A Storied Shooting
Liberty Valance and the Paradox of Sovereignty
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6352406 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joshua Foa Dienstag (0000-0003-0315-688X, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 290-318 |
| Publication date | 2012-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0090591712439303 |
| OpenAlex | W2046943290 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
A variety of theorists have emphasized the paradox at the center of democratic legal authority, viz., that it cannot be self-derived but must ultimately rest on some extra-legal phenomenon, usually an act of exclusion. John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance examines precisely this paradoxical situation and, I argue, actually suggests a novel response that has escaped theorists who have considered the problem in the past. The film’s best-known line (“print the legend”) in fact represents the opposite of its perspective—which is to carefully deconstruct and reveal (without debunking) the complicated interrelation of law and power in the formation of any state. Rather than undermining democratic authority, we can be strengthened, if sobered, by the revelation that law is not self-sustaining. By setting the facts alongside the legend, the film perpetuates the fortuitous moment of state formation. What constitutes the state, then, is neither law nor power, but rather the matrix of representation that creates the relationship between them—here a film, but perhaps, more generally, a sustaining narrative
Democracy · Epistemology · Legend · Legitimacy · Narrative · Phenomenon · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · History · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,7 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2026 (11) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |