Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2012
ISSN
0145-448X
Publisher
New York Law School
Language
en-US
Abstract
The proliferation of images in and of law lends itself to surprisingly complex problems of epistemology and power. Understanding through images is innate; most of us easily understand images without thinking. But arriving at mutually agreeable understandings of images is also difficult. Translating images into shared words leads to multiple problems inherent in translation and that pose problems for justice. Despite our saturated imagistic culture, we have not established methods to pursue that translation process with confidence. This article explains how images are intuitively understood and yet collectively inscrutable, posing unique problems for resolving legal conflicts that demand common and shared language. It canvasses the law and film scholarship, provides examples of film evidence that renders judgment problematic, and predicts future legal terrain in which visual images will feature prominently. It concludes by calling for a theory of aesthetics in order to analyze and interpret the visual images that will take center stage in so many contemporary legal debates.
Recommended Citation
Jessica Silbey,
Images in/of Law
,
in
57
New York Law School Law Review
171
(2012).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1060
