On Tue, 4 May 1993, James E. Prather wrote:
 
> Does anyone know of any substantial examination of the films--
> "The Thin Blue Line" and "The Onion Field"--especially as they relate to
> the criminal justice in USA?
> Thanks for your help?
 
As for THIN BLUE LINE, Charles Musser and I put together a panel at NYU a
couple of years ago on "Film Truth" which included a law professor doing a
very interesting reading of the rhetoric of the film as it relates to
legal rhetoric. Linda Williams also gave an excellent paper on the
'historical" in the film, and Charles Musser gave an extensive account of
the film's place in the history of documentary rhetoric. I talked about
the history of the "right to publicity," the whole idea that one has
rights to ones "life story." I don't know if anyone else on the panel
would want to share drafts of their papers -- mine is still something of a
mess -- but you can e-mail me if you're interested.
James Schamus