Ad Absurdum
Every month real lawyers look into the fictional worlds of entertainment and try to access how the law works in those tales. It's informative and silly, much like the law itself.
Episodes
Happy Fourth of July! Your pop culture legal team are back to look into the films of Steve Rogers aka Captain America. His role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is usually as the moral center but how does he fair as a law-abiding citizen? Sarah and Meredith dive into how much medical information Cap should have received before taking the super soldier serum; if Bucky Barnes' brainwashing works towards an insanity defense; and the n...
Take a break from the news to go back to the joyful days of the 90s when a constitutional crisis was a delightful comedy concept. Kevin Kline starred in an Ivan Reitman movie about an impersonator to the President ends up secretly being the President for a few months. The Pop Culture Legal Team look into how much of this is illegal. Beyond just saying, "ALL OF IT," they break down the legality of the AutoPen, how the 25th Amendment...
It's a Christmas miracle! A man fell off your roof and died! Also Ad Absurdum is BACK. Sarah and Meredith are joined by Calli, a privacy lawyer, to answer all the big questions about The Santa Clause. Is the fine print on the card similar to iTunes user agreements? Can you treat a belief of Santa like a religious allowance? Is the North Pole illegally spying on you during the year? How much of a bummer is it to deal with child cust...
If you were wondering where the Pop Culture Legal Team has been for the past few months, it's because they were trapped on Manhattan but now....they ESCAPED. Join Sarah and Meredith as they discuss the legal possibilities of the John Carpenter film, Escape from New York. They talk about how the government would take control of an island, the reach of prison capabilities and how prisoners can legally be treated. Also they decide if ...
The Pop Culture Legal Team is back as they discuss the strangest form of insider trading and corporate espionage: the kind that takes place in your dreams. Join Sarah and Meredith and their guest Sherwin Siy as they look at the legal ramifications of Christopher Nolan's hit 2010 thriller Inception.
--UPDATE: The audio issue with the ending has been fixed.
--Leave any questions you have for the trio in the comment section at TheAr...
First, Sorry to everyone for the delay in posting! Unfortunately, the increased violence in Chicago has made my criminal defense job pretty stressful this summer, and I've been low on editing time. We will do our best to return to one episode a month this fall.
This month, Meredith, Sarah, and special guest privacy lawyer Carolina discuss Gattaca, everyone's favorite movie about genetic discrimination! Join us as we explain how GINA is not just the name of a pretty lady, how much Ron Paul friggin' loves this movie, ways Trump could do more to mess up American Immigration, and the general fact that neither lawyers nor ethicists have any idea what the heck we're really talking about when we...
At first you don't succeed, build an even bigger and more dangerous theme park! If only they had lawyers around to tell the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World crew that all of this is a terrible idea. From simple negligence to BEAR LAW, from the endangered species act to the patenting of living creatures, Sarah, Meredith and guest Matt Fink discuss the myriad of tort claims raised by the Jurassic Park series.
--Leave any questions...
The pop culture legal team returns to discuss the 1998 Jim Carey drama, The Truman Show. In this movie, a man lives his entire life unaware that he is on an elaborate reality show documenting his every move. Sarah, Meredith and their special guest John question such things as "Can a corporation adopt a baby?" or "How much can Truman sue for them killing his fictional father in front of him?" The answers may surprise you!
--There...
Real bone fide lawyers Meredith, Sarah and Charlie discuss Minority Report, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise's 2002 assault on the very concept of the 4th Amendment. We pose questions such as: If creepy eye-scanning spiders can come into your home, can they tase you if you don't comply? What would Antonin Scalia think of mutant humans who can see the future? If prisoners are submerged in a lifetime of dreamless sleep, how do they ex...
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