The Trial Of Chicago 7: Narrativity, Performativity of Principles of

Justice, et al.

Authors:
Md Sabeeh Ahmad1, Tuhel Ahmed2

Affiliation:
1) Department of Law, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
2) Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Address for Correspondence:

Md Sabeeh Ahmad, Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India- 202002
Contact Details- +91 8791797417, md.sabeeh1@gmail.com

Prior publication/presentation: No part of the text has been presented or published prior.
Details of competing interests, financial or otherwise: None
Manuscript word count: 4712
Number of tables/figures: None
Source of financial support: None
Acknowledgement: None
 The Trial Of Chicago 7: Narrativity, Performativity of Principles of Justice, et al.

Abstract

As society progressed, cinema made significant strides to create an impact unimaginable on the
human psyche. Identity, language, resistance, are no longer restricted or isolated but in fact
reaching the masses through many modes, the most significant, however, of all is through
cinema. The Trial of Chicago 7 is a similar attempt. Like Shakespeare once portrayed
Elizabethan society, its constituents, the flaws prevailing, and to a certain extent human rights,
movies like The Trial of Chicago 7 have done the same. More importantly the message that has
been thrown for the viewers, the right to protest against the State for a matter of such importance
like the Vietnam war. The chaos that ensues thereafter in the courtroom, resulting in the mistrial
of the sole black defendant, and the important elements of law and justice: the role of an
impartial jury, contempt in a court and so much more. As much as the law is involved (the anti-
riots provision of the Civil Rights Act used to prosecute), the language, narrative, style and
montage in the film plays a decisive role in upholding the notions of protest, dissent, resistance,
as well as the principles of natural justice. The objective of this paper is to present and explore
the correlation of cinema with law in the light of the movie “The Trail of Chicago 7”. The paper
will look at the legal point of view in the movie “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (originally 8), the
key elements that build up to such a drama in the courtroom and the elements of the film that
succeed in delivering the intended message with the intention of bringing ‘cinema and law’ as an
interdisciplinary approach for legal discourse in academic fields.

Keywords: Cinema, Law, Narrativity, Performativity, Sound, Camera, Trial, Courtroom, Justice,
Protest.

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Introduction
Cinema is a compelling and profound art form. Art historian and critic Erwin Panofsky wrote: “If
all the serious lyric poets, composers, painters and sculptors were forced by law to stop their
activities, a rather small fraction of the general public would seriously regret it. If the same thing
were to happen with the movies the social consequences would be catastrophic” (Corgi, 2021).
Thus, cinema in theatres, televisions or video cassettes not only plays the role of entertainment
but also has emerged as the mode through which human society narrates and creates itself. The
fact that movies amuse viewers is not the only way films gain social, cultural, and historical
relevance. It's because they can connect with a broad audience and a particular aspect of the
public's conscious or unconscious experience. Films like ‘The Godfather’, parts I and II (1972
and 1974) and Nashville (1975) vividly presented some of the cultural and societal tensions of
the time in America. In 1989, there were movies like ‘Field of Dreams’, which imagined the
Chicago Black Sox of 1919 playing on a spotless and idyllic baseball field to create a mythical
American past. These movies not only contributed to the longing for a bygone America but also
helped society to form itself out of the righteous elements in these movies (Corgi, 2021). First
among the postmodern historians, Robert Rosenstone says “ the visual media have become
arguably the chief carrier of historical messages in our culture” (Weinstein, 2019). Similarly,
American historian and social critic Arthur M Schlesinger Jr. has said: “The fact that film has
been the most potent vehicle for the American imagination suggests all the more strongly that
movies have something to tell us not just about the surfaces but the mysteries of American life”
(O’Connor and Jackson x). Thus, American historical movies play a prominent role in reflecting
American society.

The courtroom drama, sometimes known as the “trial picture” or “trial film” emerged as one of
the first American film genres, only a decade after the invention of cinema, in 1907 (Silbey,
2017; Kamir, 2005). With the emergence of technology and science, the prevalence of cameras,
the dominance of images in our culture, and the way that information is transmitted today,
narration and discourse of legal stories both fiction and non-fiction has become largely
accessible to the audience. Law, right from the formation of human society has been a non
dispatchable entity. Law could be traced playing a major role in cinematic narratives through
courtroom scenes, custodial scenes and so on. Viewers not only get amused by the scenes in the

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movie but they also put themselves in judicial as well as scholarly decision making position of
the scenes related to trial, with the help of the relation that gets induced in them through
storytelling mechanisms—special effects, flashbacks, multiple points of view, montage, sound
and dialogues in the movie or film as we shall trace these entities in the historical courtroom
drama ‘The Trial of Chicago 7’. The objective of this paper is to present and explore the
correlation of cinema with law. The paper will look at the legal point of view in the movie “The
Trial of the Chicago 7” (originally 8), the key elements that build up to such a drama in the
courtroom and the elements of the film that succeed in delivering the intended message with the
intention of bringing ‘cinema and law’ as an interdisciplinary approach for legal discourse in
academic fields.

Cinema and Law: An interdisciplinary approach

Cinema and law, the two paramount socio-cultural constitutions and in recent times it has
emerged as an interdisciplinary field of scholarship. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s,
pioneering academic publications embarked on a project to combine the study of legal themes
with that of film, cinematic storytelling and popular visual imagery (Machura & Robson, 2001,
pp. 3 –8). The study and discussion on ‘cinema and law’ is rapidly increasing in the
contemporary period and it can be traced in various platforms such as in lectures, law school
course titles and pop culture Websites. The study, discussion and discourse on ‘cinema and law’
has got less audience and academic platforms, as we compare it to other interdisciplinary arenas
such as ‘law-and-society’ or ‘law-and-literature’. The journal, ‘Why ‘Law-and-Film’ and What
Does it Actually Mean? A Perspective’ states “In 1999, in his annual presidential address to the
Law and Society Association (USA), Professor Austin Sarat presented a legal critical analysis of
the film The Sweet Hereafter. He invited scholars to join in the formation of the innovative and
virtually uncharted territory of law-and-film (Sarat, 2000a, 2000b). Five years later, at the 2004
annual meeting of the new Law, Culture and the Humanities Association (USA), film’s
relationship to law was the subject matter of many panels, and referenced in many more.”
(Kamir, 2019). Nevertheless, this interconnection of cinema and law as an academic discussion
comes in contact with various questions such as, What is actually ‘law-and-film or cinema and
law’? What does law-and-cinema study try to gain, and how does it go about pursuing its goals?
What types of connections or similarities between law and cinema validate an integrated,

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interdisciplinary look at both disciplines? Can cinema offer significant, worthy jurisprudential
insights? Why should we bother to read cinema as jurisprudential texts? etc. (Kamir, 2005)

In the contemporary period cinema and law has emerged as the mode through which human
society narrates and creates itself. Both cinema and film, as socio-cultural formations, conceive
and develop human beings and social groups, by means of storytelling, performance, and
ritualistic patterning. These notions of commonality are presented by scholars at different levels.
For instance, in his introduction to Legal Reelism: Movies as Legal Texts, an early edited
collection of law-and-film articles, John Denvir announces that “we can learn a great deal about
law from watching movies” (Denvir, 1996; Kamir, 2005). Viewing certain films as
jurisprudential texts he notes:

“[W]e can study movies as ‘legal texts’. [...] Frank Capra’s film, It’s a Wonderful Life, provides
an important complement, or perhaps antidote, to Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s legal
discussion of the reciprocal duties we owe each other as citizens. Not only do both ‘texts’ treat
the difficult legal issue of the claims of community, Capra’s treatment brings out an emotional
ambivalence toward community that Rehnquist’s legal prose ignores.” (Denvir, 1996; Kamir,
2005)

The scholars of cinema and law are particularly aligned on how law and legal procedures are
portrayed in movies, which might be inferred to “law-in-film” scholars (Haltom, 2007; Denvir,
1996). By analysing how law operates in the film, we can explore the boundaries of law and
legal issues in a way that is similar to more common jurisprudential discussions about how law
should or shouldn't govern and order our environments (Kamir, 2005). Some of these legal and
film scholars pay close attention to how legal discourse is embodied visually in culture through
film, emphasising the technology of the moving image (as opposed to the written word) as a
particularly potent medium for telling stories and establishing specific types of social relations
(Black, 1999). These theories, which can be roughly compared to a film-as-law theory, compare
film and law as epistemic systems, powerful social practises that, when combined, are incredibly
effective at defining what viewers believe they know, believe they should expect, and what they
hope for in a society that guarantees ordered liberty (Silbey, 2017).

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Law in the movie “The Trial of Chicago 7”

“Audi alteram partem”.

The initial courtroom drama forces the viewers (and more so if they are legal viewers), to revisit
the aforesaid maxim. A strong pillar of the principle of natural justice, the right to be heard, or in
this context the right to be represented. The movie showcases how this basic right is violated for
Bobby Seal who is denied a lawyer representative in violation of the sixth amendment. What
more? Consequently, Seal is denied a chance to represent himself, something that the sixth
amendment also guarantees. The Trial of Chicago Seven is not only a lesson on rights and the
amendments, it is more importantly a lesson on the conduct of a trial. The judges purview, and
the judicious exercise of the immense power that the judge has in possession, the impact it
creates, all of them clubbed together ensure whether a trial has been fair or is another attempt at
an “unfair trial” in disguise. In the case of Bobby Seal, the initiation of contempt proceedings in
court when he tries to defend his own case interrupting the proceedings which ultimately lead to
an unfortunate gagging of Seal in open court is a blatant abuse of the powers of a judge,
especially in contentious cases, where the judge is specifically expected to be sensitive. The
prejudicial nature of Judge Hoffman, especially against Seal and also against other defendants,
raises eyebrows on the treatment of Afro Americans and the treatment of others who are accused
of conspiring against the state. This also leads us to a potential argument on the collusive nature
of the judicial system and the state, wherein the state may attempt to instate judges who declare
in the state’s favour, another unfortunate reality that still exists in the judicial systems across the
world. Seal’s trial, however, meets an unusual fate of being declared a “mistrial”.

Another baffling detail in the outcome of the case is the total count of criminal contempt for the
defendants. The defendants and their lawyers were convicted for a mind whopping total of 169
counts of criminal contempt. But why the contempt, if any? The defendants seemed to know that
they would not be eventually acquitted. They were aware that a larger force was at play and they
would be eventually convicted. How was it possible to seek justice in the midst of an unfair trial?
By calling attention to the issue at hand, i.e., unfair trial. It is important to note that at the
conclusion it was this intervention (s) that made the difference and brought sufficient attention,
eventually being portrayed in the movie.

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The defendants were indicted under Title X: Anti-Riot Act infamously used to suppress the
freedom of speech. Another important dimension of the movie and the trial is the suppression of
speech and the right to dissent, a right guaranteed under the First Amendment. A look back in
history of the exercising of the First Amendment combined with freedom of speech, right to
assemble, and right to protest throw up some landmark case laws.

One of the first landmark opinions was that of Justice Louis D. Brandeis in Whitney v.
California. In this concurring opinion he stated that the founders desired that the people be free
in their ability to comment on government policies, and that the free exchange of ideas is the
only way to prevent the “dissemination of noxious doctrine” and to create a resolution of
supposed grievances by proposed remedies. Free speech, Brandeis argued, is essential to
democracy because citizens are obliged to participate in government and they can do so without
fear only if their right to criticise government is protected. He stated that any abridgement of free
speech would eventually strangle democracy.

Following this, Justice Roberts in Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization (1939) wrote
in favour of public assembly that the privilege of a citizen of the United States to use the streets
and parks for communication of views on national questions may be regulated in the interest of
all; it is not absolute, but relative, and must be exercised in subordination to the general comfort
and convenience, and in consonance with peace and good order; but it must not, in the guise of
regulation, be abridged or denied. (emphasis supplied).

One of the first cases related to peaceful assembly was Edwards v. South Carolina wherein Afro-
American students marched against segregation and were given 15 minutes by the police to
disperse. Failing which, hundreds of students were arrested and 187 of them convicted of breach
of peace. Writing the majority opinion Justice Potter Stewart wrote that the students’ actions
“reflect an exercise of these basic constitutional rights [to speech, assembly, and petition] in their
most pristine and classic form.” Stewart emphasised that the students acted peaceably and never
threatened violence or harm. He concluded that the First and 14th Amendments do not “permit a
State to make criminal the peaceful expression of unpopular views.”

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Reiterating similar views in Cox v. Louisiana, the Court found unconvincing the state’s claim
that although the demonstration was not violent, it was “inherently dangerous” and therefore
qualified as breach of the peace. Such a definition, Goldberg wrote, “would allow persons to be
punished merely for peacefully expressing unpopular views” and thereby defeat the entire
rationale of the First Amendment guarantee, which is based on the very notion that “[s]peech is
often provocative and challenging” and may have “profound unsettling effects.”

A more relevant observation would, however, be of the court in Bachellar v. Maryland, which
was related to Anti-Vietnam war protests. The Court reversed the judgement of the Maryland
Court of Special Appeals because, it reasoned, the jury may have convicted the protesters simply
because it found the viewpoint of the protesters offensive. Or as Brennan wrote, “[T]he
petitioners may have been found guilty ... simply because they advocated unpopular ideas.” The
Court “held that where it was impossible to determine if convictions for disorderly conduct in
blocking a public sidewalk as part of an anti-Vietnam war demonstration were based on grounds
contrary to the First Amendment, the case must be reversed.”

The First Amendment, throughout history, even before the trial of the Chicago 7 protected
several rights of peaceful protesters, freedom of speech, right to assemble, to name a few. It also
highlighted the reasoning of the jury when they believed defendants had contrasting views to that
of themselves and were hence convicted. How then, is this connected to the movie? The movie is
different from other courtroom dramas which narrate a story of a good lawyer who is fighting for
justice. In the Trial of Chicago 7, the lawyers are far from being protagonists. In reality, the
movie emphasises on a singular question through scenes of peaceful protests and eventual police
violence, conspiracy of the state, the biassed judicial approach, attempt to withhold witness
(testimony of the former Attorney General) and several others, the movie attempts to acquit the
defendants even before the court did and necessitated a question for the viewers: Was this trial
even needed? Through a systematic view of the absurdity involved the movie attempts to dissect
the trial and criticises the trial as a whole. It shows the blatant role of the State in suppressing
views against an unpopular war. It allows the viewers to analyse how the state, on each occasion,

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finds a tribe of guilty individuals, who are obviously against the idea of war, and attempt to
destroy the idea of dissent.

The Trial of Chicago 7 : Trial narrativity, performativity of justice et al.

The visual presentation of courtroom dramas, trial films or trial movies in America are long
familiar, recognisable and pursuant. Trial movies frequently begin with a setting shot of the
courthouse, complete with cupola, wide steps, and columns. Occasionally, the opening of the
movie in America features patriotic icons (Lady Liberty, George Washington, and Abraham
Lincoln etc), which serve to remind the audience of the values that shape the legal system. The
poster of the movie “The Trial of Chicago 7” is one such example which has a courthouse,
police, a character at the entrance of the court and a patriotic icon that is the flag of the US that
gives exposure to the viewers of courtroom drama in cinema.

Sound, narration and cinematography in courtroom dramas are some of the key elements that not
only help in building dramatic effect in viewers but also adds into the success of delivering the
intended message; justice in this movie. The Trial of Chicago 7 starts with a portrayal of a
documentary (short video) based on historical and political events leading to war in Vietnam
War (1954–1975). Basically, the documentary is monochromatic and the background sound is
multilayered which refers to the intensity of the historical event and its effect on the viewers and
so on the society. The narration of the short monochrome documentary initiates voice and
resistance in the characters, that ultimately leads to the exposure of the movie. Sound plays a
very vital role in the movie, the very first public gathering is one such example where the
dialogues are subsequently aligned with high metallic sound that lets the viewers put themselves
in the boots of the chaotic situation in the movie. WB Sound managed and gave sound in the
movie The Trial of Chicago 7 and supervising sound editor Renee Tondelli in an interview with
Jennifer Walden said: “In terms of sound, the courtroom represents the controlling, authoritarian
hand of the Federal government. Through reverbs, EQs, and sound effects, we worked on
creating the feeling of an environment in which individual voices seem small in a cavernous
space, except for Judge Julius Hoffman’s voice and his gavel, which are magnified and
enhanced. We used both Judge Hoffman’s plant mic and boom to give his voice a resonance that
is different from everyone else. We used his gavel like a shotgun. For every shot and scene, we

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needed to establish the presence of the crowd and jury and follow the emotional twists and turns
of the trial. We needed to create the sensation of sitting in the courtroom as these historical
events unfolded. Every shift, creak, offscreen page turn, and offscreen vocal was meticulously
placed. By contrast, everything outside of the courtroom – especially the riot scenes — reflects
the point of view of “the people.” We developed the sound design as increasingly unstable chaos,
with multiple points of view told with layered aural elements” (Walden). Meanwhile, Julian
Slater, two-time Oscar nominated re-recording mixer Julian Slater in the same interview with
Jennifer Walden stressed on the notion of emotion that comes into force due to the background
sound in the movie. He argued: “Aaron was very particular about wanting to get this film out to
as many people as possible, before the election, because it was partly a reflection of what is
happening in the States today. I feel there’s probably a lot of younger Americans who don’t
necessarily know about this and what happened. And so, I was very much led by Renee in
wanting to get the emotion and the power of what was happening, because it was a big thing.
And it’s a big thing that’s obviously reoccurring today. It’s all about getting that emotion across.
We worked hard to get that raw emotion of what was happening across to the audience”
(Walden, 2021). These arguments proposed by the two sound providers in the movie highlights
both the importance of sound (dialogues) in a courtroom drama as well the role that it plays in
dispatching the historical event and the curtailed narratives to the audiences.

Camera angles in these movies play a vital role in bringing up situations related to the story and
in most cases, in the opening scene camera moves up from a street perspective, looking at the
steps, to the courthouse or statue from a street perspective, portraying the viewer as an eventual
entrance and citizen in the house of law. These angles are vividly presented in the movie right
from the poster to the moving pictures in the movie. The courthouse scenes that follow are
typically more frantic, driven by the commotion of individuals going about their daily business,
congested hallways, and the hum of human voice, shoes and boots, paper and keyboards as we
find a mix of shots of a typewriter in the movie. These cinematic angles largely contribute to the
narrativity of trial cinema and performativity of justice et al.

The disorder that needs to be fixed in the house of law is foreshadowed by the anarchy.
Sometimes, these additional scenes—laughter and conversation, hugs, and worried faces—infuse

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humanity into the otherwise inanimateness of stone and metal, signalling a realisation that the
promise of justice necessitates human involvement. Eventually, the viewer arrives at the
courtroom, which may be symmetrically framed down the centre with a focus on the judge or the
flag, representing the promise of impending order; alternatively, it may be framed askwally with
a focus on the audience members in the gallery or a specific lawyer, implying that there is still
work to be done in order to arrive at a just verdict.

The film's central theme centres on changing viewpoints on a specific disagreement between
people on historical events. Right from the beginning the movie revolves around disagreement
on the topic of human rights , justice et al.

The camera angle in the movie accomplishes various perspectives in the courtroom drama such
as, the camera prompts the reveal of covert truths or relations from or between movie actors,
facts and relations that, if exposed by the court system, enable a fair verdict as we find these
elements in the movie ‘The Trial of Chicago 7’. The camera reveals psychic relationships
between the thoughts, lives, and situations of the featured persons by framing the character of the
film in a single headshot, for instance, and cutting quickly from one character to another. This
technique encourages the viewer to understand the connections as relevant for the current trial.
Films frequently use this type of relational composition as a suturing mechanism, but in trial
movies, these technical instruments stand in stark contrast to the lifeless and inhuman origins of
law (buildings, statues, and flags). The camera also serves as a perspective lens, panning,
rotating, and zooming in and out to give the courtroom a sense of unity and omniscience and the
ability to perceive the situation from various angles. The camera here represents the ideal of
justice, providing distance for objectivity, close-ups for intimacy and emotion, and zoom shots
for sharp commentary—in order to analyse the case from all available angles and to put the
situation in an objective light (Pilkington et al., 2015). The cinematographer of The Trial of
Chicago 7, Phedon Papamichael speaks on the usage of lens and camera that made visuals in the
movie more eye catching and addressing. He quoted “I played two parts of the trial with hard
light and direct beams. One on the opening day, because there’s a sense of hope at this Academy
Awards of trials. One character even says, ‘I’m just happy to be nominated.’ Then the second
was at the end of the trial, before sentencing. The Hayden character, who is already in his prison

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outfit, stands up and reads the names of those who had fallen in Vietnam. I felt he should be
bathed in light, engulfed in this heroic, angelic light, to convey a sense of truth and show there
was freedom in his being able to express what mattered to them all so much” (Meier, 2020).
The Trial of Chicago 7 production designer Shane Valentino in an interview with Motion
Pictures Association emphasised on the importance of production of such narrative through
visuals and said “It’s easy to see parallels between what happened then and what’s happening
now. These issues have never been resolved so it was really important to Aaron that we weren’t
making a documentary. We were making a film that takes place during that time but is really a
lens onto what’s going on in our current culture” (Hart, 2020).

Conclusion
Cinema academics consider the history of film production, distribution, and reception to be
essential to deciphering film texts and comprehending the social significance of film. In order to
interpret a specific text and its place in a body of comparable film, the study of a film's formal
aspects (properties of representation and production) would pay attention to the narrative
structure, casting decisions, visual patterns, and camera techniques (film genre). As was
previously discussed in relation to the American trial film, the analysis of film as a cultural
object, especially when about legal procedure and justice, aids in explaining how a film's
audience and community (a feature of reception) participate in and sustain specific ideas and
ideologies about law; in this case, we see justice and human rights as the two prominent
components of law.

As powerful a tool for political mobilisation as any work of political literature or art from the
past, courtroom plays and other popular legal fiction are even today. We are positioned in culture
and communities by stories. A good tale accomplishes more by involving its audience and
guiding them toward—even embracing—its resolution. As said- “Literature is, like law, an arena
of strategic conflict” (Binder & Weisberg, 2000, p. 19).

Although, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” dramatises and condenses historical events just a little
bit, the film's resonance is strong in the aftermath of demonstrations for George Floyd and Black
Lives Matter. Occasionally, it may seem as though the only difference between then and now is

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the police, who in the past chased after nonviolent protesters while wearing shirtsleeves rather
than full cosplay combat attire. “The timeliness of this film was something we didn’t anticipate
to the extent that is happening,” film’s editor, Alan Baumgarten says. “We were still finishing
the film, so it was quite shocking for all of us, and chilling, to be working on a project which we
had tried to make work on its own terms and in its own way, with tear gas, rioting, and police
beating up on protestors, and then seeing the same thing happening on the news.” Despite the
fact that the film may stand on its own, viewers could forgive them for thinking they were
witnessing a carefully crafted, instructional prelude to the current events (Edelbaum, 2020).
Leslie Combemale, an author for Motion Picture Association while interviewing Aaron Sorkin,
the writer and director of the historical courtroom drama, The Trial of Chicago 7, questioned,
“Given the current state of affairs, anyone who feels called to activism could see themselves in
one of the Chicago 7?” Aaron Sorkin responded “I hope you’re right. I hope that people who are
activists, or people who have the heart of an activist, but maybe their body hasn’t gotten caught
up yet, will see in this film that this is a tribute to them. I hope they’ll see themselves honoured,
and feel inspired by the end of the film with Hayden’s final act of defiance, knowing these guys
won’t be beaten.” (Combemale, 2020).

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 The Trial Of Chicago 7: Narrativity, Performativity of Principles of Justice, et al.

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