Penguins and Polygamy: The Essence of Marriage in Canadian Family Law - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 31
About This Presentation
Title:

Penguins and Polygamy: The Essence of Marriage in Canadian Family Law

Description:

1. So how can I look to a popular American film, made in France, for truths ... cold temperatures, in brittle, icy winds and through deep, treacherous waters. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:308
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 32
Provided by: gillian47
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Penguins and Polygamy: The Essence of Marriage in Canadian Family Law


1
Penguins and PolygamyThe Essence of Marriage in
Canadian Family Law
  • Gillian Calder
  • University of Victoria, Faculty of Law
  • November 17, 2006
  • Feminism and Law Workshop
  • Diversity Seminar
  • University of Toronto

2
(No Transcript)
3
Agenda
  • 1. So how can I look to a popular American film,
    made in France, for truths about marriage in
    Canada?
  • a. Define my terms
  • b. Film and Law as an Interdiscipline
  • c. What We Do When We Do Law and Film?
  • d. Documentary Film
  • e. Two Discourses
  • 2. March of the Penguins
  • a. The story of the film
  • b. Film Clip
  • c. The Critics
  • d. Ornithology
  • 3. The Essence of Marriage Do the Penguins Have
    it Right?
  • a. What is the essence of marriage?
  • b. Same-sex marriage
  • c. Polygamy
  • d. Monogamy

4
Phoebes wedding
  • Phoebe When I was growing up, I didn't have a
    normal mom and dad, or a regular family like
    everybody else, and I always knew that something
    was missing. But now I'm standing here today,
    knowing that I have everything I'm ever gonna
    need... You are my family.

5
Mirandas Wedding
  • Charlotte Now go back to your people and we'll
    talk about this later.
  • Miranda You are my people and well talk about
    it now.

6
(No Transcript)
7
Critics
  • seized upon by the American religious right as
    a parable about monogamy and creationism
  • Jack Malvern, Times on Line

8
  • you have to check out March of the Penguins.
    It is an amazing movie. And I have to say,
    penguins are the really ideal example of
    monogamy. These things the dedication of these
    birds is just amazing
  • Rich Lowry, National Review

9
  • it is hard not to see the theological
    overtones in the movie beauty, goodness, love
    and devotion are all part of nature, built into
    the DNA of the universe. Even in the harshest
    place on the Earth, love will not only endure it
    will triumph
  • Maggie Gallagher, AIMPP

10
Why look to a popular American film, made in
France for truths about Canadian marriage?
11
2001 Census
  • Married or common-law couples with children
    aged 24 and under living at home represented
    only 44 of all families in Canada

12
  • what is a feminist legal methodology?
  • law-and-film as an emerging interdiscipline

13
  • illustrate the tenuousness of laws claim to
    privileged access to truth, the troubled
    relationship between narrative and truth, and
    even the limits of language itself
  • Johnson and Buchanan (2001) at 91

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
  • documentary films and claims of objectivity
  • law and film as meaning-making discourses

17
  • film and law suggest that we may participate in
    maintaining current visions of deviance and
    normalcy through the simple act of neglecting to
    critically examine our assumptions about the
    family
  • Rebecca Johnson (2000) at 175

18
(No Transcript)
19
A story about love
  • In the Antarctic, every March since the
    beginning of time, the quest begins to find the
    perfect mate and start a family. This courtship
    will begin with a long journey - a journey that
    will take them hundreds of miles across the
    continent by foot, in freezing cold temperatures,
    in brittle, icy winds and through deep,
    treacherous waters. They will risk starvation and
    attack by dangerous predators, under the harshest
    conditions on earth, all to find true love.

20
Anthropomorphism
  • try going to a documentary film and accept its
    touching depiction of the natural world for what
    it is. And marvel at the beautiful, confounding
    mystery of it all. Not everything is political.
    And not everything is about us
  • Andrew Sullivan, Times on Line

21
Ornothology
  • Bried, Jiguet and Jouventin study, September 1990
    March 1994
  • monogamy predominant mating system for long-lived
    birds
  • Emperor penguins, low mate fidelity between years
    (15)
  • lack of a nest
  • fat reserves

22
The Essence of Marriage?
  • I conceive that marriage, as understood in
    Christendom, may for this purpose be defined as
    the voluntary union for life of one man and one
    woman, to the exclusion of all others.
  • Hyde v. Hyde and Woodmansee, (1866),
  • L.R. 1 P D. 130 (H.L.) at 133

23
  • I conceive that marriage, as understood in
    Christendom, may for this purpose be defined as
    the voluntary union for life of two persons one
    man and one woman , to the exclusion of all
    others.

24
Same-sex marriage
  • Civil Marriage Act, S.C. 2005, c. 33.
  • 2. Marriage, for civil purposes, is the lawful
    union of two persons to the exclusion of all
    others.

25
PolygamyCriminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, s.
293
  • 293. (1) Every one who
  • (a) practises or enters into or in any manner
    agrees or consents to practise or enter into (i)
    any form of polygamy, or (ii) any kind of
    conjugal union with more than one person at the
    same time, whether or not it is by law recognized
    as a binding form of marriage, or
  • (b) celebrates, assists or is a party to a rite,
    ceremony, contract or consent that purports to
    sanction a relationship mentioned in subparagraph
    (a)(i) or (ii),
  • is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to
    imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

26
Monogamy
  • like an unmannerly wedding guest this
    article invites the reader to pause amidst the
    whirlwind of marriage talk and to think
    critically about monogamy and its alternatives
  • Elizabeth Emens (2004) at 278

27
Conclusion
  • What can we learn from the Emperor Penguins and
    their movie story?

28
(No Transcript)
29

30
(No Transcript)
31
  • Thank you.
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com