Self Interest In On The Waterfront And Twelve Angry Men

Within society, people are motivated by self interest and self gain rather than concern for other members of the society. In moments of high crisis On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan and Twelve Angry Men written by Reginald Rose both depict characters driven by self interest rather than compassion. However On the Waterfront and Twelve Angry Men both have a character that defies the social norms of self Interest. The play script and film portray similar themes through different devices. The characters within the film and novel cast a similar picture of greed and corruption. On the Waterfront and Twelve Angry Men are a piece of history where the society is seeking justice.

In the play script Twelve Angry Men and in the film On the Waterfront, the themes discussed relate to the issue of corruption, power & control. On the waterfront considers the interpretation that power corrupts the innocent. In the film the audience may sympathise with Jonny

In Twelve Angry Men the direction of the jury room was pushed by self interest to leave. ‘7th Juror: goddamn waste of time. 10th Juror: yeah, can you imagine, sitting there for three days just for this.’ Here the jurors are dulling the importance of the murder trial because they have ‘better things to do’. The tasks vary from a ball game to just going home. This highlights the fact the jurors intentions weren’t focused to the trial rather that they were focused on self interest in getting out early ‘3rd juror: let's get this over with. We've probably all got things to do.’ The 3rd juror had no regard for the trail at all. He was ‘almost falling asleep’ within the trial of evidence. This evidence suggests that the choices made by jurors were not about the consequences of their decision instead about how they can be somewhere else. Likewise, On The Waterfront showed similar disregard for the consequences of their