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12 Angry Men Stereotypes

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The 1957 film 12 Angry Men is a classic courtroom drama that continues to captivate audiences today. The film's plot revolves around twelve jurors tasked with deciding the fate of a young man accused of murder. As the deliberations unfold, the jurors' personal biases and prejudices come to light, leading to intense debates. The film also highlights the dangers of relying solely on eyewitness testimony, as memories can be faulty and subject to encoding, storage, and retrieval errors. We get a taste of some of the juror’s biases right off the bat. As the men gather in the deliberation room, one man declares that he votes for a guilty verdict saying, “Can’t believe a word they say. They’re born liars” (Lumet, 1957). The audience picks up that …show more content…

Sometimes they are the result of ethnocentrism, the tendency to believe that one’s own culture or social group is better than others. Scholars theorize that this type of worldview is a result of a “biological survival mechanism inducing us to favor our own family, tribe, or race and to protect our tribe from external threat” (Aronson et al., 2019). Ethnocentrism comes from a need for social identity and, according to social identity theory, can result in an “us versus them” attitude. For some people to maintain their sense of pride in their culture, religion, or social group, they respond to threats to their social identity by forming strong negative attitudes toward and a dislike for other groups (Grant, 1992). The “us versus them” mentality is an in-group bias, where people give preference to members of their in-group, often leading to unfair treatment of members of an out-group. Ethnocentrism is illustrated in 12 Angry Men when a juror responds to another’s comment that the defendant is a bright young man, “Bright? He’s a common ignorant slob. He don’t even speak good English” (Lumet, 1957). Here he is expressing a stereotype and his dislike of a member of an out-group and his preference for his own

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1964 Words | 8 Pages

"Don 't judge a book by its cover" is a famous saying that some of us heard it before and some of us experienced it. 12 jurors were experiencing this quote when they gathered to decide whether a young boy is guilty by killing his father or not. Juror 2 stated, "Well, anyway, I think he was guilty" (6). Juror 2 represent most of us, as sometimes we judge from what we hear and not from what we see. The 12 jurors are from various backgrounds and each one has a distinctive personality.

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747 Words | 3 Pages

People tend to base characteristics of people pretty quickly; likewise, their personalities. Most people base their opinions on stereotypes. Reginald Rose and his play “12 Angry Men” demonstrate how people are quick to judge other people based on looks. In the movie all twelve jurors must decide if a young boy is guilty or innocent. At the beginning of the movie/play-write, only one juror, juror eight, decides the boy is innocent.

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2787 Words | 12 Pages

“We are talking about someone's life here. We cannot decide in five minutes.” (Rose et al., 1957) Twelve Angry Men is a 1957 American Crime Drama that focuses on the Jurors deciding on the fate of an eighteen-year-old boy charged with the murder of his father. All the men (minus Juror 8) had immediately declared the boy guilty and were willing to send him to death.

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1108 Words | 5 Pages

Jury duty is often regarded by most of society as a dull and tiresome obligation. Perhaps one would be inclined to change their assessment if jury duty meant you and eleven other men were the only thing standing between a boy and the electric chair. The teleplay Twelve Angry Men, written by Reginald Rose, tells the story of a 1950’s court case wherein a young man, under suspicion of murdering his father, faces the death penalty. The script centers around the twelve men of the jury as they decide whether or not the boy will live or die. As tensions start to run higher, the jurors get into intense arguments, sometimes letting outside biases overtake them.

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1133 Words | 5 Pages

The Film 12 Angry Men, written by Reginald Rose, is a film written about the American jury system. In the film, as in any part in life, emotions are a tricky thing; This is especially true for the 3rd, 7th, and 8th jurors. One of the main themes in the film questions that of the emotions of the jurors. That question is: Is it possible to keep personal prejudice and emotions out of a trial? Is this even a good or bad thing?

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591 Words | 3 Pages

They all were upset and confused as to why the man had voted not guilty. The man didnt exactly think that the boy was not guilty but he didnt think that he was either. He let the men know that they should atleast talk about it because they were overall talking about someones life. As the movie goes on you can see how all the men gradually changed their votes to not guilty after having conversations about tiny details that were not mentioned in the court room.

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1186 Words | 5 Pages

Twelve Angry Men is in many ways a love letter to the American legal justice system. We find here eleven men, swayed to conclusions by prejudices, past experience, and short-sightedness, challenged by one man who holds himself and his peers to a higher standard of justice, demanding that this marginalized member of society be given his due process. We see the jurors struggle between the two, seemingly conflicting, purposes of a jury, to punish the guilty and to protect the innocent. It proves, however, that the logic of the American trial-by-jury system does work.

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806 Words | 4 Pages

Talia Bitran Ms. Pentz-Lopez English 10 Acc 15 March 2023 Truth and Justice Essay The concept of innocent until proven guilty is a foundational pillar of the American criminal justice system. The justice system promises a fair trial by holding every case to the highest burden of proof which is reasonable doubt, meaning that in order to prosecute someone as guilty the evidence presented must make it impossible for any doubt to exist. The widely renowned screenplay, “Twelve Angry Men,” by Reginald Rose is a courtroom drama that explores the thorough deliberations of twelve jurors as they decide upon a verdict for a case in which a nineteen year old teen is accused of murdering his abusive father.

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803 Words | 4 Pages

This process continues throughout the course of the movie, and each juror’s biases is slowly revealed. Earlier through the movie, it is already justifiable to label juror 10 as a bigoted racist as he reveals strong racist tendencies against the defendant, stating his only reason for voting guilty is the boy’s ethnicity and background. . Another interesting aspect of this 1957 film is the “reverse prejudice” portrayed by juror

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939 Words | 4 Pages

The U.S. justice system is a concept that has come under scrutiny many times over the 200-plus years of its existence, but which still exists in much the same form today as when it was first devised. “12 Angry Men” by Reginald Rose is a theatrical drama that portrays many of the merits and faults of the jury-based judicial system. Some of the pros that are shown include how the input of many different people and backgrounds can result in a greater truth being uncovered, and how the voice of even a single man can be heard and considered by all jury members. Some cons that the play illustrates include how there can instances in which jury members merely go with the immediate popular opinion on the verdict, whether because they are susceptible to peer pressure or merely because they’d rather the case be over with as quickly as possible. Rose himself seems to be generally in favor of the current U.S. justice system, as the characters who represent the negative aspects of the system are shown to be hateful and irrational men, while the opposite is true for the people who represent the system’s more positive qualities.

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464 Words | 2 Pages

Research has shown that the jury system does not provide the most convincing methods for proving guilt or innocence. In Twelve Angry Men, after contemplating all of the evidence presented, they are without a doubt incorrect with the verdict they

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814 Words | 4 Pages

Juror Ten announces his intentions very early in the play. He speaks loudly and forcefully from the beginning, clearly showing his racism and prejudice towards the boy. Juror 10 quickly votes guilty and asserts that the defendant cannot be believed because “they’re born liars”. Additionally, he claims that the “kids who crawl outa those places are real trash.”

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435 Words | 2 Pages

12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose is a primary example of how bias can affect one’s decision-making. As the trial progresses, it is clear to the reader just how much bias can be used as an obstacle to justice. Throughout the course of the play, Reginald Rose illustrates how the prejudice of juror number 10, and the past of juror number 3 prevent them from trying the case logically and unbiasedly. Juror number 10 displays a major bias toward the defendant, which ultimately leads to a preconceived notion.

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721 Words | 3 Pages

The movie “Twelve Angry Men” illustrates lots of social psychology theories. This stretched and attractive film, characterize a group of jurors who have to decide the innocence or guiltiness of an accused murder. They are simply deliberating the destiny of a Puerto Rican teenaged boy accused of murdering his father. Initially, as the film begins, except the juror Davis (Henry Fonda), all other jurors vote guilty. Progressively, the jurors begin trying to compromise on a point that everybody agree because the decision of the jury has to be unanimous.

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858 Words | 4 Pages

In a New York City, an 18-year-old male from a slum is on a trial claiming that he is responsible for his father death by stabbing him After both sides has finished their closing argument in the trial, the judge asks the jury to decide whether the boy is guilty or not The judge informs the jury decided the boy is guilty, he will face a death sentence as a result of this trial The jurors went into the private room to discuss about this case. At the first vote, all jurors vote guilty apart from Juror 8 (Henry Fonda), he was the only one who voted “Note Guilty” Juror 8 told other jurors that they should discuss about this case before they put a boy into a death sentence

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