This essay will examine controversial legal issues that were expressed in the films “Civil Action” and “The Insider” which were both based on actual, real life legal controversies. This essay will also examine how these particular legal issues relate to the U.S. legal system in general. These two particular legal issues are very similar the each other in terms of the maze of legalities that were involved in trying to find a satisfactory legal resolution for these situations. The film “Civil Action” was about the real life legal controversy regarding the dumping of toxic chemicals by a tannery company that seeped in the nearby Woburn, Massachusetts town’s water supply contaminating it. As a result, numerous families in the town lost children to various forms of cancer due to the …show more content…
In the United States, environmental law can be difficult at times to sue for because in this modern day society with automobiles, technology, and factories, and as a result there is a high degree of pollution in the atmosphere that we all have to deal and it can be difficult to prove that these companies intentionally and/or if it was that specific company that has been accused of polluting certain areas that are residential in nature. The film of course deals with the United States common law legal system in the form of a civil lawsuit and the legal themes and concepts the film deals with revolve around the issues and complexities of environmental law. The plaintiffs in the case led by personal injury attorney Jan Schlichtmann which consisted of the affected families presented their case in federal court in the form of a class action lawsuit against the defendants which consisted of a tannery under the operation of the Beatrice and W.R. Grace companies. As was mentioned before, a big issue in the film were the difficulties the plaintiffs
Pagan writes a captivating story mingled with the challenges of the Eastern Shore legal system. This book gives a complete explanation backed up by research and similar cases as evidence of the ever-changing legal system. It should be a required reading for a history or law student.
The 1989 film Do the Right Thing displays a story about racial tension in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. Spike Lee not only directed and produced this film but he was also the main character, Mookie. In spite of maintaining these three jobs, Lee incorporated cinematic techniques that allowed his film to unlock controversial ideals for both Caucasian and African-American viewers. Through the use of camera elements Lee was able to display emotions and tone of the scene without using stating it directly. Lee exhibited film methods such as low-angle shots, close ups, slow motion and panning.
As the classic household back in the Western days, the women were responsible to cook and clean. It was frowned upon for a lady to be out doing men’s work, and a lady to be out on the hunt for a killer was unspoken of. That is why Henry Hathaway’s 1969 western film, True Grit, stands out so much. From a traditional western film, a woman is typically found inside of the house. Their duties are cooking, cleaning, and watching the children. In the presence of, one must be utmost polite and courteous. In the film True Grit, one of the main characters, Mattie, whose role is played by Kim Darby, is a young girl who’s bound and determined to catch and see to the hanging of her father’s killer. Mattie goes about this by hiring the West’s most tough and rugged U.S. Marshal, “Rooster” Cogburn play the one and only John Wayne. One might think this would be a typical story line where a young lady hires a U.S. Marshall to capture her father’s killer,
In 2012, Scott Thurman published The Revisionaries, a film that illustrates how the Texas edification organization has settled into a modern rise of outmoded, religious, and ideological wiles, with each associate fostering their dogmata’s of both ontological and theological complications in Texas education. Additionally, Thurman’s film also highlights how their programs have had the consequence of retelling critical creeds of America, and how that affects scholastic processes nationwide, for an ample aggregate of people to befall on. Likewise, The Revisionaries congregates on concerns that various scholars acquire conception of in their Texas Government lecture, such as, constituent turnout in Texas, politicization, the Texas learning structure,
In 2008 the worst financial crisis since the great depression hit and left many people wondering who should be responsible. Many Americans supported the prosecution of Wall Street. To this day there have still not been any arrests of any executive on Wall Street for the financial collapse. Many analysts point out that greed of executives was one of the many factors in the crisis. I will talk about subprime loans, ill-intent, punishments, and white collar crime.
In America is a movie about an Irish family that immigrates to New York in order to find better work and improve their lives, but end up finding that it is very difficult to live in the U.S. This is due to the problems they face involving health, money, and the overall environment of the place they live. There are many aspects of cultural geography that are brought up throughout the movie. Some examples include the neighborhood they live in, class of people, and the health factors that impact the people that live there.
There are many ethical issues in the movie Erin Brockovich. This movie is about a mother of three who uncovers a water poisoning case by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in southern California. Once it was proved that the company had knowingly dumped hexavalent chromium into the ground water, the utility company was found liable for a $330 million dollar verdict.
From the book, it also exhibits collective behavior because, “collective behavior brings about social change, and emergent forms of social order to develop through the interactions of individuals in social movements” (Staggenborg 2016:16). This is shown in the film that there were many sets of freedom riders being jailed, killed, and beaten and people thought that would stop the Freedom rider, but it did not. There were always a new set of freedom riders from Nashville, ready to fight for the cause of social change. The change in which the freedom riders wanted was racial equality and rights for all people. They wanted no more segregation in the south. In the film here was a meeting at Dr. Harrison home. There were the freedom riders from Nashville
Oct 1993. Retrieved November 18, 2010. Vol. 79. 134 pages (Document ID: 0747-0088) Published by American Bar Association
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
Tennessee coal ash spill occurred in December 22, 2008. A dike failed at Tennessee Valley Authority spilling billion gallons of coal ash. The ash had been stored and contained arsenic, selenium, lead and radioactive materials. These materials are very toxic. This spill is an example of environmental crime because it was caused by the Tennessee Valley Authority. An environmental crime is considered to be a white collar crime also known as corporation crime (Beder, 2002, pg 213). News media highly covered this crime in different ways. Media can change the framework in order to help us understand the situation better. Framing is principles of selection, emphasis and presentation (Schudson, 2003, pg 35). These two article shows how Tennessee Spill can be framed in different ways and with framing analysis it can tell you which frames is being used by the news media.
America has come a long way with how people are treated as opposed to how things use to be not so long ago. In the film American History X (1998) we see how some parts of America were not adjusting to change in their towns which resulted in violent outbreaks and many deaths. Although throughout the movie we see the main character, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) that at the beginning of the film is in a “white power” gang and later transforms as a character to protect his brother and the rest of his family from being hurt and corrupted by the racist world that they were living in.
Over the last several decades, many important events from throughout our history have been transformed into motion pictures. Some of these events have been depicted in a documentary style while others have been dramatized to please a general audience. One such film piqued my interest, the story behind the movie A Civil Action, directed by Steven Zaillian. As an Environmental Studies major I felt this subject, and the research needed to uncover the true story, would prove beneficial to my future course work. The decontamination of the area surrounding wells G and H in Woburn, Massachusetts, was one of the largest environmental cleanup sites in history at the time.
In the modern day era, we find in society a ubiquitous usage of technology that seems to be never ending and forever growing. Included with this notion, the broad subject of surveillance is of course included. Contemporary surveillance, or more specifically technological surveillance, has been described as ambiguous; meaning that it is often misunderstood or open to different interpretations. The representation of surveillance within popular culture has played an impacting role on how we as a society perceive it and this raises certain questions that may reflect back on to society. The 1998 film Enemy Of The State directed by Tony Scott, Starring Will Smith, Gene Hackman and Jon Voight is considered to be a ‘spy-thriller’ blockbuster. Its central themes explore a range of surveillance techniques and equipment and also provides some insights, no matter how realistic or unrealistic they may be, into the real life security organisation; The National Security Agency (NSA). Using this film as an example and analysing how these themes are represented will hopefully allow us to key these ideas back to modern surveillance theories and practices.
The Relevance of Gender on Suicide (in Australia) Gender is a controversial societal issue in present day throughout the world. Our Gender helps us to identify ourselves within the world and culture in which we live. We embody our genders to such an extent that we no longer see what is unusual around us, and it becomes taken for granted; the common ideas that we have about gender are un natural, in that nothing makes us behave for example “like a man” or “like a woman” and its is all a result of culture (Blatterer, 2016). Gender identity involves all the various meanings that are applied to oneself on the basis of one's gender identification. In turn, these self-meanings are a source of motivation for gender-related behavior (Burke, 1980).