Judge Dennis Davis
Representations of Lawyers in Film: To Kill A Mockingbird and Inherit the Wind
Summary
The significant influence of movies and TV representations on public perceptions of law, lawyers, and legal processes. Using examples like the impact of the :LA Law" series on law firm decor and student career choices, the role of media in shaping our understanding of the legal system is explored. The main focus centers on the portrayal of lawyers in the films “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962) and “Inherit the Wind” (1960).
Judge Dennis Davis
Dennis Davis is a judge of the High Court of South Africa and judge president of the Competition Appeals Court of South Africa. He has held professorial appointments at the University of Cape Town and University of the Witwatersrand, as well as numerous visiting appointments at Cambridge, Harvard, New York University, and others. He has authored eleven books, including Lawfare: Judging Politics in South Africa.
I’m not sure. When I read some of the more recent commentary, Finch is attacked in a way which I don’t think contextualises the dilemma that somebody faced in the 1930s in Alabama. But I’m afraid woke culture seems to dehistoricize the context in which people are in and doesn’t allow us to make proper lessons from that particular period.
They’re not obviously quite the same, but I think as prototypes they give us an idea and certainly the Atticus Finch character has been so absorbed into legal culture as to what the lawyer should be. But the fact is that the Finch lawyers are reflective of a range of lawyers that we do see.