preview

Analysis Of The Documentary ' The Film '

Decent Essays

A film director in Louisiana wants to publish a documentary “that criticizes a candidate’s lack of integrity.” (writing prompt) The candidate responded to the documentary by stating that the material published would be scandalous and defamatory. The candidate decided to approach a Louisiana judge in the hopes of obtaining a restraining order against the publishing and completion of the documentary. “The judge reviewed the plans for the documentary and the film that had been recorded and determined its content was offensive and scandalous, although true and not defamatory.” (writing prompt) The judge decided to file the restraining order, which prevents the “sale, viewing, or distribution of the documentary.” (writing prompt) The dispute over this case is whether or not the director’s First-Amendment rights to release and complete the documentary have been infringed upon. Upon the basis that prior restraint is presumptively invalid by the government; the restraining order against the film director is unfounded and infringes upon the director’s rights protected under the First Amendment. The most applicable law to apply in this situation is equity law. Unlike other laws, judges, not legislatures make equity laws in order to provide fairness to citizens. Additionally, “equity law is based on the presumption that fairness is not always achieved through the rigid applications of strict rules.” (Trager, Russomanno, Ross, & Reynolds, 2014, p. 26) The First Amendment states:

Get Access