12 Angry Men Interview Questions

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,

1. What type of decision was the group instructed to reach (e.g. majority, consensus, authoritarian, etc.)

It demonstrates that most people put their personal feelings when it comes to trials like these. Even though there are people that will say that they are not racist or

• What are the ways in which each major character experiences conflict (either with self, with other characters, or with the social and/or physical environment)?

In this section, you should to discuss the protagonist (main character) of your novel. In addition to telling me who the protagonist is, provide some details about the protagonist. Consider the following: human or something else, male or female, age, occupation, etc. Then identify two character or personality traits of your protagonist. Explain how you determined these using examples and details from the novel. Explain each trait in a separate paragraph. In another paragraph, explain whether your protagonist is static or dynamic. A static character does not change throughout the course of the novel. S/he is the same at the end as s/he was in the beginning. A dynamic character changes by the end of the novel. Explain how/why your character is static or dynamic.

Sorry I wasn't able to tell you where I was yesterday because I was at a jury and you know they don't let you tell anything about it to anybody. I feel like a burden has been lifted of my shoulders. We came up with the verdict after a vicious and exciting debate. Let me tell you what happened.

12 Angry Men, a 1957 film directed by Sidney Lumet, based off of a teleplay by Reginald Rose, exemplifies various forms of human communication amongst a small group of men. After the court dispute, the jury had been announced to their destination. Twelve strongly expressive men accumulate into a small group in the court where they will all come to a consensus on whether a boy is to be charged guilty or innocent. The group of twelve men that gathered into this small room, all displayed unique and strong personalities—whether it was a strong aggressive attitude, a strong devoted will, or even a strong mouse personality. Their objective was to all agree towards one single decision—guilty or innocent. If only one person decides to say

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.

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

Twelve Angry Men is a classic black and white film made in 1957, about twelve white jurors who were given the job of deciding the verdict of an eighteen year old boy who has allegedly committed murder in the first degree by killing his father. The men file into a hot room without air-conditioning, all of the jurors already presuming that the boy was guilty. All of the evidence were stacked up against the boy and there were even witnesses that said that they even saw him stabbing and killing his father. The jurors wanting to quickly get the case done with, decided to do a quick vote. Most of them decided guilty quickly as a way to get them out of the hot, stuffy, and rundown room that they were placed in.

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.

3. Which characters are in conflict? How do minor characters relate to major ones? Are they mirror images, contrasts, parallels?

If I were a juror in the case of 12 Angry Men I would be of the same mind as Henry Fonda. Henry Fonda was not like any other of the jurors in that room, he was one of the few who took the case serious. From the beginning, I would have asked for us to talk about our vote and the reason behind our vote. Instead of taking a valet immediately, like it was initially done in the movie.

Identify the dysfunctional and functional properties of the group in the film as they pertain to the problem the group is working on.

“About 8.6% of the adult population has a felony conviction”(Suede). To put so many people away, they make such an important decision they may need more information. In the book 12 Angry Men they could have come to a decision faster. In court, jurors should be allowed to ask questions because: they may need more information from witnesses, they may not understand something or they might need to question evidence.