By David S. Caudill
After acknowledging the existing discourse concerning the
reputation of lawyers in trial movies, and the reputation of
scientists in science fiction films, this study introduces the
thesis that the representation of science and scientists in trial
movies is consistent with the idealized image of science in law
generally. The author identifies the study of the images of
science in trial movies as a point of intersection between
science-and-literature studies and the law-and-literature
movement--the parallels between these two sub-disciplines is
striking. Using examples from recent trial movies, the author
shows that the image of the biased expert, as well as the image of
the expert as a stabilizer of legal controversies, both reflect the
idealization of science in law. Trial movies, that is, often
deliver a message that when science is disinterested and untainted
by lawyers, the apparent problems associated with advocacy and
rhetoric can be overcome. Some lawyer films, on the other hand,
represent science and scientists more modestly. The author
concludes that there are adverse consequences, for litigation
involving experts, from idealized and unrealistic images of science
and scientists in cinema.