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By a Thread: Civilization in Fritz Lang's Fury

By a Thread: Civilization in Fritz Lang's Fury theodore f. rippey joe: the l aw doesn't know that a lot of things that were very important to me--silly things maybe, like a belief in justice, and an idea that men were civilized, and a feeling of pride that this country of mine was different from all others--the law doesn't know that those things were burned to death within me that night. I came here today for my own sake. I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't stop thinking about them with every step and every breath I took. (Fury) Indeed, the law doesn't know. Worse yet, it does not care. Nor does it feel, think, judge, or act. An abstraction that exerts palpable influence only via its human enforcers, the law depends completely on those enforcers to connect it with the actual process of justice. Thus it cannot protect in the most concrete sense--and the realization of this cold, hard fact adds a note of terror to Joe Wilson's anger as he makes his courtroom speech at the close of Fritz Lang's first American film. To the eyes and ears of that court, Joe (Spencer Tracy) is an uncanny apparition, an apparent returnee from the grave. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Film and Video University of Illinois Press

By a Thread: Civilization in Fritz Lang's Fury

Rippey, Theodore F.
Journal of Film and Video , Volume 60 (3-4) – Oct 3, 2008
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Publisher
University of Illinois Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
ISSN
1934-6018
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Abstract

theodore f. rippey joe: the l aw doesn't know that a lot of things that were very important to me--silly things maybe, like a belief in justice, and an idea that men were civilized, and a feeling of pride that this country of mine was different from all others--the law doesn't know that those things were burned to death within me that night. I came here today for my own sake. I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't stop thinking about them with every step and every breath I took. (Fury) Indeed, the law doesn't know. Worse yet, it does not care. Nor does it feel, think, judge, or act. An abstraction that exerts palpable influence only via its human enforcers, the law depends completely on those enforcers to connect it with the actual process of justice. Thus it cannot protect in the most concrete sense--and the realization of this cold, hard fact adds a note of terror to Joe Wilson's anger as he makes his courtroom speech at the close of Fritz Lang's first American film. To the eyes and ears of that court, Joe (Spencer Tracy) is an uncanny apparition, an apparent returnee from the grave.

Journal

Journal of Film and Video – University of Illinois Press

Published: Oct 3, 2008

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