Twelve Angry Men

613 Words3 Pages
Twelve Angry Men is a film that chronicles the deliberation process of a jury in the decision of a murder case. The jury, while comprised of twelve men, depicts men from all walks of life—from a seemingly affluent architect to a man who has lived in slums all his life. As such, the issue of diversity seems to be the driving source behind the conflict of the film. In the beginning of the film, Mr. Davis (Henry Fonda, Juror #8) finds himself the sole juror who believes the accused is possibly wrongly accused of the crime. All other eleven men are certain that the boy is guilty. However, Davis smartly utilizes some key tools to move his cause forward. Some of the other men are outraged that Davis could even fathom that the boy is innocent and promptly lash out towards him. Davis, instead of retaliating in kind, uses polite and friendly talk to express his concerns. In fact, throughout the entire film, it is probably Davis’s amicable nature as well as cool reasoning that most persuades the jury members. He approaches the case in a naive style. He uses the phrase, “what if...” and “it might be possible” when he presents his ideas. He does not try to force his opinions on the other jurors; instead he just wants to understanding the reasoning behind their guilty verdict. Another example of a power tactic used by Davis is bargaining. All the other jurors feel that their time is being wasted. They were sure of their guilty verdicts and the mere thought of spending time discussing something they were already sure of was infuriating. As a compromise (or bargain), Davis proposed a set time limit for discussion. Therefore, the jury members were more comfortable agreeing to discuss knowing that if the conversation bore no fruit after the time limit expired Davis would back down. Davis, however, was not the only character who utilized power tactics. We also see
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