of drama---often domestic, and invariably outside the courtroom. In this way, they present a more holistic view of the lawyer/judge's life, reinterpreting court proceedings (and the institution of law itself) as a repressed set-up by actively displacing dramatic tension outside the courtroom, thus denying the courtroom the centrality it occupies in American representations and, by extension, American culture.

Publication type

Journal article

Source

Media International Australia, incorporating Culture and Policy, No. 118 (Feb 2006), pp. 136-149

Publication year

2006

FOR Code(s)

2002 Cultural Studies

Keyword(s)

Australia;  Australian drama series;  Australian legal system;  Courtroom dramas;  Law;  Law programs;  Popular culture;  Representations of law;  Television series

Publisher

University of Queensland

ISSN

1329-878X

Publisher URL

http://www.emsah.uq.edu.au/mia/issues/miacp118.html

Copyright

Copyright © 2006.

Peer reviewed