Introduction
Raising
the bar was a television drama
series airing on TVB in early 2015. It belonged to a legal genre
spiced up with romantic elements between different characters. Unlike the artists
audiences used to have seen in the past dramas, Raising the Bar appointed a couple of up-and-coming actresses like
Grace Chan, Jeannie Chan, Stephanie Ho and Moon Lau being the protagonists in
the series.
The four protagonists
Content
The series began with four female fresh
law graduates who strived to pursue a career in the legal profession. Three of
them chose to be a pupil barrister while Holly Tsang, portrayed by Moon Lau,
was a trainee solicitor. Instead of showing you the glamorous side of the
profession, the series tended to reflect the daily routines of young lawyers
and the challenges they have to face every day. The cases in the series covered a variety
of matters before the court and do not shy away from sensitive topics and
tricky cases. Each character had to experience successes and failures and personal
orientation being challenged in the course of their work, highlighting the
struggle they are continually facing.
Apart from giving another angle of the
legal profession to the audiences, this series have also clarified some
misconceptions and beliefs an average citizen might have held for a long time. In the past
legal dramas like Come Home Love and Survivor’s Law, the duty of work of practicing
solicitors and barristers were always mixed together. In fact, both work for
different dimensions within the profession. A solicitor usually do not have to
go to the court to fight for any rights for their clients; their duty are
mainly focusing on contacting clients and drafting legal document while going
to court is the responsibility of a barrister. Audiences could easily recognize
the differences of their job duties and would notice they will collaborate with
one another to complete a case.
Social issues
In the
course of the broadcasting, there are some scenes that were seen as innuendoes of
some phenomena in our society. For instance, Quinton Chow (portrayed by Louis Cheung)
was once an engineer for the building department. Chow received complaints from
time to time for the bureaucracy and low efficiency of the department. This is
pretty much a reflection of our society while average citizens are not
satisfied with the services provided by the government. Moreover, there was a
growing tension between Chow and his superior. Feared Chow might take his place,
he set a trap for Chow making him to face internal investigation. This might reveal
some of the unwritten rules of the government that promotion is based on
seniority but not ability. Before the end of the series, the four protagonists
had all completed their traineeship and pupilage respectively and became
qualified lawyers. In view of the public concern about the independence and
fairness of the judiciary, there was a scene when all the characters joined
together to march to the Supreme Court to express their concern.
Reflections on our legal system
Reflections on our legal system
Before the end of the series, there was
a brief interlude between Marcus Fan and his student Dan Lee. Lee intentionally
brought a false charge on sexual harassment against Fan. At last, Fan
successfully defended his innocence since no concrete evidence have been shown.
Still, his reputation has been tarnished being a prestigious barrister in town.
From this story, we can see that our legal system can protect our freedom and
rights but can do something for our damaged reputation since gossips can be a
fearful thing even though we are innocent at the end.
Conclusion
Raising the bar is certainly
one of the best legal dramas in recent years in Hong Kong as the producer aimed
to show you the legal profession from another angle giving audiences a new light
about what a legal career would be like.
592 words
10582155/21525953
10582155/21525953
Chan Wing Yeung
Reference:
http://movie.douban.com/review/7365012/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Bar_%282015_TV_series%29
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