12 Angry Men Impact On Society

Marissa Dorfler S.A. Davis Management 191 September 23, 2014 12 Angry Men Decisions are made every day, however some come naturally and subconsciously to us, while others can be extremely difficult. There are constantly outside influences which effect our decision making, whether they are concerns about what others will think, or information and opinions that have been given have changed someone’s thoughts. It is difficult for people to go against the grain especially when everyone’s opinions are not what you believe. In the film 12 Angry Men, we see how people’s backgrounds and pasts influence their decision-making, when twelve Jurors are responsible for determining the future of a young man in a murder trial. Only one Juror, Juror #8,

The group initially started with a process of arriving at a decision by voting and there was a groupthink causing

It must be very disappointing to take blame for something you did not do. In the play " Twelve Angry Men " by Reginald Rose, act one, most of the jurors said their statements without enough evidence and almost sentenced the kid guilty. Later on, the jurors change their minds because of the evidence presented to them. Therefore, the author shows you should not go along with what you hear without proof.

initiator-contributor     suggests new ideas to solve group problem or new ways for the group to organize the task      Juror 8 (Henry Fonda)     Suggested that the jury deliberate for at least and hour

In the 1957 MGM film, Twelve Angry Men, a young boy from the slum is on trial for allegedly stabbing his father to death. The jury from New York City is forced to have 12 men agree as to whether the boy is guilty or not guilty. If they decide not guilty, the boy is set free; if he is found guilty, the boy will receive the death sentence. In the beginning all but one agreed the boy was guilty; Juror 8, Mr. Davis, argues that the boy deserves some deliberation. Mr. Davis changed the other eleven jurors’ minds by using his core values such as keeping an open-mind, staying humble, and believing every life is valuable.

When analyzing the film, 12 Angry Men, one will notice the reasoning is not consumed by the story, but by the characters and their involvement and interaction. In a brief summary of the film, it contains twelve jurors who are all participating in a trial. The trial is concerning a young adolescent who is being appointed for the death of his father. “Credit the power of this lucid study to the fact that the attributes, failings, passions and prejudices of these tales men is as striking and important as the awesome truth that they hold a boy's life in their hands” (Weiler). Through out the story, the juror’s personalities and qualities are shown, each having their own opinion of the plea bargain. Identified in detail through this analysis, one will be able to clearly depict the different characterization of the jurors. Along with their individual personas, all of the juryman fall under the category of either being Socratic or a sophist in Aristocratic terms. When looking at the arguments among the jurors one can see the different logical styles utilized, and which were effect versus the not effective approaches. Progressively through the movie, the argument grows and each juror becoming their own. When criticizing and evaluating the content of 12 Angry Men, the real meaning behind the story becomes apparent. The connotation of this film is studying the actions of the jurors and what each one brings the case in terms of rhetoric and Aristocratic style.

3. INTRODUCTION 12 Angry Men was broadcast in 1957, Orion-Nova production, which was written by Reginald Rose and directed by Sydney Lumet. The story line is about 12 men serving on a jury who has to decide whether to find 19 years old defendant guilty of murdering his father. A guilty verdict sends the defendant to the electric chair. The lawyer also not shows his eagerness to defend the defendant.

The film Twelve Angry Men shows many social psychology theories. This film presents some jurors who must decide if an accused murderer is guilty or innocent. In the beginning, all but one juror voted for guilty. Eventually, however, they come to a non-guilty verdict. It shows how a various group of individuals react to a situation that no one wants to be involved in. Twelve Angry Men exhibits so many examples of the true power of informational social influence and normative social influence. According to informational social influence, individuals tend to comply with others because they believe that another individuals version of a situation is more valid than their own. Normative social influence is a type of social influence that leads to conformity. This theory seems to fit in along with this movie because of the way the juror’s decisional processes went. Informational social influence is aggravated by obscurity and doubt of situation, importance of being correct, time constriction, and presence of those recognized as professionals. Just within the first few minutes of the movie, social influence is shown. In the jury room, a heated debate is prevented by an initial vote. This vote, which was taken publicly, was vulnerable to normative social influence or conformity from the fear of seeming in submissive. An obvious feeling of doubt is presented as the jurors vote. This hesitance can be perceived as weak conviction swayed by the guilty majority’s influence. Time constraints intensify informational social influence and possibly helped play a role in causing some of the jurors to cast guilty, conformist votes. Majority influence and social impact theory generate conformity. These theories are relevant in the jury context and are relevant to an explanation of Twelve Angry Men. Social impact theory specifies the situational and personal factors that bring on conformity. Conformity is enhanced by the immediacy element of social impact theory which brings to belief that without anonymity conflict is increasingly difficult. Perception of norms is apparently a factor that also brings out conformity. Stereotyping and prejudice were rampant at the time Twelve Angry Men was filmed. The director and writers cleverly

“12 Angry Men “have been written by Reginald Rose in 1954, and have been adopted for the film in 1957.

12 Angry Men was a television drama written by Reginald Rose in 1954, afterwards it was transferred into a movie which was directed by Sidney Lurmet and finally this movie won Academy Award in the year, 1957 (Evirgen, 2009). The whole drama was based on the murder trial in which 18 years old boy was taken into consideration for murdering his father. The play is about a jury in which 12 individuals from different backgrounds given the tasks to decide whether the boy is guilty or not. This play represents the perfect picture of how people who are divided into groups or teams go through different situation before reaching to the common conclusion (Hackley, 2007). With the help of this play, individuals can learn the workings conditions of the

The major issue in this case was rather or not the young man was guilty of killing his father. According to the majority of the jurors there was no doubt in their minds the prosecutor had presented a good case and the boy should be found guilty. However Juror number eight began to question some of the evidence that was presented at the trial. From the onset juror number eight stated that he wasn’t sure if the boy was guilty or innocent and would like to talk to the other members to discuss the facts.

R/s on yesterday morning, Seanasia (17) and Mekhi (11) got into a physical altercation. R/s Seanasia pushed Mekhi on the kitchen floor and throw objects on top of him. R/s Seanasia also hit Mekhi with a broom. R/s Seanasia picked Mekhi up and drugged him into the living room. R/s Corine (mom) intervene by getting between the two children and Seanasia continued to threaten that she was going to punched Mekhi in the face. R/s Corine punched Seanasia in the face and they begin to fight. R/s Seanasia was shoved out the house by her 21-year-old brother. R/s LE wasn’t called because Seanasia left the home. R/s Seanasia is moving to New York on Friday to live with her bio father.

An individual's past experiences can have an incredible impact on the way they think and behave for years to come. So, the past have a significant impact on an individual. In my own life, I have had past experiences that have affected me to be the person I am today. One example is, whenever I walked through the downtown part of Edmonton and I noticed a lot of homeless people lying around on the streets. I felt so bad for those poor people that didn’t have a place to live. They appreciate anything and everything they get. This really effects me and teaches me to be more grateful in life. And appreciate everything I have. In the play the 12 Angry Men, jurors 3, 5, and 11 prove that their experiences has affected who they are. I believe that juror 3’s family issues such as his problems with his son has affected him to become an aggressive man. Additionally, juror 5 has had a background of living in a slum all his life. Therefore, he tries to prove that not all people living in slums are criminals. Lastly, juror 11 struggles with others judging him because he is a European Refugee. This affected him by making him feel unconfident about himself and feels that the others jurors don't take his opinion too seriously.

Picking a juror to serve on a jury is equivalent to picking team mates for a football team. The team captain wants to pick the people who will be the strongest players, and will help in the victory of the game. Same goes for a jury selection, the defense and prosecution, who can be looked upon as captains, try to choose who are the strongest, and will help their team win. Each case is different, and therefore they need different types of people to take part in deciding the outcome. Jurors are chosen with the ideology that they are ideal to the case, if not chosen correctly a case could end up with a nightmare of a jury. A prosecutor that has taken a case of a murder involving a child will base their jury selection on finding parents, women, teachers, or

12 Angry Men is definitely one of the more interesting ones (not that I know any other).