12 angry men2

A detailed Summary of 12 angry men2

1. How was leadership defined? How did it change during the course of the group's interaction?

Leader-follower relationships, in any setting, are complex and often hard to understand. In groups, large or small, the identity and make up of who becomes the leader and who becomes the follower is difficult to explain. In the case of the movie " Twelve Angry Men" a jury of twelve men serve as the small group. There is the underlying assumption the jury will judge their fellow man fairly and without any personal bias. However the imperfections of man make this process less than perfect. It is here, when emotions and logical are injected into the thought process, that conflict, doubt and questioning of motives start to occur. Only when the leader takes charge do we see his influence and power over the other members of the group start to take place and eventually shift between two individuals.

In the movie, we begin with an appointed leader, the Jury Forman taking charge. When the Forman and jurors left the courtroom they each gave a last glance to the defendant. Once in the jury room they settled into their seats and the conversation would lead one to believe there will be a unanimous vote for convictio

This group had its dysfunctional side as well. The major character displaying dysfunctional behavior was the angry father. His attitude toward the entire was based upon his failed relationship with his own son. It was as if he was deciding the fate of his own son, who he wanted to punish for hurting him. As tension mounted and the vote began to swing towards acquittal the anger. One point became so volatile when the elderly man was holding the switchblade knife in his hand, pointed at the architects heart, and it appeared he could have easily stabbed the architect.

After the vote was not unanimous for a guilty verdict, each member tried to convince the architect, the dissenting vote, as to why they feel the boy is guilty. Another vote is taken. This time it is done by secret ballot. It is here when the cohesion of the group begins to falter. Little by little as evidence is reexamined and a "reasonable doubt" is introduced the cohesion of the group begins to weaken. It first starts with reexamine the uniqueness of the switchblade knife. The testimony convinces all the jurors the weapon used was one of kind purchased at a local shop. They are shocked when the architect pulls out the same knife and sticks in the table. Using logic examination of the facts the group once set on conviction and a easy verdict is forced to rethink its initial position. It slowly ends up divided and appear to be headed for a hung jury unable to reach a unanimous decision. Then it eventually comes back together for a unanimous decision. Only this time it is opposite of its original position.

Cohesion is evident in the first scene of the movie, when the jurors cast their first vote. The foreman had asked for a show of hands for

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jury Forman, Twelve Angry, MID TERM, guilty verdict, dissenting vote, unanimous decision, architect dissenting vote, unanimous guilty verdict, architect dissenting, switchblade knife, cohesion begins, forman architect, tell you're, unanimous guilty, own son,

Approximate Word count = 1179
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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