文档介绍：PUBLIC LAW AND LEGAL THEORY
RESEARCH PAPER NO. 67
SEPTEMBER 2002

MISDIRECTING MYTHS:
THE LEGAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
OF DISTORTED HISTORY IN POPULAR MEDIA

Paul A. LeBel

(ing, Wake Forest Law Review Vol. 37, No. 4 (December 2002))

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[To be published in Wake Forest Law Review
Vol. 37, No. 4 (December 2002)]

Revised September 2002

MISDIRECTING MYTHS:
THE LEGAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
OF DISTORTED HISTORY IN POPULAR MEDIA

Paul A. LeBel*

The central premise of this issue of the WAKE FOREST LAW
1
REVIEW is that popular media can influence behavior in ways that
implicate the segments of the legal system that impose liability on those
who cause harm to This Article considers another type of
influence that can be traced to popular media – an “incitement to
citizenship,” if you will. More particularly, the focus is on the
presentation of distorted versions of historical events mercial
cinema. The Article examines the cultural effects that such distortions
can have on the formation of a national image,3 and explores the

* Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law.
1 The term “popular media” is used in this Article as an umbrella category that
includes film, television, and music.
2 These potentially include tort law, criminal law, and administrative law. This
Article will consider only tort litigation, with its panying constitutional
dimension of First Amendment constraints on the imposition of tort liability for the
harm caused by speech.
3 In a recent book, journalist Robert Shogan considers the relationship between
politics and culture. Shogan d