...12 Angry Men Submitted by: Pam McDonald E-mail: Pam_McDonald@nifc.blm.gov Phone: 208-387-5318 Audience Rating: Not Rated Released: 1957 Studio: United Artists/MGM Genre: Drama Runtime: 95 minutes Materials: VCR or DVD, television or projection system, Wildland Fire Leadership Values and Principles handouts (single-sided), notepad, writing utensil Objective: Students will identify Wildland Fire Leadership Values and Principles illustrated within 12 Angry Men and discuss leadership lessons learned with group members or mentors. Basic Plot: The jury of twelve 'angry men,' entrusted with the power to send an uneducated, teenaged Puerto Rican, tenement-dwelling boy to the electric chair for killing his father with a switchblade knife, are literally locked into a small, claustrophobic rectangular room on a stifling hot summer day until they come up with a unanimous decision - either guilty or not guilty. The compelling, provocative film examines the twelve men's deep-seated personal prejudices, perceptual biases and weaknesses, indifference, anger, personalities, unreliable judgments, cultural differences, ignorance and fears, that threaten to taint their decision-making abilities, cause them to ignore the real issues in the case, and potentially lead them to a miscarriage of justice. (http://www.filmsite.org/twelve.html) Cast of Main Characters: Martin Balsam Juror 1 (Foreman; coach) John Fiedler Juror 2 (Bank clerk; inexperienced...
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...12 Angry Men Film Analysis 25 October 2010 Film Analysis The film, 12 Angry Men (1957), is a drama about a jury that was to decide the fate of a teenaged boy who was facing the electric chair for supposedly killing his father with a switchblade knife. The twelve men were locked into a small, claustrophobic jury room on an unbearably hot summer day until they came up with a unanimous decision - either guilty or not guilty. Over the course of the film the votes went from eleven guilty and one not, to a unanimous vote of ‘not guilty’. The movie provides many examples of persuasive speaking, group communication and conflict, and different communication climates. In the movie Henry Fonda’s character made good use of his persuasive speaking skills. He personally had nothing to gain from either verdict, but found the ease with which the others were willing to sentence a young man to death disconcerting. He was firm, but not confrontational when he gave his reasons for voting not guilty. He simply said that he was not convinced ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ that the boy had committed the crime and asked that they review the evidence. With each piece of cosmetically ‘concrete’ evidence he discredited, he slowly placed doubt within the minds of his fellow jurors. He never out-right said he thought that the defendant was innocent, only that he believed there to be some doubt as to the certainty of his guilt. “It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this...
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...A View of 12 Angry Men The movie 12 Angry Men is a snapshot of many of the changes going on in 1950’s- 60’s America. The movie begins by introducing the viewer to a, seemingly, open and shut case about a teenager from the slums murdering his father. It is revealed to us that it is the job of the twelve jurors who have heard the case to deliberate over all the evidence and return a, unanimous verdict to present to the judge. We quickly find out that all of the “evidence,” heard in the courtroom seems to be pointing squarely at the boy being guilty; and most of the jurors are happy to take the evidence at first glance clearly indicating the boy as the murderer. However it is when juror #8 protests: “that the jury should at least review the evidence,” before, for all intents and purposes, the boy is sentenced to the death penalty, when the men begin to be overcome by their prejudice towards the boy and his lifestyle. While the “villains,” such as juror 3 and juror 10,are quite obviously overwhelmed by their own strong feelings of prejudice; for many of the men it is a general prejudice toward the American Justice System which serves to blind them from the truth. They are supremely confident in the system working correctly every time, that they miss obvious mistakes and loose ends going on throughout the trial. With a few exceptions, it is the faith in the American System which contribute the original overwhelming feeling of prejudice in the room, all causing...
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...communication drives a conversation further than the more obvious verbal communication we consciously use every day. I will analyze a specific scene in the movie, 12 Angry Men, where the jurors are in the middle of determining a verdict on a murder case, and in the scene I am focusing on, I will discuss how the jurors use the subtle—and in this case, the not-so-subtle-- tactic of nonverbal communication...
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...12 Angry Men I saw a lot of different peer pressure in the movie 12 Angry Men. Modaff describes how powerful peer pressure can be stating that “by violating team norms or exhibiting elements of dis-identification a team member risks punishment by the team” (p. 245 Modaff) One individual was able to avoid group think. One way this individual was able to get the group to quit this practice of group think was to keep communicating communication also known as “metacommunication” (p. 235 Modaff) Another individual was a facilitator or moderator who kept structure with the group after establishing “norms (informal rules that teams establish to govern their activities and behaviors)”. Modaff talks about how “teams need to agree on how they will operate.” (p. 241 Modaff) Is there an unspoken understanding that changing your mind is bad or says something negative about you? This is shown in the movie because every time someone changed their mind, it took more energy to get this out than from someone that didn’t change their mind. Emotions are a big part of the decisions that people made. People are emotional and this is used to help communicate to other people. Emotions, if not controlled, can alter our ability to think rationally. Another thing that will cause people from thinking rationally is prejudice. It will blind people from seeing the truth. Other things that must be considered is conflicts of interest or motives. Some of these that I noticed from the movie...
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...12 Angry Men (1957) Favourite Role: My favourite casts in 12 Angry Men was Juror 8, who was played by Henry Fonda. He is one brave juror who voted 'not guilty' at the start of the deliberations because of his reasonable doubt. His role was firm and persuasive, he forces the other men to slowly reconsider and review the shaky murder case and eyewitness testimony against the endangered defendant. Favourite Scene: My favourite scene was when Juror 4 do not believe the boy’s alibi that he was at the movies while the murder was taking place as the boy could not remember the title of the movie and the actors in it. Then, Juror 8 stated that it was due to the boy being devastated that the father was murdered that caused him to forget. Next, Juror 8 did a test on Juror 4 on the events that happened on previous days and he had difficulty doing so. Juror 8 then said that Juror 4 had no reason to face difficulty as he had not been under stress unlike the boy. Typical scene: The typical scene that got me engaged was the debate and the sharing of thoughts and opinion of the information. The Juror made the audience felt intense when they were arguing over the evidence and them displaying their thoughts is what makes it interesting. Typical character: I felt that the casts were able to portray their own personalities which allowed the audience to have their own judgment based on their characters. In the film, we can see that; Juror 4 who is disrespectful, stubborn and...
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...Issues 12 Angry Men (original title: 12 Angry Men) is an American film from 1957, written by Reginald Rose. The film received three Academy Award nominations, best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay. It is an excellent example of 1950s social awareness and preparation of the common people in everyday situations. The film is thus a purely naturalistic wonders where all the action happens in real time, except for the film's beginning and end, in one place. Historically, we can look at the film in the context of the year of publication, 1957. USA was at this time in a political transition period. The civil rights movement was already well underway with the judgment of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and the bus boycott in Montgomery in 1956. Many of the film's themes is about racial and social inequalities which characterize this era in American history. The film is critical of society and provokes important social issues in the course of action. Examples are "class differences", "justice", "doubt", "one-to-many" and "the relationship between father and son." Together these stresses, a specific, comprehensive theme through action races, namely the "prejudice". Jury members' prejudices and personal insights against the accused, the trial and to one another is driving both the problem and the resolution of the action. The problem is thus as follows: How are the jury members' judgment influenced by prejudice? Action Report It is late summer...
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...which illustrate jury trial system in the US, is Twelve Angry Men (1957). American Film Institute revealed that the movie was the second best film in the Court Drama genre (AFL’s 10 Top 10). Exploration of this film, when jury trial does not happen in Islamic Court, deeply influenced the concepts such as the true judgment and justice in my mind as a Muslim. This paper is aimed to discuss and analysis several instances of defiance behaviors, which are displayed in the movie. It also considers strategies groups utilize to extinguish defiance in each instances of defiance. The first scene; all jurors sat around the table exception for the foreman who concerned to keep formal procedure in the group. He mentioned if all jurors get a unanimous verdict, the defendant would charge mandatory death sentence. He started to count the votes “guilty”, while jurors were raising their hands. Juror number 1, 3, 4, 7, 10 and 12 quickly put up their hands but jurors 2, 5, 6, 11 and 9 raised with slightly pause. Juror number 8 was the only person who believed the boy is not guilty and he had not been conceived to put someone into a death sentence:”It's not easy to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first...We're talking about somebody's life here. We cannot decide in five minutes.” Certainly, it would be hard to become alone against the group. The juror number 8 is the first defiant in the movie that tries to convince others for finding reasonable doubt...
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...The movie 12 angry men is based in a juror room ready to convict a boy of murder. The film displays conflict and ways to negotiate to turn people or see the other side of the picture. Goes along with real life situations where there are people that hold certain biases and this movie displays them well. One of the biases is confirmation bias, which restricts new information. This Bias is seem early in the beginning of the film. For example when Mr. Fonda introduced the notion of the murder knife not being as rare as the prosecutor showed. One of the juror's rejected the new information because of the boy's background, and the area he lived. The other juror had relationship problems with his son so he rejected any new data that made the convicted boy seem innocent. Both these jurors hold on to their belief even when relevant data emerged to challenge their view, the defense mechanism that arose was anger towards the others. The jurors also display the bias of small data, which they rely on small amount of information to make a decision. Which throughout the film, Mr. Fonda makes each of them realize that there is more to the other side of the story. And makes it relatively available. For example, if one reviews the testimony information, one realizes that its accuracy is significantly lowered. Like the testimony of the woman who herd and saw the boy stab his father, when Fonda reenact the scene there was large holes that could be turned in favor of the boy. Although, Fonda and...
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...12 Angry Men-Influencing Other Group Members This movie was great to see again and to experience all the different dynamics that were occurring amongst the 12 jurors. The time frame in which this movie takes place is not too different than what we experience today in our judicial system. The major differences today would be we do not discriminate based upon age, race or gender. All three of these factors would influence how the jurors would interact with one another and would eventually have a major impact on the final verdict. Juror 8 was so successful in convincing the other 11 jurors for two simple facts. He demonstrated assertiveness and use of reason. While his peers and the foreman fell into a group think mentality from the outset of the movie. Once the 12 jurors are escorted to the deliberation room and checked in the forming of the group commenced. When the bailiff locks the door all the jurors minus number 8 are surprised. The mood of the room turns from relief to despair. Juror 8 does not say a thing nor does he turn away from the window he is looking out of. The foreman at this time tries to call all the jurors to the table and start the deliberation process. The foreman starts out by instructing the group to perform a blind vote on the case. The foreman starts out by trying to have the total buy in from the group and does not create any type of rules or guidelines he wishes to place on the deliberation process. By doing this the foreman is playing...
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...The movie “Twelve Angry Men” is about twelve male jurors, brought together in a deliberation room to decide whether a boy is guilty of killing his father. The deliberation starts with an 11-1 vote for guilty. As the movie progresses, the one man who had a reasonable doubt about the guilt or innocent of the young boy, convinces the other members of the jury to question the facts presented. This paper examines the application of leadership concepts in the characters of each juror. Throughout the movie several leaders evolved, the main one being Juror #8, the man who stood alone from the get go with a not-guilty verdict. There may be varying perspectives on the theories of leadership evident in the movie, but the underlying principle is the same: A leader is someone who moves a group of people toward a common goal by means of social influence. Henry Fonda (Juror #8) illustrates important principles of leadership and influence in which the right person can lead group members to achieve a common goal, yet go through positive individual changes. Leaders are defined by two separate characteristics; those who are appointed as the leader and those with no special title that emerge as influential. According to Peter G. Northouse in his book, Leadership: Theory and Practice”, leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. It also states that “Influence is the sine qua non of leadership; without influence, leadership does not...
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...12 Angry Men – Case Review During this movie, Fonda had three different styles of conflict, based on which situation he was in. In critical situations, he was competing with others to give the kid another chance before saying “guilty”. Also, sometimes he was collaborating: when he was talking with someone to win him to his side, he used to search for mutual beneficial outcome. Finally, the most used style was compromising. You see it clearly when Fonda tried to give some points to the opponent by saying: let’s assume that your point is valid, and then they build on this point. Fonda was so persuasive! He clarified that he is not trying to change anyone’s mind. However, he presented himself as an open-minded person who seeks truth and justice. He honestly tried to understand others’ point of view, and never accept any piece of information as a given fact. Rather, he used to test each piece of information and showed clearly that they must be very careful before sending somebody to death. Moreover, Fonda gambled to establish credibility until he found the first person to believe in him. Another reason for Fonda’s success is his avoidance of common mistakes. He never tried to make his case with an up-front, hard sell. However, he was asking about “reasonable doubt”. Also, he did not resist compromising, especially when it was necessary to move to the next point. In addition, he did not overestimate his ability in presenting great argument. Rather, he used to...
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...storyline The internship is about two middle-aged men who have been sales reps for most of their lives. When giving a sales pitch which had the potential to result in great fortunes, the two men, Nick and Billy, find out that their company is closing down. Nick and Billy have been selling various products for this company by travelling and personally interacting with their customers. Due to the progression and advancement of technology, the items Nick and Billy were selling have become redundant. Unemployed and out of options, Billy goes online to find a job in sales where he...
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...Twelve Angry Men: Justice is Served Twelve Angry Men takes you into a day in the lives of twelve jurors in a New York City courthouse. In the hands of the jurors lies the fate of a young man accused of stabbing his father. Throughout the film, the audience becomes familiar with each of the jurors and is quickly introduced to topics at issue such as discrimination, iniquitous motives, and concerns about the American judicial system. As the twelve jurors deliberate to reach a verdict, the film epitomizes the validation and condemnation of the American justice system. There are many responsibilities of a jury: to achieve fair and impartial decision, determine guilt or not guilt, give people voice in the government, and to protect the rights of the accused. In other words, the main point of the jury system is not to provide innocence but eradicating or sustaining reasonable doubt. The presumption of innocence is a key theme in the narrative that reflects one of the distinct characteristics of the American justice system. As much as this film is about lessons of discrimination, fate, and impartiality, it is also a lesson of the American justice system. Although this film demonstrates many imperfections in the court system, as imperfect human beings, perhaps it is necessary that justice call upon such a system. As shown in Twelve Angry Men, the American justice system, although seemingly flawed, works for us imperfect human beings Aside from the opening courtroom scene where...
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...The Assignment BUS 520 Meaning of action: semantic vs pragmatic. The importance of language : How we speak about action; what are the specific circumstances between actors. Language creates new meanings. New linguistic meanings create new possibilities and social realities. And language and action inform each other. Example: the statement “Jump from the window!” can mean many things. The statement can be “reinterpreted in many ways” and “different kinds of actions” are compatible/triggered by that statement, other than the literal interpretation and action that reflects the literal meaning. Semantics views action as propositional sentences. Seen as statements that someone makes to someone about something; they refer to events in the world (mere descriptions of things). Theory of action: from what? To Why? To who? (the agent). Focusing too much on What? and Why? and losing track of Who? (The who? Is ultimately needed for understand action from an ethical perspective.) We need to understand action related to an agent (not just a logical agent but a self). Attribution (of predicates) to a logical subject is not the same as: Ascription to a self where the agent can self-designate himself in the action he performed (or better yet, that he has not yet performed). Imputation (of moral value to an action) is an improvement over attribution but it is not enough. We must distinguish between event vs. action, knowing how vs. knowing that. Action can...
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