Foreword: Law in Living Color

When asked by the editors of the Asian Law Journal to serve as guest editors for a special symposium issue on race, law, and film, Professor Margaret Chon and I welcomed the opportunity for a number of reasons. First, the Asian Law Journal occupies a singular position among law reviews in its explicit commitment to foster scholarship focusing on the history, experiences, and concerns of Asians in the United States and intemational legal systems; it is an honor to be associated with such a critically important enterprise. Second, the specific topic of this symposium issue is unique as well; although the broader subject of law and film has been explored in recent years through the innovative work of Professor John Denvir and others,' this symposium is the first volume of essays focusing particularly on the analysis of films as a means to understand the role of race in American law. Given the burgeoning interest in interdisciplinary critiques of popular culture in contemporary explorations of race, it seems both timely and illuminating to focus the lens of scholarly analysis on the way in which popular movies depict racial themes in the law. Finally, as we consulted with the ALJ editors about the possible themes of and contributors to this project, Margaret Chon and I realized with great excitement that this collaboration presents the fortuitous opportunity for us to work with talented scholars in such fields as critical race theory, queer theory, and feminist theory-and, we hope, to bring their thought-provoking and original work to a new and broader audience of legal practitioners and laypersons, as well as legal scholars and law students. What, then, is the purpose of a symposium on the theme of race, law,