Behind the Screen: Visuality,Law, and New Media

The article analyzes the 2011 Supreme Court decision in which video games were granted full First Amendment protection. By comparing this case with earlier ones dealing with computer code, the article points to inconsistencies in how the courts are approaching digital media. These inconsistencies are symptomatic of a focus on the screen or the treatment of digital media as commodities. This status and the pervasive logic of commodity fetishism are what, in our current legal and economic environment, enabled the protection of games as pure speech. In actuality, the decision protected corporate rights and speech.