Simpsons’ Law

Having had the pleasure of seeing The Simpsons Movie (imdb | wikipedia | and see here for a legal dispute about the domain name), I’m going to leave the reviews to the movie professionals (not perfect, but … the funniest animated film in years, writes Donald Clarke in The Ticket supplement to today’s Irish Times), and make only three quick comments from the perspectives of legal issues often raised on this blog. Warning, there are mild movie plot spoilers here.

First, copyright. When the movie reaches the tv series credit sequence, this remade sequence has Bart write on the chalkboard “I will not illegally download this movie”.

Second, privacy. There is a wonderful sequence where Marge and Lisa chat on a train and the scene cuts to an ominously huge government listening operation, where the operative listening in on their conversation celebrates wildly on having found the only useful piece of information (ever?).

Third, legal research. Last week’s “Friday Fillip” on Slaw meditated on the linkages between The Simpsons and Legal Research; and there’s more in the same vein here.

As I have often seen online: share and enjoy.