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.
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Show MoreThe Monkey Trial. Directed and Produced by Stanley Kramer. A & E Special Presentation. American Experience. Class Film. HSS 100-022. Spring Semester, February 22, 2002.
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.
Leadership is strength. Though it is strength, what makes a leader? Is a leader someone who is in front of the line in the game ‘follow the leader’? Technically yes because that is their name in the game, but this essay isn’t about a game. It is about reality. Is a leader made up of a variety of skills, talents, morals, and values? Or perhaps a leader is someone who tells people what to do? Or maybe a leader is someone who can make a difference? To an extent, a leader is built up of all of those possibilities. A leader is someone with a variety of skills, talents, morals and values, and someone who knows how to make a difference, and someone who can guide people into doing what needs to happen. Leadership can’t just be broken up
In viewing 12 Angry Men, we see face to face exactly what man really is capable of being. We see different views, different opinions of men such as altruism, egoism, good and evil. It is no doubt that human beings possess either one or any of these characteristics, which make them unique. It is safe to say that our actions, beliefs, and choices separate us from animals and non-livings. The 20th century English philosopher, Martin Hollis, once said, “Free will – the ability to make decisions about how to act – is what distinguishes people from non-human animals and machines 1”. He went to describe human beings as “self conscious, rational, creative. We can fall in love, write sonnets or plan for tomorrow. We are capable of faith, hope and charity, and for that matter, of envy, hated and malice. We know truth from error, right from wrong 2.” Human nature by definition is “Characteristics or qualities that make human beings different from anything else”. With this said, the topic of human nature has been around for a very long time, it is a complex subject with no right or wrong answer. An American rabbi, Samuel Umen, gave examples of contradictions of human nature in his book, Images of Man. “He is compassionate, generous, loving and forgiving, but also cruel, vengeful, selfish and vindictive 3”. Existentialism by definition is, “The belief that existence comes before essence, that is, that who you are is only determined by you yourself, and not merely an accident of birth”. A French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, is the most famous and influential 20th - century existentialist. He summed up human nature as “existence precedes essence”. In his book, Existentialism and Human Emotions, he explained what he meant by this. “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will be something, and he himself will have made what he will be 4”. After watching 12 Angry Men, the prominent view on human nature that is best portrayed in the movie is that people are free to be whatever they want because as Sartre said, “people create themselves every moment of everyday according to the choices they make 5”.
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
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.
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.
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"
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.
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.
People who practice everyday leadership are those who do not necessarily have formal authority. A good example of unofficial leadership is the film, 12 Angry Men based on the play by Reginald Rose and directed by Sidney Lumet. 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). Juror 8 changes the opinions of all the other jurors not by asserting power but by appealing to their sense of logic and making them think beyond the black and white facts of the case. Fonda’s character encourages the others in the room to think for themselves as well rather than simply falling into
Kumar, Ravindra. Mahatma Gandhi at the Close of Twentieth Century. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 2004. Print.
Anderson, Amy. "Profiles in Greatness - Gandhi." Success 12 Feb. 2013: 1-4. Success. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
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