The Faculty Lounge: Law and Film: Despicable Me

Law and Film: Despicable Me

Despicableme

… I’ve been reminded of this back-and-forth interplay between parties (the law professor and the student, or the secured party and the debtor) as my daughters have watched (over and over and over and …) one of the DVDs they received for Christmas:  Despicable Me.  In this delightful animated film, the lead character (Gru) adopts three little girls (Margo, Agnes, and Edith) to assist him in stealing a “shrink ray” gun from a competing villian.  Gru is not used to having three little girls in his house, and he quickly sets about to establish some boundaries. …

It really is quite charming.  But it also is a wonderful illustration of what can happen if a person states an overly broad position — a concern that can arise in the law school classroom, as well as during document negotiations.  For that reason, perhaps this snippet from the film merits consideration for inclusion in any “law and film” course.   

This is plainly another candidate for Ted Tjadan’s list of law-related movies of 2010! And Jordan Furlong even sees lessons for the legal profession in an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine.