Chapter 3: Feminism, Law, Cinema

K. Brooks and C. Mathen (Eds.) Women, Law, and Equality: A Discussion Guide (Irwin Law, 2010) pp.119-176

58 Pages Posted: 22 Jan 2020

See all articles by Suzanne Bouclin

Suzanne Bouclin

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section

Date Written: June 18, 2013

Abstract

'Law and film' scholarship calls into question what one considers as legal source or text. It puts into sharp relief how law is a meaning-making institution through which we imagine and tell stories about our social world. It destabilizes the often assumed boundaries between ‘rational’ and 'irrational' ways of knowing. In this chapter, I argue that such transformative potential has been harnessed by feminist legal scholars who have recently turned their minds to cinema and the questions it can ask about how law operates in women’s lives. Rather than simply using films as an engaging way to teach specific legal concepts or legal processes, the intersection of feminist jurisprudence, law and film provides analytic space for new perspectives on subjectivity, judgement and social power.

Keywords: law and film, feminist aesthetics, women in prison movies

Suggested Citation

Bouclin, Suzanne, Chapter 3: Feminism, Law, Cinema (June 18, 2013). K. Brooks and C. Mathen (Eds.) Women, Law, and Equality: A Discussion Guide (Irwin Law, 2010) pp.119-176, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2281061 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2281061

Suzanne Bouclin (Contact Author)

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section ( email )

57 Louis Pasteur Street
Ottawa, K1N 6N5
Canada

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