Reflections on the Reach of Law (and Society) Post 9/11: An American Superhero?

The film Spider-Man depicts a masked red and blue superhero struggling against the forces of evil. Based upon a forty-year-old comic of the same name, the movie has been immensely popular. In early May 2002, the first weekend Spider-Man opened, about twenty million Americans saw it, making it the first film ever to make $100 million in just three days (Lyman 2002). Within three weeks, the number of viewers had tripled. When American viewers were asked whether they would recommend the movie to a friend, 95% said yes, and 70% said they would pay to see it a second time (Stein 2002). Stan Lee, writer and co-creator of Spider-Man, proclaimed the character's "worldwide appeal" in a New York Times op-ed column. Lee writes, "Spidey's costume is completely user-friendly. Any reader, of any race, in any part of the world, can imagine himself under that costume-and fantasize that he himself is Spider-Man." (Lee 2002:A27). Hmmm. Is that right? Anthropologist Diana Fox responded to Lee's claim of universal appeal in her letter to the editor in the New York Times. Fox writes: Does this hold true for girls and women as well? Do "he" and "himself" still apply to girls and women in a postfeminist era? Is Spidey's costume gender-neutral? . . . And anywhere in the world? These days, I'm not so sure that Spidey's all-American costume would appeal to those flocking to the burgeoning number of anti-American rallies around the world protesting America's assumptions of its own "super-hero-ness." (2002:A30) Fox concludes, "[y]eah, it's just a comic, but it's the assumption of universality that often gets us into trouble" (2002:A30). In my talk today, I would like to explore that "assumption of universality" and the ways in which it can "get us into trouble." I would like to do so first in the context of our scholarly community, the Law and Society Association, in order to call attention to the particular place occupied by American sociolegal scholars. International topics in law and society and members from outside the United States are increasingly important in the Law and Society Association, but I'd like to ask, to what extent are their voices heard in our academic discourse? Similarly, with respect to this year's conference theme, "the reach of law," I would like to explore how particular features of American law are reaching worldwide. And to ask what impact they are having. What happens when legal ideas, actors, and institutions are exported without a self-conscious awareness of the distinctive context that makes them work in the United States but perhaps not abroad? My thesis is that, in both the academic study of law and society and in the reach of law worldwide, international developments offer tremendous resources and potential for improving our understanding of law and for achieving greater equality and justice but, at the same time, scholars and legal reformers from privileged positions must guard against assumptions of universality.1 The Academic Community of Law and Society I begin by reflecting on the Law and Society Association itself primarily because the organization provides a useful lens through which to explore some of these ideas. But also, I confess, because a Presidential Address represents the conclusion of an intense year of working with the Association. This has been something of an unusual year because of the planning needed for this joint meeting of the Law and Society Association and the Canadian Law and Society Association. I discuss a number of little things about the Association, rather than expounding-as most presidents do-on grand sociolegal themes. I hope, however, to spin those grander themes, web-like, out of the details. As law and society scholars, we are justifiably proud of the research we have done, the insights we have gained, and the theoretical advances in the field (even as we disagree on the merits of competing theories, methods, and epistemologies). …