Movie Twelve Angry Men Essay Research Paper

Movie: Twelve Angry Men Essay, Research Paper

Movie: Twelve Angry Men

The movie Twelve Angry Men begins with an eighteen year old boy from the

ghetto who is on trial for the murder of his abusive father. A jury of twelve

men are locked in the deliberation room to decide the fate of the young boy.

All evidence is against the boy and a guilty verdict would send him to die in

the electric chair. The judge informs the jurors that they are faced with a

grave decision and that the court would not entertain any acts of mercy for the

boy if found guilty.

Even before the deliberation talks begin it is apparent most of the men are

certain the boy is guilty. However, when the initial poll is taken Juror #8

(Henry Fonda) registers a shocking not guilty vote. Immediately the room is in

uproar. The rest of the jury resents the inconvenient of his decision. After

questioning his sanity they hastily decide to humor the juror #8 (Henry Fonda)

by agreeing to discuss the trial for one hour. Eventually, as the talks proceed

juror #8 slowly undermines their confidence by saying that the murder weapon is

widely available to anyone, and that the testimony of the key witness is suspect.

Gradually they are won over by his arguments and even the most narrow minded of

his fellow jurors hesitantly agrees with him. Their verdict is now a solid not

guilty.

Arriving at a unanimous not guilty verdict does not come easily. The jury

encounters many difficulties in learning to communicate and deal with each other.

What seems to be a decisive guilty verdict as deliberations begin slowly

becomes a questionable not sure. Although the movie deals with issues relating

to the process of effective communication this paper will focus of two reasons

why they encounter difficulties and how they overcome them. First, we will apply

the Johari grid theory and see how it applies to their situation. Then, we will

see how each individual’s frame of reference and prejudices effect their

perception which cause difficulties in the communication process.

If we analyze the Johari grid of each juror we see a large hidden area in

the case of all of the men. Take into consideration, referred to by juror

numbers only they do not even have the benefit of knowing their names. These men

have never talked before. Each of them come from different situations with

individual and unique experiences. The public area consists solely of the

shared information provided during the trial. Their hidden area is immense

resulting in an equally large blind area. The public, hidden and blind areas are

relatively the same for each juror before beginning the deliberation. It is the

size of the unconscious area that will differ more among the men. We will see

how the contents of the unconscious area will largely effect the decision making

process of some of the jurors. Because the information contained in the

unconscious area is unrecognized it is often the most difficult to overcome.

Henry Fonda’s (Juror #8) interpersonal style would be classified as open-

receptive. He levels with the others by openly admitting that he does not know

if the boy killed his father and solicits feedback in order to make an accurate

decision. He says .I just don’t think we should send a boy off to die without

at least talking about it first.. The example he set encourages the others to

level and be open to receive feedback. The movie illustrates the process of

leveling and soliciting feedback which can make all the difference.

The character with the largest hidden window is the boy on trial. Realizing

this, Henry Fonda (Juror #8) tries to put himself in the boys shoes to gain a

better understanding of his situation. .The poor boy has been beaten on the head

once a day every day since he was five years old!. and .I think if I were the

boy I’d get myself a better lawyer… He didn’t stand a chance in there.. In

this case one can only speculate as to the contents of the boys hidden area.

The important factor is his desire to comprehend the boys feelings.

One man in particular, Juror #3 (Lee J. Cobb) has a sizable unconscious

area. He has a troubled relationship with his own son that preoccupies his

thoughts. This is eluded to in a conversation between juror #7 (Jack

Warden)and himself. Looking at a picture of him and his son he says .haven’t’

seen him in two years, kids, you work your heart out…. then he abruptly stops.

The broken relationship with his son preoccupies his thoughts as several times

throughout the movie he is found staring at the picture. His interpersonal style

would be classified as a blabbermouth. He is neither open or receptive. He has

his opinion and loves to share it. The net result is a large blind area. He is

unwilling or unable to level with the others and is also unreceptive to any

feedback. Most likely the extent of these feelings and t

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