Exploring the legal content of erin brockovich (2000) through an analysis of its literary element

DEGREE IN ENGLISH Major: Legal English EXPLORING THE LEGAL CONTENT OF "ERIN BROCKOVICH" 2000 THROUGH AN ANALYSIS OF ITS LITERARY ELEMENTS Supervisor: Tran Ngoc Luong Tuyen, M.A... L

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF LAW

GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH

Major: Legal English

EXPLORING THE LEGAL CONTENT OF "ERIN BROCKOVICH" (2000)

THROUGH AN ANALYSIS OF ITS LITERARY ELEMENTS

Supervisor: Tran Ngoc Luong Tuyen, M.A

Student: Nguyen Ngoc Minh Trang Student ID: 1652202010064

Ho Chi Minh City, 2020

Legal Content of “Erin Brockovich”

Nguyen Ngoc Minh Trang

Ho Chi Minh City University of Law

SUPERVISOR’S REMARKS

I would also like to pay my special regards to Mrs Pham Thi Thuy Dung for her counsel at the beginning of this journey Her inspired lectures in English literature made a strong impression on me and embarked on me to take the path

Again, I would like to show my gratitude to Mrs Le Thi Xuan Thu for her supportive answers to all my questions regarding this issue, and to her dedication to our class for the previous four years I would like to extend my attitude of appreciation

to all the members in the Department of Legal English for their support during the whole course

I also send my appreciation to my friends for their valuable friendships during my time at ULAW Especially helpful to me during the time this thesis was carried on were Nguyen Ngoc Huynh Anh and Vo Minh Nga with their valuable support and insightful suggestions, Vo Thi Thu Lien with her practical materials, and Ngo Kim Thanh with her generous advice

I am indebted to my family, none of this could have happened without them, especially my mother, for her unconditional love and encouragement

I am extremely grateful to all!

Ho Chi Minh City, June 2020 Nguyen Ngoc Minh Trang

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LRWQB Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Basic camera angles Error! Bookmark not defined

Table 2: Most popular film genres 7

Table 3: Types of characters 10

Table 4: Basic points of view 11

Table 5: Hinkley's groundwater contamination historical summary 20

Table 6: Main characters 25

Table 7: Minor characters 26

Table 8: Statute of Limitations 30

Table 9: Summary of findings 42

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Illustration of the three-point lighting Error! Bookmark not defined Figure 2: Model of Freytag's pyramid 9 Figure 3: Steven Soderbergh 16 Figure 4: The real Erin Brockovich 18

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUPERVISOR‟S REMARKS iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS viii

INTRODUCTION 1

I BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1

II OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 2

III NECESSITY OF THE STUDY 2

IV SUBJECT AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3

V RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3

V.1 Methodological approach 3

V.2 Data 4

V.2.1 Data collection 4

V.2.2 Data processing 4

V.2.3 Data analysis 4

VI STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 5

CHAPTER ONE LITERATURE REVIEW 6

I HOLLYWOOD FILM AND ITS ELEMENTS (MODEL FOR FILMS ANALYSIS) 6

I.1 Hollywood film 6

I.2 Cinematography Error! Bookmark not defined I.2.1 The camera Error! Bookmark not defined I.2.1.1 Camera angles Error! Bookmark not defined I.2.1.2 Camera movements Error! Bookmark not defined I.2.2 Lighting effect Error! Bookmark not defined I.3 Sound effect Error! Bookmark not defined I.4 Film genres 7

I.5 Literary elements 8

I.5.1 Plot 8

I.5.2 Setting 9

I.5.3 Characterization 10

I.5.4 Symbolism 10

I.5.5 Point of view 11

I.5.6 Theme 12

II LITERARY APPROACHES 12

III “LAW-IN-LITERATURE” AND “LAW-AS-LITERATURE” APPROACHES 13

IV OVERVIEW OF THE LAW OF CALIFORNIA 13

V SUMMARY OF CHAPTER ONE 14

CHAPTER TWO LITERARY ANALYSIS 16

I BACKGROUND INFORMATION 16

I.1 ―Erin Brockovich‖ and Steven Soderbergh 16

I.2 The stories behind the movie 18

I.2.1 Erin Brockovich 18

I.2.2 Hinkley ground water contamination 19

I.2.2.1 Historical summary 19

I.2.2.2 Litigation 20

II LITERARY ANALYSIS 22

II.1 Plot 22

II.1.1 Plot summary 22

II.1.2 Plot analysis 23

II.2 Setting 24

II.3 Characterization 24

II.3.1 Main characters 24

II.3.2 Minor characters 25

II.4 Symbolism 26

II.5 Point of view 26

II.6 Theme 27

III SUMMARY OF CHAPTER TWO 28

CHAPTER THREE LEGAL CONTENT 29

I LEGAL TERMS 29

I.1 Statute of limitations 29

I.2 Binding arbitration 30

I.3 Demurrer 31

II COMMENCING A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT 34

III FEE SPLITTING WITH NON-LAWYERS 37

IV SUMMARY OF CHAPTER THREE 39

CONCLUSION 40

I SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS 40

II LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 42

III RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 43

BIBLIOGRAPHY xi

BOOKS xi

DICTIONARIES xii

DIGITAL IMAGES xii

FILM xiii

JOURNAL ARTICLES xiii

LEGISLATION xiii

SCRIPT xiii

THESES xiii

WEBSITES/WEB BLOG xiv

INTRODUCTION

This part basically covers the primary information of the study, including the background to the study, which provides context to the whole study It also encompasses the objectives and the necessity of the study, the subject, and the scope of the study as well as the research methodology in use and the structure of this thesis

I BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Law and film have been identified as the two distinct major fields However, for a long time, the combination of these two have been already marked with the

tremendous number of films contain legal matters, including Twelve Angry Men (1957), To Kill A Mocking Bird (1962) whose plot is based on the novel of the same name of Harper Lee, A Civil Action (1998), Michael Clayton (2007) and Conviction (2010) Apparently, there has been a considerable development in the number of

law-centric movies in Hollywood from the 20th century to the 21st century The simultaneous movement of law and cinema has resulted in the legal storytelling on the widescreen, where the topic of law plays the backbone role of the plot

As the effect of the waves of law-centric movies in the late 20th century, scholars with different backgrounds have been attracted to the subject So far, the topic of law and film has been under investigated and it has been written by many academics The interdisciplinary research between law and film is by no means new It is not surprising that there is no consensus regarding the subject matter nor the way of conducting such researches Therefore, a variety of approaches has been used to scrutinize legal films These methods may provide rich insights into the functions of the film as an artistic work and into the sociopolitical environment.1 One of the most well-known concepts addressing the issue that is earlier recognized by some legal

scholars, is the association of ―law and literature‖ In New Direction in Law and

1

C.J.S Picart, M.H Jacobsen and C Greek (eds.), Framing Law and Crime: An

Interdisciplinary Anthology, Maryland, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press/ Rowman and

Littlefield Publishing, 2016, p 27

Literature, (Anker and Meyler, 2017) recognized the law and literature as a joint

discipline in certain aspects because both fields of study based on the study of rhetoric, which focuses on the views of language and social context.2 Although (Black, 1999) claimed that ―Much of legal writing about film has identified itself, in one way or another, with legal writing on literature,3‖ ―law and literature‖, to some certain extent, has laid the groundwork for law and film.4

In respect of films on law, the ways at which academics have approached the depiction of the legal content in such movies are quite diverse Some believe that the application of motion pictures in legal storytelling may be more complex and more open to interpretation than the effect of a legal text.5 Therefore, some have used film related to law as a tool in legal education even though the portrayal of the legal institutions in such movies cannot be exactly as same as reality It is regarded that the legal content of these films still accentuates certain aspects In such event, the film

Erin Brockovich, which was produced in 2000, is taken into account to uncover the

legal content of it through certain approaches in the field, as well as to introduce some basic aspects in approaching film analysis

II OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Firstly, the study intends to examine the literary elements through the script of the movie, and secondly, to explore the legal content depicts from such, by applying some specific approaches in ―law and literature‖, including literary approaches

III NECESSITY OF THE STUDY

The first time when films were used in the law school classrooms still remains unknown, but it is hard to deny its widespread practice The use of audio-visual

materials, including law-related films in education, has already been familiarized with law students and law teachers between the 20th and 21st centuries Legal films, by degrees, have become an effective tool for the public to access some fundamental aspects of the legal system in a less academic approach As mentioned before, the depiction of law in a film does not one hundred percent correctly, but it does accentuate some aspects of the reality Therefore, with academics from different backgrounds, newcomers to the legal field, people without legal based or even law students who want to have a visual and non-theoretical approach to a foreign legal system, the law-related film is one option This research is carried out with the hope that its findings will become a practical source of reference for those who want to study law without a purely academic approach based on the legal content taken from

the movie Erin Brockovich The results of this study are expected to be a practical material for teaching and learning Legal Terminology and Legal Ethics, as well as to

enrich the movement of film, literature and law

IV SUBJECT AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study centralizes the film Erin Brockovich (2000) directed by Steven

Soderbergh and written by Susannah Grant

The coverage of this study is limited to within the script of the film in literary text and some issue related to the law of the United States (―U.S.‖), specifically in California

V RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

V.1 Methodological approach

The purpose of the study, as aforesaid, is to interpret and have thoroughly intuition

into the legal issues sketching out from the film Erin Brockovich by scrutinizing its literary elements In order to answer such research questions, qualitative research is

implemented as the most suitable method for this type of research

Qualitative research, as defined by Punch (2014), ―is empirical research where the data are not in the form of numbers6‖ This approach appears to be the standard approach to theoretical researches without static numbers or charts that are similar to this thesis

V.2 Data

The two types of data used in this thesis are primary and secondary data

The primary data is the movie Erin Brockovich (2000) itself as well as some legal

V.2.2 Data processing

The data was then organized and compared to find the eligible information for the thesis, before being divided into clusters based on their content to prepare for the next steps

V.2.3 Data analysis

After the information was clustered, it was reselected and textual analysis is conducted The next chapter will provide the scope of certain approaches that can be applied in this research to acquire intuition about the movie

In addition, the legal content of the movie is identified through the information depicted in the movie and the script Then, these contents will be explained and analyzed in more detail with the legal resources gathering from the local libraries and online websites

6

K Punch, Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, 3rd edn, London, Sage, 2014, p 3

VI STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS

The thesis is in three chapters, which is not inclusive of the introductory part and the conclusion

Chapter One Literature Review: in this chapter, some theories and concepts related

to the study will be introduced

Chapter Two The movie “Erin Brockovich”: this chapter will concentrate on the

film and its analysis using literary approaches

Chapter Three Legal Content: the final chapter will discuss the legal content depicts

from the film and some legal institution aspects in reality

CHAPTER ONE LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses several theories ranging from general views regarding the law

of California to critical approaches to the field of law-and-film that can be employed

in this study

I FILM AND ITS ELEMENTS

Understanding the elements constructing a film, especially with legal films, may provide insights into the legal issue conveyed in the movie This means getting the

―film‖ out of the ―law-and-film scholarship‖ for scrutinizing its characteristics by employing the approach of film analysis However, regardless of the scope of this thesis, only a part of the elements constructing a film will be presented in this part

I.1 Film

A ―film‖ is ―a series of moving pictures, usually shown in a cinema or on television and often telling a story7‖ Although the birth of film is undefined, some may consider the first public film-show of the Lumière brothers which marked the development of the motion pictures in storytelling, is the day the first film is born Since then, the world of film is continuously moving and improving

―Hollywood‖, the first word instantly springs to mind of the majority whenever someone mentioned about the U.S film industry or American films, shows how the American film-making industry booming for the last centuries The popularity of American movies is undeniable with excellent blockbusters that bring parts of American to the world Of course, that is not only what movies can do A movie is a means of entertainment, a tool of education, a medium of communication and beyond all of those meanings, a movie is a piece of art

Generally, an art is created by a combination of diverse elements The same goes for a film There are various factors influencing the success of a movie Nonetheless,

in accordance with the scope of this study, only the film genres and the literary elements are presented in this part

7‗Film‘, Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus,

I.2 Film genres

Genre is a category in which films are sorted based on the literary elements8 and the content Knowing the film-genres provides a basic overview of the movie content and shapes the plotline A sub-genre is a term described as a smaller category of a genre and can be a combination of two or more genres

Animation Traditional, stop

Defined by humorous events, even

if the story is droll

Rush Hour (1998)

Drama Melodrama,

legal drama, etc

Defined by conflict, and often looks to reality

Silence (2013)

Fantasy

Contemporary fantasy, dark fantasy, etc

Defined by both circumstance and setting inside a fictional,

unrealistic universe

Harry Potter (2001)

Defined by a mixture of speculation and science

Tomorrowland (2015) Table 1: Most popular film genres

Besides the film genres listing in the table9 above, there are others including historical, horror, western, thriller, musical, etc

8Literary elements will be analyzed in the next sub-section (sub-section I.5.)

9Information in the table is retrieved from S Lannom, ‗Ultimate Guide to Movie

Genres — 90+ Genre Examples for Film & TV‘, StudioBinder, [web blog], 9

September 2019, https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/movie-genres-list/, (accessed 2 March 2020)

I.3 Literary elements

A film is a way of narrative through motion pictures based on the written text of its script When considering a movie script in a literary context, it is quite similar to interpret a fiction, as both forms of narrative shares certain similarities This part discusses each of the literary elements of a fiction, which is used in literary analysis Sub-section I.5 also provide a model for the analysis of the literary text of a film, which based on the model of literary analysis

I.3.1 Plot

Usually, people can use interchangeably between the two words plot and story However, in literary studies, these are slightly different The story is a narrative of the events presenting in chronological order, whereas the plot is also a narrative of the events except that it shows a relationship of cause and effect.10

Basically, the plot has five main elements, based on the typical pattern called the

"Freytag's pyramid", which developed by a German playwright - Gustav Freytag in the

19th century

There are five main elements in the Freytag‘s pyramid Firstly, the exposition is

the beginning of the story, which introduces the setting and the characters of the story

It also provides hints or even establishes the future conflicts which lead to the second

element, the rising action At this stage, the conflict becomes more dramatics, and creates suspense The most exciting part of the story is the climax, which is the turning

point of the plot, where the conflicts reach the peak After that, the plot moves onto the

fourth elements, the falling action At this point, the tensions are eased down and it

reflects the way the main characters handle the conflicts The final element is the

10

K Griffith, Writing Essays about Literature: A Guide and Style Sheet, 8th edn,

Boston, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011, p 51

resolution This is the end of the story, sometimes, it may come up with a plot twist.11

The figure12 below exemplifies this structure:

In term of the conflict in literature, it is divided into two types: internal conflict and external conflict While internal conflict is the struggle inside the character‘s mind, external conflict refers to struggle between a character with outside forces like the environment around, the nature or another character.13

Despite of the Freytag's pyramid pattern, there are other plot patterns A work may have muted conflicts, unresolved conflicts, open endings or have no climax at all It may also have multiple plot lines which are the linkage of cause and effect of a chain

12The original picture is taken from S Lannom, ‗What Is a Plot? Types of Plot,

Definitions, and Examples‘, StudioBinder, [web blog], 21 August 2019,

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-plot/, (accessed 2 March 2020)

arrangement of the background behind a camera There are three elements that can be

analyzed in the setting: the social environment, the place, and the time or the historical

context of the story There are two primary types of setting: the backdrop setting and the integral setting The latter influences the other elements of the story like themes or characters, but the former is opposite, caused it is difficult to identify the (historical) time of the story with the backdrop setting as it can be timeless15

I.3.3 Characterization

Characterization is a literary device which used to depict a character There are six main types of character which are presented in the table16 below

Protagonist Main character in a story; conflicts with the antagonist

Antagonist Opponent of the protagonist; can be a person, an inanimate

object, an animal, etc

Dynamic character Changes during the course of a novel or a story

Static character Remains the same throughout the whole story

Round character A complex type of character with different personalities

Flat character Usually has one or two personality traits; remains unchanged

throughout the story

Table 2: Types of characters

I.3.4 Symbolism

Symbolism is the utilization of symbols as a literary device, by symbolizing an object, person, or situation with something different from their literal sense like an

idea or a thought For example, in the film The Great Gatsby (2013) based on the

original 1925 novel of the same name of F Scott Fitzgerald, the name Daisy has a symbolic meaning Daisy is the name of a flower that has a yellow center and white petals surrounded While the white parts represented for innocence, purity, the yellow one stands for deceit It is similar to the character Daisy in such a work, who appears

Information in the table is retrieved from Literary Devices, [website],

https://literarydevices.net/character/, (accessed 2 March 2020)

to be innocent, but her inner is filled with corruption and greed She lets Gatsby believe that she really loves him and will do anything with him, including leaving her husband, but it is finally revealed that money is all she cares about Symbols enable authors to freely transfer an idea or a message within an attractive scope of a narrative

It evokes the curiosity of readers or the audiences in the plot of the story and gives universality to the characters and the themes of a piece of literature.17

I.3.5 Point of view

Point of view is the literature term describes the perspective of the narrator toward the world of the work Four basic points of view are introduced in the table below18

Third-person

omniscient

The narrator is the all-knowing outsider; tells the story from outside the world of the story;

has complete knowledge of all characters‘

thoughts, actions, etc

Hawthorne‘s “The Scarlet Letter” (1850)

Third-person

limited

The narrator is an outsider; tells the story from outside the world of the story; has limited knowledge on one character‘s thoughts, actions, etc

Ernest Hemingway‘s

“Hill Like White Elephants” (1927)

First-person

point of view

The story is told under the view of one

character in the story, using the first-person pronoun ―I‖

Fitzgerald‘s “The Great Gatsby” (1925) Table 3: Basic points of view

love, it is indicated through the scene Elsa thawed her sister, Anna with her pure love

In one work, the themes may contradict with each other

II LITERARY APPROACHES

Aforementioned in the Introduction, it is believed that the groundwork of the ―law

and film‖ scholarship has been formed by ―law and literature‖ Therefore, in approaching the study of law-and-film in this research, some approaches that were used in accessing the field of ―law and literature‖ will be considered Academics usually analyze a piece of literature implementing these critical approaches: formalist criticism, deconstructionist criticism, biographical criticism, reader-response criticism, historical criticism, mythological criticism, gender criticism, sociological criticism, psychological criticism

In spite of having nine common critical approaches to literature19, this research examines and applies three methods that are considered as an ideal model for the study

in the field of law-and-film, which are formalist criticism, historical criticism, and biographical criticism While the first approach centers on the work itself and

determines how its literary elements contribute to each other to affect the readers, the second and the third approaches seek to understand a literary work by investigating the

19

Critical Approaches to Literature,

http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.html, (accessed 3 March 2020), cited

in X Kennedy and D Gioia, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and

Drama, 6th edn, New York, HarperCollins, 1995, pp 1790-1818

social and cultural context of it, and comprehend the work through insights of the author‘s life20, respectively

literature‖ and ―law as literature‖ In law as literature, scholars utilize the literary

criticisms and theories to gain a better understanding of the legal systems describing in literature work In other words, this scholarship applies literary approaches to interpret

the legal issues in literary materials Another category of law and literature is the law

in literature, which takes into account the issues regarding how the legal themes are

depicted in the literature work.21

In such events, this research applies the ―law-in-literature‖ approach to delve into

the legal content of the film Erin Brockovich

IV OVERVIEW OF THE LAW OF CALIFORNIA

People tend to have questions about the U.S laws after watching them in Hollywood blockbusters ―How does the U.S legal system work?‖ is one of those typical questions

As the U.S is a federal government, the legal system of the nation is rather complicated The U.S consists of 50 states, a federal district most commonly referred

to as Washington, D.C., formally known as District of Columbia and other territories Each of the states of the U.S has its own constitution, government, court, and law This part embraces certain aspects of California law as a law-based for scrutinizing

the legal content depicts from the film Erin Brockovich

G Binder and R Weisberg, Literary Criticisms of Law, New Jersey, Princeton

University Press, 2000, p ix

The courts of California may hinge on both primary and secondary sources of law

to settle legal disputes The primary source is the set of promulgated rules or laws that are binding There are various types of primary sources, but the critical ones include the California Constitution; statutes or codes passed by the legislature; regulations issued by state agencies, and departments; case law; and California Rules of Court Secondary sources such as law dictionaries, encyclopedias, or legal textbooks do not have binding effect, though it explains and analyzes the content of the law.22

This study will imply both primary and secondary sources of law of California, namely the California Code of Civil Procedure (―CCP‖), the California Rules of Court (―CRC‖), and some legal text books to have in-depth knowledge of the legal content

arisen from the film Erin Brockovich as well as to understand the jurisprudence of the

U.S., specifically of California

V SUMMARY OF CHAPTER ONE

To sum up, the chapter presents various approaches and theories that will be applied in this thesis

The chapter introduces the sources of law of California, which provides a general view and forms a basis in order to gain a deeper understanding of the legal content in

the movie Erin Brockovich The study also demonstrates diverse methods that are

applicable to similar previous studies, including some literature approaches, some certain aspects in film analysis, and the two approaches adopted in the field of

―law-and-literature‖, namely, ―law-in-literature‖ and ―law-as-literature‖

Consequently, this study focuses on analyzing the literary elements in the script of the film based on the model of fiction analysis in literature, applying the formalist criticism approach, which is the analysis of the six literary elements: setting, plot, characterization, symbolism, point of view, and theme Additionally, the study will adopt the other two literary approaches, particularly, historical criticism, and

biographical criticism to understand the social and the cultural context of the film Erin Brockovich, as well as the life of director Steven Soderbergh Thenceforth, the

research will implement the law-in-literature approach to scrutinize the legal issues portraying in the movie

CHAPTER TWO LITERARY ANALYSIS

This chapter centers the film “Erin Brockovich” by applying the literary approaches mentioned in chapter One to gain insights about the movie, its background, and to define its literary elements

I BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Behind every successful movie, there is a film crew These people may not appear

on the scene like the cast, but having a vital role in every film These are directors, producers, film editors, and make-up artists, to name but a few

The film Erin Brockovich was produced in 2000 by Danny DeVito, Michael

Shamberg, and Stacey Sher The real-life drama was directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Susannah Grant, and edited by Anne V Coates The production designer was Philip Messina, Ed Lachman was the cinematographer, and Thomas Newman was responsible for the movie's music In this section, biographical criticism is applied to explore the work through director Steven Soderbergh's life, while historical criticism is employed to understand the social and historical contexts of the film

I.1 “Erin Brockovich” and Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderberg 23 is an American director, producer, and screenwriter who was born on 14 January

1963 in Georgia, and later moved to Louisiana, where his father, Peter Soderbergh, worked Peter Soderbergh, who inspired his son to indulge in cinema, was a professor and the dean at the College of Education at Louisiana State University This is the place where Steven Soderbergh embarked on his passion for

23

Image retrieved from S.C Wilson, Steven Soderbergh, [online image], 2017,

the-Logan-Lucky-UK-premiere/836278918, (accessed 9 March 2020)

http://www.wireimage.com/celebrity-pictures/Director-Steven-Soderbergh-arriving-at-Figure 2: Steven Soderbergh

film-making when he was only 13 years old.24 At the age of 26, Soderbergh was famous for being the youngest winner ever of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film

Festival with the film Sex, lies, and videotape (1989), which is his first feature film

directorial Not only earned its director an award, but the film also marked the name of Soderbergh into the lists of the world cinema‘s golden boys.25

Soderbergh's stylistic of filmmaking diverges from the contemporary Hollywood mainstream with the combination of realism and expressive stylization of character subjectivity through several issues including violence, gambling, political repression, illegal drugs and environmental degradation As Baker (2011) believes, this type of moviemaking is a mixture of European art cinema and the Hollywood genre film.26The filmography of Soderbergh as a director is varied since the 1989 breakthrough

hit, from the classical film noir genres like Kafka (1991) and The Underneath (1995)

to the films that consist of an element of modernist discontinuity such as Out of Sight (1998) and The Limey (1999) He also tried on making films manifesting the social-problems, including Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000), and those filmed improvidently by the digital-video like Bubble (2006).27 In 2001, he received

two Oscar nominations for Best Director with the movies Erin Brockovich and Traffic,

and won the Oscar for the latter

Especially, with the legal drama Erin Brockovich, a blockbuster released on March

14, 2000, which bombed every box office and grossed $28.1 million in its opening weekend, reaching $256 million worldwide gross in total28, Soderbergh‘s credential, as well as his critical and commercial reputation, therefore, was re-enforced and

24J Wood, Steven Soderbergh (Pocket Essentials), Harpenden, Herts, Oldcastle Books,

2002, p 9

25R Marx, ‗Steven Soderbergh‘, All Movie, [website]

https://www.allmovie.com/artist/steven-soderbergh-p112040, (accessed 9 March 2020)

26A Baker, Steven Soderbergh (Contemporary Film Directors), Urbana, University of

Illinois Press, 2011, p ix

27

Baker, p 1

28

Information is retrieved from Box Office Mojo, [website],

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3612444161/, (accessed 12 March 2020)

maintained The majority of critics have positive responses towards the film, with 84% rating certified as "Fresh", on the reputable review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes29 ―Erin Brockovich is, finally, a clear example of one of Soderbergh‘s

signature authorial tendencies30‖

I.2 The stories behind the movie

Erin Brockovich is a legal drama based on the true story of a woman whose name

is Erin Brockovich, and the story of how such a woman, who did not have any formal legal education before, took a California power company to court This sub-section focuses in exploring such issues

I.2.1 Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich31, whose birth name was Erin Pattee, was born in Lawrence, Kansas, on June 22,

1960 She grew up as the youngest child of a tightknit middle-class family Her father, Frank Pattee, was an industrial engineer and a football player, while her mother, Betty Jo O'Neal, was a journalist After graduating high school in 1978, Erin briefly attended Kansas State University before transferring to Miss Wade's Fashion Merchandising College, which is now known as Wade College, in Dallas, Texas, where she graduated with an associate‘s degree in applied arts in

1980.32

29Information is retrieved from Rotten Tomatoes, [website],

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/erin_brockovich, (accessed 12 March 2020) 30

R.B Palmer and S Sanders (ed.), The Philosophy of Steven Soderbergh, Kentucky,

University Press of Kentucky, 2011, p 171

31Image retrieved from L.M Williams, Erin Brockovich, [online image], 2007,

http://www.wireimage.com/celebrity-pictures/Environmental-activist-Erin-Brockovich-attends-the-Climate-Change/73513285?r=73513313,73513285&st=Search, (accessed

14 March 2020)

32

W Reiboldt and M.H Mallers (ed.), Consumer Survival: An Encyclopedia of

Consumer Rights, Safety, and Protection, California, ABC-CLIO, 2014, p.73

Figure 3: The real Erin

Brockovich

Afterward, Erin moved to California, and later working as a management trainee at Kmart, but she quit the job in 1981 In that same year, she entered and won the Miss Pacific Coast beauty pageant She also married her first husband, Shawn Brown, in

1982, and Erin gave birth to two children, Matthew and Katie, for the next few years However, their marriage eventually fell apart, and they divorced in 1987 She re-married to Steve Brockovich in 1989, but divorced within a year, at which point Erin learned she was pregnant with her third child, Elizabeth.33

In 1992, Ed Masry, an attorney and a partner at the law firm of Masry & Vititoe, offered her a clerical job at the firm Her work on the litigation against Pacific Gas and Electric was featured through a movie of the same name of Steven Soderbergh, which was released in 2000 The film was so successful that the name of Brockovich was put

into the limelight In 2001, she published her first inspirational book Take It from Me: Life‟s a Struggle But You Can Win, and also became the host of a series called Final Justice with Erin Brockovich, as well as the ABC special show named Challenge America with Erin Brockovich Brockovich has involved in numerous cases related to

the environmental issue and continued to work as a consumer advocate and environmental activist after the famous Hinkley lawsuit34.35

I.2.2 Hinkley ground water contamination

I.2.2.1 Historical summary

The following is a brief introduction of the town of Hinkley and the Pacific Gas and Electric (―PG&E‖) Company:

- Hinkley is a small town located in the Mojave Desert, San Bernardino County, California, U.S.36

- PG&E is a utility company provided natural gas and electricity for the majority

of the households in California.37

Reiboldt and Mallers (ed.), pp.76-77

36‗Hinkley, California‘, Wikipedia, [website],

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley,_California, (accessed 16 March 2020)