ABSTRACT
This chapter will argue that the approach taken by law schools to scholarship that treats law and popular culture as its focus is a good indicator of whether or not the intellectual vibrancy that currently characterizes both research and teaching in United Kingdom university law schools will continue. Using the example of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (hereinafter BtVS), this chapter illustrates some of the ways in which popular culture can be both a stimulating site for research and, at the same time, provide a fruitful resource for learning and teaching in the law school. Despite this potentiality inherent in the study of popular culture, the chapter suggests that some of the dynamics within the politics of university legal education may inhibit the development of work on law and popular culture, resulting in the area receiving less attention than it deserves. This chapter contends that such an outcome would not only impoverish law schools but also constitute an infringement on academic freedom since it would result from an attempt to circumscribe the research paths, teaching objectives or methods that have been chosen by individual academics. Given the likely value of popular culture to the law school and given the fact that the existence of academic freedom in both research and teaching is one of the defining features of a university law school, how law schools meet the challenges set by the study of law and popular culture is indicative of the intellectual and professional state of health of those law schools.
