Portrayal of the Criminal Courts in Films and Television

When I was about 13 years old I watched the television show The Practice with my mum, and at that point I decided I wanted to be a barrister. Not one of those nasty defence barristers, but a sophisticated and knowledgeable prosecutor with a solid case to put away all the bad people in the world. The way in which the cases were carried out on the show was inspiring! After further exposure to other sources of media (mainly movies) consisting of dramatic courtroom scenes my interest further grew. However it has only been recently that I came to a realisation after viewing cases in the Local and Supreme courts: the daily life of a barrister is not all it is cracked up to be in the media. Often proceedings were dull, boring and extremely slow, especially in one case for example (that of Mark Standen, a former police officer charged on conspiracy to import and provide drugs) where one piece of evidence for example was a forty-five minute phone conversation about who knows what as it was difficult to hear. The barristers spoke in a dull voice with little expression, the jury seemed bored and the judge rarely looked up or spoke. There was no ‘order, order!’ being cried out from the bench, and no witty questioning by the prosecution in attempt to foil the defence’s case. This was contrary to my previous beliefs of the dramatic courtroom, likened by Geoffrey Robertson in his book The Justice Game to a theatre with the various ‘actors’ all holding their own separate and routine roles.

Take a look at the courtroom scenes in the films Legally Blonde and The Exorcism of Emily Rose for example. While the producers of such media may believe they are giving us a realistic insight into the realities of court proceedings, they are very wrong. It is questionable as to whether they have entered a real courtroom themselves? Between the almost ‘fun’, ridiculous atmosphere in Legally Blonde to the intense, fast-paced and never boring court in the Exorcism of Emily Rose it is easy to gather misconceptions about the criminal courts. Not to mention the hilarity in the courtroom in Liar Liar, enticing us to believe there are constantly (despite oaths) intricate lies told by witnesses and the barristers themselves.

Look at the following two clips from Legally Blonde and Liar Liar:

The apparent reflections of real courtrooms in these films are not that great, rarely would a defence barrister go before the court without a case, yet in these two films the cases are won through simply questioning a witness and building on the case from there. For example: Fletcher in Liar Liar asks a question about the age of his own witness, uncovering evidence in the witness box that previously had been overlooked, and therefore won the case. In reality, wouldn’t the defence have known this information prior to this and put it forward to the court in a less dramatic fashion? I would say so as it happens in the criminal courts of New South Wales.

References 

Legally Blonde, 2001, motion picture, Mark Platt productions, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United States   

Liar Liar, 1997, motion picture, Imagine Entertainment, distributed by Universal Pictures

Robertson, G. (1998) The Justice Game, London: Chatto Publications

The Practice 1997-2004, television series, American Broadcasting Company, United States

The Exorcism of Emily Rose, 2005, motion picture, Lakeshore Entertainment, distributed by Screen Gems