In this blog, I discuss how transmedia storytelling applies to legal practice.
If you flicked on the television recently, you’d notice there has been a recent trend in the sort of popular prime-time TV shows being broadcast. No, I’m not talking about bad quiz shows. What I am talking about are shows that deal with courts, lawyers and the legal process – TV shows about the law. Be it witty sitcoms like Boston Legal and Judging Amy, serious dramas like Law & Order and CSI, or “reality” shows like Judge Judy and People’s Court, shows about legal practice have become a popular mainstay on the viewer’s TV diet. But why is this? Well, I think one of the main reasons this genre has grown in status is that people are now realising and appreciating that the law, ultimately, is about stories. At the heart of each court case and law suit are all the essential qualities of an interesting narrative; protagonists, antagonists, conflicts, twists, a climax and a resolution (Eskridge Jr., 1994). It is no wonder then that these stories are increasingly being told transmedially (such as through print, film or gaming media) and hence influencing legal practice; and in particular (as we will later see), legal education.
The above video does quite a good job of succinctly summing up what transmedia storytelling is. Transmedia storytelling is commonly associated with and utilised by franchises (Dena, 2004). You know, ones like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Batman; ones where different aspects of what new media theorist Henry Jenkins calls “storyworlds” are communicated through different media and channels (Dena, 2004). As Jenkins (2007) asserts, this media synergism conveys fictional stories; fictional stories which, as afore stated, include legal fiction.
So what effect does this transmedia storytelling of legal fiction have on the legal practice? Well firstly, it conveys stereotypes and legal information to its audiences which are not always true or real. For example, as Asimow (2009) humorously recounts, “My barber told me recently that he was part of a jury panel that was being questioned by the lawyers. A defense lawyer asked a juror whether one police officer would lie to protect another officer. ‘Of course,’ the juror replied, ‘I’ve seen it on television many times.’” We may laugh at this, but we all know that this is the world we live in.
Legal stories are not only played out in courts, but TV shows like Law & Order and CSI also recontextualise, appropriate and retell them through their own various media (Asimow, 2009). One only needs to remember such infamous court cases such as OJ Simpson or the more local Ivan Milat which was appropriated and recounted in the film, Wolf Creek. Because of this, lawyers and those in the legal profession need to be aware of this prime example of cultivation theory where the worldviews of audiences of a particular storytelling medium (primarily television) are shaped by the worlds and “realities” depicted through the stories conveyed (Asimow, 2009). Lawyers need to understand what information and prejudices their clients are likely to know and what media they got this information from for the legal machine to run effectively.
Secondly, and more interestingly, transmedia storytelling is being developed to train legal students and those inexperienced in legal processes such as jurors. Lettieri and Faro (2008) discuss the emergence of what they call “legal serious games”; simulated legal scenarios such as trials and negotiations, capitalising on the highly participative nature of transmedia storytelling (Flew, 2008). This transmedia interaction involves legal scenarios, cases and stories being conveyed to the user through a variety of media such as virtual games, videos and traditional text (Lettieri & Faro, 2008). These distinct media all combine, converge and interact with each other to not only teach the user theoretical legal concepts, but to allow the user to provide feedback and hence learn how to apply this knowledge through tests and errors within the safety of a simulated environment (Lettieri & Faro, 2008). As a law student, I find this an exciting new direction for legal education.
If you flicked on the television recently, you’d notice there has been a recent trend in the sort of popular prime-time TV shows being broadcast. No, I’m not talking about bad quiz shows. What I am talking about are shows that deal with courts, lawyers and the legal process – TV shows about the law. Be it witty sitcoms like Boston Legal and Judging Amy, serious dramas like Law & Order and CSI, or “reality” shows like Judge Judy and People’s Court, shows about legal practice have become a popular mainstay on the viewer’s TV diet. But why is this? Well, I think one of the main reasons this genre has grown in status is that people are now realising and appreciating that the law, ultimately, is about stories. At the heart of each court case and law suit are all the essential qualities of an interesting narrative; protagonists, antagonists, conflicts, twists, a climax and a resolution (Eskridge Jr., 1994). It is no wonder then that these stories are increasingly being told transmedially (such as through print, film or gaming media) and hence influencing legal practice; and in particular (as we will later see), legal education.
The above video does quite a good job of succinctly summing up what transmedia storytelling is. Transmedia storytelling is commonly associated with and utilised by franchises (Dena, 2004). You know, ones like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Batman; ones where different aspects of what new media theorist Henry Jenkins calls “storyworlds” are communicated through different media and channels (Dena, 2004). As Jenkins (2007) asserts, this media synergism conveys fictional stories; fictional stories which, as afore stated, include legal fiction.
So what effect does this transmedia storytelling of legal fiction have on the legal practice? Well firstly, it conveys stereotypes and legal information to its audiences which are not always true or real. For example, as Asimow (2009) humorously recounts, “My barber told me recently that he was part of a jury panel that was being questioned by the lawyers. A defense lawyer asked a juror whether one police officer would lie to protect another officer. ‘Of course,’ the juror replied, ‘I’ve seen it on television many times.’” We may laugh at this, but we all know that this is the world we live in.
Legal stories are not only played out in courts, but TV shows like Law & Order and CSI also recontextualise, appropriate and retell them through their own various media (Asimow, 2009). One only needs to remember such infamous court cases such as OJ Simpson or the more local Ivan Milat which was appropriated and recounted in the film, Wolf Creek. Because of this, lawyers and those in the legal profession need to be aware of this prime example of cultivation theory where the worldviews of audiences of a particular storytelling medium (primarily television) are shaped by the worlds and “realities” depicted through the stories conveyed (Asimow, 2009). Lawyers need to understand what information and prejudices their clients are likely to know and what media they got this information from for the legal machine to run effectively.
Secondly, and more interestingly, transmedia storytelling is being developed to train legal students and those inexperienced in legal processes such as jurors. Lettieri and Faro (2008) discuss the emergence of what they call “legal serious games”; simulated legal scenarios such as trials and negotiations, capitalising on the highly participative nature of transmedia storytelling (Flew, 2008). This transmedia interaction involves legal scenarios, cases and stories being conveyed to the user through a variety of media such as virtual games, videos and traditional text (Lettieri & Faro, 2008). These distinct media all combine, converge and interact with each other to not only teach the user theoretical legal concepts, but to allow the user to provide feedback and hence learn how to apply this knowledge through tests and errors within the safety of a simulated environment (Lettieri & Faro, 2008). As a law student, I find this an exciting new direction for legal education.
Finally, transmedia storytelling is affecting legal practice in relation to the area of intellectual property law. Not all transmedia storytelling is performed by the owners, creaters or providers of the transmedia content. In fact, an increasingly large amount of transmedia storytelling is done commonly by the users, consumers and audiences themselves. As Bolin (2007) explains, with transmedia content becoming more fluid and audiences becoming more dependent on the means of consumption, the providers of this content are finding it increasingly harder to control and copyright their content, specifically their popular character commodities like the Simpsons, Batman and Winnie the Pooh.
As a result, two things are occurring. Firstly, the laws and regulations regarding ownership, use, access and payment for transmedia content are becoming stricter (Flew, 2008). The second is that providers of content are now negotiating with, collaborating with and even owning means of consumption such as Apple with iTunes and iPods (Bolin, 2007). What this means for the legal profession is that with the rise of transmedia storytelling by the public, we are heading into unchartered territory regarding trademark law and lawyers will need to re-examine and possibly re-adjust the laws to suit this new creative and participatory age.
Whether legal stories (not always fiction) are popularly being told through TV, film and print media, or being told through serious games to train legal students, transmedia storytelling is having an effect on modern legal practice. Even the broad area of general transmedia storytelling has an influence on the law itself in regard to law reforms and new regulations. But no matter how transmedia storytelling is affecting legal practice, one thing is certain; this disclosure of the law through media to the layman will be sure to keep lawyers busy and their pockets padded.
References
Asimow, M. (2009, May 25). “The Cultural Impact of Law on Television”. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, Grand Hyatt, Denver, Colorado. Retrieved 22 February, 2010, from: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p302114_index.html
Bolin, G. (2007). Media Technologies, Transmedia Storytelling and Commodification. Retrieved 22 February, 2010, from: http://www.technocult.se/files/13%20Convergence.pdf
Dena, C. (2004, October 1). Towards a Poetics of Multi-Channel Storytelling. Paper presented at ‘Critical Animals’ postgraduate conference, ‘This is Not Art’ Festival, Newcastle, NSW. Retrieved 18 February, 2010, from: http://www.christydena.com/Docs/DENA_MultichannelPoetics.pdf
Eskridge Jr., W.N. (February 1994). Gaylegal Narratives. 46 Stanford Law Review, pp.607-646.
Flew, T. (2008). New Media: An Introduction (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press: UK.
Jenkins, H. (2007, March 22). Transmedia Storytelling 101. Retrieved 22 February, 2010, from: http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html
Lettieri, N. & Faro, S. (2008, June 23-24). Seeking models of interaction for legal serious games: the transmedia paradigm. Paper presented at ‘Serious Games on the Move 08’, Cambridge, UK. Retrieved 18 February, 2010, from: http://test.isfol.it/DocEditor/test/File/Lettieri_Faro_Seeking_models_of_interaction_for_legal_serious_games_.pdf
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