The Dark Comedy of the Courtroom: Norman Jewison’s And Justice for All

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Abstract

This article examines And Justice for All’s (1979) peculiar spin on the courtroom drama. Though the film embraces a mode of seriousness to portray sexual violence and an unjust criminal justice system, it also includes an undercurrent of dark comedy and absurdity. The article shows how the film incorporates dark-comedic absurdity to emphasize how severely malfunctional the criminal justice system is. While the film reproduces the lawyer-as-hero trope known from earlier eras in American film history, it is very disillusioned with the state of the criminal justice system as such. In this sense, it gives viewers a recognizable lawyer-hero to root for even though the film invites viewers to be very skeptical of the state of the system.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAmerican Studies in Scandinavia
Volume55
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)26-41
Number of pages16
ISSN0044-8060
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Dec 2023

Keywords

  • And Justice for All
  • courtroom drama
  • dark comedy
  • heroic lawyer
  • the system

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