12 angry men film analysis - Essay Example

12 Angry Men Order ID – 853036 Introduction The movie “12 Angry Men” (1957) by Brian Rathjen, deals with a case of capital murder involving a youth of Spanish- American dissent. The chief premise of this movie is to prove his guilt or innocence in front of a deliberating jury. This mini drama comprises of the prejudices and misconceptions of the jury in trying to arrive at the proper solution in the trial of first degree murder. The accused is a Hispanic - Latino, 18 years of age and the crime is the killing of his father by stabbing. 1. Leadership: Describe the different approaches to leadership represented on the jury. What theory or theories best explain(s) the leadership of this group? During the trial, many of the incidents pointed towards the Latino being guilty. For example, the lost knife is found at the scene of the crime, the running away of the youth from the murder spot, while some witnesses heard screaming or saw the killing. In lieu of all this evidence, eleven members of the jury vote the boy guilty, except for Mr. Davis, one of the jury members who calls for a detailed discussion before granting his vote. This deliberation by the jury becomes a sort of study of the complex personalities of the jury members. It ranges from empathetic to merciless and from prejudiced to sheer arrogance. The leadership of this group can be best explained by the ‘Situational Theory’ 2 where the leaders try to seek the right course of action according to the variables of particular situations. Based on these variables they could make use of an authoritarian or democratic style of leadership for the process of decision – making. 2. Participation: Describe the task, maintenance, and self-centered roles represented in the film. What were some of the participation problems confronted by the group? How did the group deal with these problems? The task at hand for the jury was to find out if the accused was guilty or innocent of the crime of murdering his father. The group encountered quite a number of participation problems throughout the discussion. Some of these problems included finding difficulty in controlling their own feelings and emotions, making hasty decisions without paying enough attention to details of the facts involved, forming their own opinions in the judgment of others, some of the group showed a lack of interest and just wanted to conform to a particular situation. The group resolved these problems by a wider participation by the entire group in the decision making process, leading to better solutions to the problem. For example, all the eleven jury members join together in finding the accused guilty, but one juror Mr. Davis opposes this decision and calls for further investigation in order to arrive at the correct decision. 3. Climate: Describe the communication climate throughout most of the jury’s deliberations. What specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors contributed to this climate? The Climate during the jury’s deliberations was mixed. While some of them were more vocal about their opinions, there were others who were laid back during conversations and preferred to conform to a particular side. Since each member of the jury come from different backgrounds, they have their own frustrations and prejudices 3 which may prevent them from making the right decisions due to irrational thinking. Both verbal and non- verbal group behavior contributed towards the climate of communication of the jury. For example, juror number 7 displays a lack of interest in trying to reason out and find the right solution, while a few of the members felt that jurors five and eleven did not communicate much because of the backgrounds from which they came. 4. Conflict: Provide examples of substantive, procedural, and affective conflict. What were some of the conflict styles of group members? How successfully were conflicts resolved in the group? The first primary conflict in the case was disagreement on the verdict of guilt or innocence. While 11 jurors join together with a guilty verdict, juror number 8 doubts the veracity of the case and begins questioning the authenticity of the witnesses, making the tempers of other jurors to rise. While some of the jurors seem disinterested and remain passive, others become aggressive in their arguments. Another conflicting issue during the proceedings was ethnic prejudice which serves to alter opinions, while another was engulfed with anger because he compared the strained relationship he shared with his own son and hence meted out punishment to the accused. The conflicting styles used in this case are – ‘competing’ when juror number 8 voices his opinion over the opinion of the others. In sharp contrast is the ‘accommodating’ conflict style used by the other jurors as they were trying to be diplomatic by yielding to the rest of the group. The conflict was resolved by them participating in long discussions related to the case. 4 5. Argumentation: Evaluate the jury members’ arguments. How well did the characters evaluate information? All of the jury members came from different backgrounds and each had a unique personality comprising of their own thoughts, ideas, opinions and decisions and therefore did not evaluate information of the case in the right manner. Most of their arguments were based on fallacies, prejudices and anger. For example, juror 8 based his argument on pity implying that since the defendant was too young, he could not have committed the crime. Juror 10 based his argument on the fact that since the defendant lived in the slums, he is a liar. In his argument against Juror 10, Juror 9 states that only ignorant people would believe such a thing, implying that Juror 10 was ignorant. Another poor evaluation of information was by juror number two who thought the accused to be guilty and so assumed that he was guilty. Juror number 7’s arguments too were false as he recounted the past actions of the defendant and he felt that since he had committed such actions in the past then he is guilty of his present action. Arguments of jurors 4 and 10 comprised of a genetic fallacy because they believed that since the defendant lived in a bad atmosphere as a slum, then he must be guilty, but juror 5 refuted his claim saying that he grew up in the same atmosphere but he turned out just fine. Hence, all the arguments did not serve to substantiate the case. References 12 Angry Men (1957) United Arts. MGM Company. Web, 5th, Oct. 2012. Assessed on May, 2013, from YouTube http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=12+angry+men&oq=12+Angry&gs_l=youtube Kendra Cherry, Leadership Theories – Eight Major Leadership Theories. Web, May, 2013 www.psychology.about.com/od/leadership/p/leadtheories.htm ? Read More