Once planted in the minds of individuals, ideas have a remarkable ability to grow with the strength and speed of the most powerful pathogens – possessing equal communicability as they spread to proximal centers of consciousness. How can this characteristic of ideas be utilized to benefit society? In the film Twelve Angry Men, we see a situation where Juror Eight – equipped with all the autonomy and wisdom of an ideal leader – appeals to logos in an attempt to promote the consideration of an idea, which he has planted in the minds of an otherwise unanimous jury; this idea being the mere possibility of innocence in the conviction of a boy charged with patricide. Ideally, leaders will possess an ability to transcend the allure of groupthink so prevalent in collective decision-making. However, when not coupled by the proper corresponding actions, such transcendental thoughts never become bigger than the brain-cells that they occupy. As Juror Eight leads his associates to consider the uncertainty of the case, we see an important skill in leadership: the ability to recognize disparity in individual cognition. Juror Eight appeals to this variance in thought patterns by guiding his peers through a journey of personal evaluation – allowing them to reach conclusions on their own, rather than explicitly dropping their minds into the terminal of his own logic. Few situations exist that can strip a person of their ability to influence their world as much as social desolation. In the words of Rudyard Kipling, “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too h... ... middle of paper ... ... Men illustrates the principle that true leadership is not derived from power, but is a characteristic seen in individuals who possess an ability to pragmatically gain genuine support from their peers. Works Cited Fonda, Henry, perf. 12 Angry Men. Screenplay by Reginald Rose. Dir. Sidney Lumet. Prod. Reginald Rose and Henry Fonda. United Artists, 1957. Film. Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand. Young India, Volume 9. N.p.: Navajivan Publishing House, 1927. Print. Vol. 9 of Young India. Interview by Arthur Gordon and Rudyard Kipling. June 1935. Rafter, Nicole. "American Criminal Trial Films: An Overview of Their Development, 1930-2000." Journal of Law and Society 28.1 (2001): 9-24. JSTOR. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. Weiler, A. H. "Screen: '12 Angry Men'; Jury Room Drama Has Debut at Capitol." The New York Times. New York Times Company, 15 Apr. 1957. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Twelve Angry Men, is a play written by Reginald Rose. The play is about the process of individuals and a court case, which is determining the fate of a teenager. It presents the themes of justice, independence and ignorance. Rose emphasises these three themes through the characters and the dialogue. Justice is the principle of moral rightness or equity. This is shown through juror number eight who isn’t sure whether or not the boy is actually innocent or guilty, but he persists to ask questions and convinces the other jurors to think about the facts first. Independence is shown through both juror number three and ten. They both believe that the defendant is guilty until they both realise that they can not relate there past experiences with the court case. Ignorance is shown throughout all the jurors during the play, it is also brought out through the setting of the play.
12 Angry Men is about 12 men who are the jury for an 18 year old accused of murder. The judge states in the opening scene that it is a premeditated murder in the 1st degree, if found guilty will automatically receive the death penalty. The 18 year old male is accused of killing his father with a “one of a kind” switch blade, in their home. The prosecutors have several eye witness testimonies, and all of the evidence that they could need to convict the 18 year old male. In the movie it takes place on the hottest day of the year in New York City. There are 12 jurors whom are to decide if the evidence is enough to convict the teen of murder in the first degree. In the first initial vote it is 11-1. The only way that the jurors could turn in their votes was if there was unanimous vote either guilty or not guilty among the 12 jurors. As the movie progressed the jurors ended up changing their minds as new evidence was brought to their attention by simple facts that were overlooked by the police and prosecutors in the initial investigation. Tempers were raised, and words flew, there was prejudice and laziness of a few of the jurors that affected the amount of time it took to go over all of the eye witness testimonies and evidence. The eye witness testimonies ended up being proven wrong and some of the evidence was thrown out because it was put there under false pretense.
During the course of our class we have encountered plenty of important topics and vital information that is essential to the field of the Criminal Justice system. Such as; Crime and justice including laws, Victimization and Criminal behavior, Laws, Police officers and Law enforcement and the criminal justice system in itself. These topics are daily situations yet individuals are oblivious to what's going on and that in it can be a major problem to the community. On that note this paper will express the ignorance and selfish values of twelve individuals by fully explaining the movie "Twelve Angry Men"
The movie “12 Angry Men” examines the dynamics at play in a United States jury room in the 1950’s. It revolves around the opinions and mindsets of twelve diverse characters that are tasked with pronouncing the guilt or innocence of a young man accused of patricide. The extraordinary element is that their finding will determine his life or death. This play was made into a movie in 1957, produced by Henry Fonda who played the lead role, Juror #8, and Reginald Rose who wrote the original screenplay. This essay will explore some of the critical thinking elements found within the context of this movie, and will show that rational reason and logic when used effectively can overcome the mostly ineffective rush to judgment that can be prevalent in a population. The juror that seemed interesting is Juror #8, who was played by Henry Fonda. Juror #8, or Davis, is an architect, the first dissenter and protagonist in the film. He was the first one to declare that the young man was innocent and he managed to convince the other jurors to see his point of view. Durkheim states that when we respond to deviance, it brings people together (Macionis, 2013, p. 159). We affirm the moral ties that bind us together, which was seen in the movie. At first, almost all of the jurors were so bent on convicting the young man based on their feelings, but they then started to analyze the facts and they came together to make their final decision.
The Monkey Trial. Directed and Produced by Stanley Kramer. A & E Special Presentation. American Experience. Class Film. HSS 100-022. Spring Semester, February 22, 2002.
Legal dramas provide audiences the opportunity to enter the world of the courtroom in addition to dramatized emotions as reflected by the characters (typically the lawyer and juries) of the film. The Post-Classical era film 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957) and the Post-Modernist film A Time to Kill (Joel Schumacher, 1996) consist of a goal-driven protagonist finding the truth and meaning in societal paradoxes while overcoming strong adversity. However, the legal drama genre shift between the Post-Classical and Post-Modernist eras (as seen in the two films) from a character-driven genre to an expository-character genre is attributed to the paranoia brought on by forces such as McCarthyism in the 1950’s and America’s internal conflicts and mistrust of the government in the 1990’s.
Have you ever been isolated? In the novel Lord of the Flies and the short story “I Only Came to Use the Phone” people have been put into extreme isolation. This is mostly shown through the characters of Jack from Lord of the Flies and Maria from “I Only Came to Use the Phone”. The authors’ purpose for doing this is to show people’s true nature when they are isolated from society. As shown in both texts, extreme isolation from society has a strong influence on human nature.
The movie 12 Angry Men depicts the story of 12 men serving on a jury who must determine the destiny of a young man charged with murdering his father (Lidz, 1995). This study represents the analysis of 12 Angry Men movie by applying Tuckman's Stages, to determine if these men acted as a group or a team, as well as analyze the dynamics of this group of men as they weighed the confirmation, demonstration, and personal agendas.
In 12 Angry Men, the main theme deals with justice and prejudice as well. In the beginning of the book we learn that a young man was accused for the first degree murder of his father and that the fate of his life was in the jurors hands. Throughout the play, there are two clashing views of justice from Juror number 8 and the rest of the jury, as they eventually come together, we see a perspective of justice that is in favor of the accused boy and that wants him to have a fair trial. “...Look, this boy's been kicked around all his life. You know - living in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. He spent a year and a half in an orphanage while his father served a jail term for forgery. That's not a very good head start. He had a pretty terrible sixteen years. I think maybe we owe him
12 Angry men is about a group of men who are appointed as jury’s. They are put in a room until they could come up with a conclusion, on whether the boy who was convicted of murder is guilty or not.
1. In this film, where 11 out of total 12 jury members voted accused as guilty and eager to leave the room at the earliest. Some of the jury members were so rigid to even re-think over their decision without even realising that this can take up the accused life. In such a situation group members become so confident and failed to think realistically than the phenomenon of ‘GroupThink’ occurs.
During the movie “Twelve Angry Men” they use many leadership skills to persuade each other to vote guilty or not guilty to reach a verdict. A few of the skills are pressure, rational persuasion, and personal appeal. After reflecting on all of these leadership skills, I have learned anyone can lead any group of people with different personalities, and a good leader not only cares on a personal level but also uses the personal appeal style of leadership. The jurors I chose to write about are juror numbers three, five, eight, and ten.
In the film juror 8, played by Henry Fonda, does not have any official authority beyond that of the other 11 jurors. However, without any positional power, Juror 8 is able to persuade the others to switch their votes from guilty to not guilty (12 Angry Men). John K. Clemens, professor and author on leadership observes, “What’s tricky about persuasion is discerning the difference between getting others to think as you do, an obnoxious and risky use of power, and getting others to investigate themselves to discover common truths and facts – truths that transcend preference, prejudice, fear, and competitive jockeying. The courtroom drama [in 12 Angry Men], as a result, is usually a loud wakeup call” (Lee).
overarching ideas, the ideas that leaders are people who use their own skills to help others
Nehru, Jawaharlal. “Speech at Congress Party” 1936. Independence of India and Pakistan. Chicago: World Book, 2010