Evidence is the only subject taught in law schools with which every casual moviegoer has experience.
The Courtroom Drama is a film genre unto itself, like the War movie or Cop Buddy flick. Every Cop Buddy movie needs an aging partner, on the brink of retirement when he is faced with his last, life-threatening case. In War films, a profane private from the Bronx, a black soldier from Mississippi, and an innocent from the Midwest are de rigeur characters. At least one of these will theatrically expire in the arms of his new, unlikely friend, demonstrating the irony of war, which is supposed to bring men together even as it forces them to blow other men to bits. This is why, when I began law school, I would have gone to a bakery to order a tort, but I already knew that relevancy, prejudice, and privilege were elements of the law of Evidence.