You'll note that I'm blurring the lines between courtroom dramas and real courts (but surely if it's on the telly it's true?), but what I find really interesting about shows such as L&O, Boston Legal, is the way that the courtroom drama is often dramatized as a referendum on a particular political issue. The courtroom is the place where civic values are debated, where citizenship is performed (e.g. through jury duty).
BL does this in self-consciously grandstanding fashion, but L&O also does this, I think - it certainly is explicit about the politicized nature of dispensing justice (which is presumably what can happen when you elect your district attorneys, etc?).
I'm not saying that the justice system isn't politicized in the UK, but I don't know if you can meaningfully dramatize it in the same way. Do we think of ourselves as participating in civic society in the same way over here?
It's interesting that this new L&O doesn't mention London in the title, when the original is specifically grounded in New York (and BL specifically grounded in Boston). There's something generic about the setting, and I'm not quite sure it's got to the heart of what happens when we (the British) go about the business of dispensing justice. (Hmm, I'm talking myself out of liking this show.)
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2009-02-25 11:11 am (UTC)BL does this in self-consciously grandstanding fashion, but L&O also does this, I think - it certainly is explicit about the politicized nature of dispensing justice (which is presumably what can happen when you elect your district attorneys, etc?).
I'm not saying that the justice system isn't politicized in the UK, but I don't know if you can meaningfully dramatize it in the same way. Do we think of ourselves as participating in civic society in the same way over here?
It's interesting that this new L&O doesn't mention London in the title, when the original is specifically grounded in New York (and BL specifically grounded in Boston). There's something generic about the setting, and I'm not quite sure it's got to the heart of what happens when we (the British) go about the business of dispensing justice. (Hmm, I'm talking myself out of liking this show.)
Hope I'm making sense.