Bennett Capers Notes On Minority Report: Legal Outsiders In American Film

Movies and entertainment outlets speak volumes about the current state of a nation’s culture. Cinematic creations in the United States allow small voices to be heard and controversial issues to be addressed. However, a repetitive and monumental issue continues to be addressed, yet continues to persist in our 21st century culture, racial inequalities. Since the inception of the United States, black men and women alike have been disenfranchised at the hands of the “white man” in America. Instead of continuing the conversation today, the issue is continually silenced referencing the successes and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Nonetheless, an unfortunate reality looms upon this great land; racially based systems and structures continue to exist in 2015 the in United States. This paper synthesizes three films focused on racial inequalities in different time periods. Separate but Equal (1991), Selma (2015), and Crash (2005) illustrate how influential the Civil War amendments are, while serving as an uncanny reminder of how the racial prejudices during the 20th century continue to exist in our great nation today. Needless to say our nation has made great strides, but still has a long way to go.

Although there were many compelling aspects of this documentary, 13th’s organization of its facts are worthy of mention. 13th moves beautifully through more than a century worth of brutal history while maintaining a clear format that provides information on the racial violence and the unjust justice system. Published in The New York Times, Dargis’s review of 13th obviously agrees. In “The Journey From Shackles to Prison Bars”, Dargis’s review agrees that the way DuVernay transitions throughout the film elicits a genuine and deep emotional response. The order in which they present their facts enabled me to clearly understand their stance on the argument that they were presenting. For instance, DuVernay develops the documentary through the time lapse of African American history. She begins with the days of slavery and works her way through modern exploitation so seamlessly.

This week we were asked to watch a movie called My Cousin Vinny and compare this to the actual Criminal Justice System. I want to start off by saying the portrayal of the Criminal Justice System was much different than what we see it in real life. I really enjoyed the comedy that was displayed around it. The movie was based around two teenagers who were suspected of murdering a gas station attendant. This movie takes place in Alabama.

Few in this country would argue with the fact that the United States criminal justice system possesses discrepancies which adversely affect Blacks in this country. Numerous studies and articles have been composed on the many facets in which discrimination, or at least disparity, is obvious. Even whites are forced to admit that statistics indicate that the Black community is disproportionately affected by the American legal system. Controversy arises when the issue of possible causes of, and also solutions to, these variations are discussed. It’s not just black versus white, it is white versus white, and white versus oriental, whatever the case may be, and it is not justice. If we see patterns then the judges should have the authority to say something. Jury nullifications cannot be overturned regardless of the cause. Exclusionary rule, according to CULS (2010) – Prevents the government from using most evidence gathered in violation of U.S. Constitution; like unreasonable search and seizure (Fourth Amendment).

It was the mugshot seen everywhere. The case the shook a decade and changed the way the U.S public handles the crimes of celebrities. In 1994, then America’s sweetheart Orenthal Simpson better known as O.J Simpson was arrested and charged with the murders of his estranged wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. There had never been a phenomenon like this before. It further separated an already divided nation and sparked a conversation on the obsession and idealizing of America’s elite. There have been many depictions of the crime and following court case, but only few correctly capture the essence of the race, celebrity, and power that lied at the center of the case. Ezra Edelman’s OJ: Made in America is one of the better documentaries. Edelman’s OJ: Made in America uses technical codes, specifically music and editing to explore the “Hollywood-esque” magnitude and celebrity of the OJ Simpson murder case and unbiasly connect viewers to the case.

Prior to taking this course I wouldn’t be able to explain the differences or even be able to compare it to the criminal justice system. However, I now have a better understanding of how the criminal justice system works. This movie takes place in the southern state of Alabama and revolves around two teenagers accused of killing a store clerk. Throughout this essay I will explain the legal processes that appeared in the film as well as the processes that did not appear in the film.

The author of this article is Cornelia Grumman won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 and found the organization the First Five Years Fund where she advocated for stronger federal policies. The audience she could be targeting would be the government to create stricter guidelines when imposing capital punishment. The purpose of this article is to give awareness of how race can create bias factors in the justice system. It has been commonly seen

I am doing my paper on the movie Conviction. The movie was from 2010 and portrays a working mother going to the extent to represent her brother for a crime he didn’t commit. Her hard working efforts broke her marriage apart and made her life quite difficult but despite all the speed bumps, she stayed true to her promise. Also, her brother Kennedy Waters inspired her to go to Law school to be his lawyer. This essay will foreshadow the process through law, process of getting arrested, and show how manipulation can make you second guess yourself or others. Also, this movie proves mistakes can be made in a case and Bethany proved the mistake being made. There were times Kennedy hated his life so bad, he did try to commit suicide. Through all the hard times, when he didn’t believe in himself, Bethany was there through thick and thin.

The movie that was analyzed was "The Hurricane" starring Denzel Washington. The movie was based on a true story, which was about a boxer who was wrongfully accused for murders he did not commit. Rubin Carter had been a victim of racial prejudice since the age of 11. From that time on he had been haunted by the racial prejudice that would take most of his natural life away from him. At the age of fifty he ended up going to the Supreme courts to get his trial heard and at this time he was set free. This is a short summary leaving a lot to be unsaid, but I believe the portrayal will tell most of the story in itself.

The documentary we viewed in class is called Thirteenth and is a harrowing deconstruction of the United States current criminal justice system. This one hour and forty minute documentary directed by Ava Duvernay digs deep into the corruption, stagnation, and mismanagement of our countries prison and justice system. Showing how racial prejudice is still alive and well today by examining how we treat criminals in the U.S. This documentary was released in 2016 as a Netflix original and caused quite the uproar. As an indie documentary many people expected very little from Thirteenth, however they were unpleasantly shocked by this scathing dissection of criminality in America. It makes use of the voice of many experts to make a clear point, the

The film “Twelve Angry Men” directed by Sidney Lumet (1957) shows us the story of what we are familiar with as our American form of a judicial system. Twelve men (all white,

The Film A Time to Kill directed by Joel Schumacher, produced in 1996 is an American crime drama film and contains many examples of dominant attitudes in society. The film is focused around the dominant attitudes of racism in society which is primarily evident in the favouritism of whites in the perspective of law. The film features how a black man feared this discrimination so greatly he took the law into his own hands by punishing two white men the way two black men would be punished. Throughout the text we see the conflict between two opposing lawyers in court and how racism is an evident issue. This essay will discuss the dominant attitudes in society around the topic of racism and how they are represented and revealed by conflict between

The problem of racial discrimination has been portrayed in many films in the last 15 years. However, The Hurricane does a masterful job at addressing this issue, and will leave audience members clenching their fists in anger at the injustice that happened to a man named Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. The movie demonstrates the racial inequity that can be found in our judicial system through the impressive acting by Denzel Washington and the direction of Norman Jewison. The Hurricane makes you wonder who else has been wrongfully accused in the past 30 years.

The Minority Report movie is about a dubious yet powerful Pre-Crime program that utilizes psychic visions to imprison potential killers before they have acted. The film brings up concerns with the blemishes and disappointments of equity and science against the background of wrongful conviction. The film also deals with mass imprisonment, DNA innovation, and preventive detainment of warehousing criminals on the guise of future risk of criminal conduct (Bettridge, 2013). The Pre-Crime unit tries individuals in light of violations they have not yet committed and may require some far away and unimaginable innovation and pre-emotive policing. Computer calculations,

Filmmaking is an increasingly popular form of creative expression, and with expression comes offensive material. Because of this, films have a long history with governments all around the world. In the United States, this presents a unique issue. One of our government’s attributes that we are most proud of is our right to free speech, granted to us by our first amendment. This means that citizens can say whatever they would like about anything or anyone, including their federal, state, and local governments, without fear of legal retaliation from those governments. This grants a tremendous amount of power to the citizens, and as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility. In the filmmaker’s case, this responsibility, in the federal government’s eyes, was to create films suitable for all ages and mental capacities. Film producers had contrasting views, as one might expect. Filmmakers believed that their work should be protected under the first amendment, as it is a form of speech, but as Albosta says in his paper, “The Supreme Court has held that this does not protect all forms of communication” (Albosta, 2009, p.122). Unfortunately for film, they were originally excluded from the protection of the first amendment.