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

Authors

  • Mikkel Jensen Aalborg University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22439/asca.v55i2.7042

Keywords:

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

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.

Author Biography

Mikkel Jensen, Aalborg University

Mikkel Jensen is Assistant Professor of American and Media Studies at the Department of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University in Denmark. His research focuses on how American media texts engage with contemporary historical tendencies such as deindustrialization, anti-urbanism, and populism. In 2022, he was named Teacher of the Year in the Humanities at Aalborg University. His first monograph, David Simon’s American City, is forthcoming with Manchester University Press.

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Published

2023-12-13

How to Cite

Jensen, M. (2023). The Dark Comedy of the Courtroom: Norman Jewison’s And Justice for All . American Studies in Scandinavia, 55(2). https://doi.org/10.22439/asca.v55i2.7042

Issue

Vol. 55 No. 2 (2023)

Section

Articles

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