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First, the men are deciding what is a black-and-white issue: innocence or guilt. Only Juror 8, played by Henry Fonda, tries to see shades of gray in the issues that arise during the trial. Fonda is dressed in white, which makes his defiant stance against the call for a guilty verdict seem even more pure, radical, and shocking. The defendant who is accused is non-white, while all of the jurors are white, and the black-and-white cinematic texture makes their whiteness seem even more starkly manifest.
The notion of blackness and whiteness would have subtly played upon the viewer's awareness of the Civil Rights movement in America, which was only just beginning to take shape, as well as the black-and-white McCarthy hearings on television. Many Americans still watched newsreels of current events in the cinema so the black-and-white...
The lack of spectacular Technicolor gives the film a tone of seriousness and a solemnity, worthy of 'real' news. The mood of the story is somber, and the viewer is meant to feel as if a man's life truly hangs in the balance.
The film is staged like a camera just happens to be lodged in the corner of the room, as if the director was filming a real-life event. There are few elaborate camera angles or sweeping panoramic shots: the viewer is made to feel as if he or she is sitting still in the hot, claustrophobic juror room as a man's fate is decided by a handful of people, who may or may not make the right decision. Although the camera is static, this quality of verisimilitude is meant to create suspense, rather than detract from the sense of foreboding.
According to the boy himself he had motivation as well as the means to kill his father. Perhaps most damning of all, the young man has no alibi. He says he was 'at the movies.' Saying he was at the movies seems like a convenient excuse, given that it is a dark place where no one is likely to have seen him. Furthermore, the defendant claims he cannot remember the
Twelve Angry Men Questions from the Film The character with the most effective critical thinking skills was Juror #8. Clearly #8 is the most thoughtful and analytical of all the jurors. He may have been the most progressive politically as well. He is hero in the movie and he may have been an open-minded person prior to the trial; that is, he may have come from a home that was not racist
Juror 7 can be classified as a salesman who simply cannot wait to be elsewhere. The eighth juror is an insightful individual, who is also patient and who constantly strives to attain the truth. Juror 9 is the eldest and is a fair individual as well. Juror 10 is much like Juror 3, in that he is opinionated, intolerant and a racist. Juror 11 is an immigrant who expresses respect for the American system
Democracy: Hughes vs. Rose We celebrate democracy in America every day. Whether we are pledging allegiance to the flag or honoring the achievements of our nation's veterans, the idea that America is the greatest country in the world is something most people do not question. However, writers such as Langston Hughes and Reginald Rose have presented challenges to the idea that democracy is something which is good in a straightforward
Psychosocial Dynamics of Twelve Angry Men Social-Psychology of Twelve Angry Men As a portrayal of a microcosm of society -- enhanced by its drill-down into the 1950s era in which the plot unfolds -- few films are as excruciatingly accurate as 12 Angry Men. The story lends itself to analysis of team dynamics and conflict resolution techniques, with the promise of extending beyond explicit attributes, such as an all-male cast, and
Angry Men The jury in Twelve Angry Men is not diverse in terms of ethnicity and gender, because it consists of twelve white males. The only diversity evident is with Juror 5, who has a social class-consciousness that is different from the other men due to his having grown up poor. This little "in" to the theme of prejudice is what helps Juror 8 eventually persuade the others that their