Legal Melodramas of Injury and Gender

This paper examines personal injury litigation as melodrama. It compares the bipolar roles of melodramatic heroine and villain with those of the plaintiff and defendant in adversarial court proceedings. It draws analogies between the stereotypical feminine characteristics of the heroine and those of the plaintiff in litigation. This paper argues that although, in theory, any individual plaintiff can comply with the requirements of the legal injury narrative, in practice the characteristics of the plaintiff role are paradoxical and result in subtle discrimination against women. The legal injury narrative also replicates existing gender inequalities and power systems in Australian society.