In the movie 12 Angry Men, a young man is on trial for murdering his father. The movie opens at a point in the trial after the witnesses have testified, and the prosecution and defense have had their say. It is now up to the twelve men of the jury to decide the fate of the defendant. In this particular case if he is found guilty, he will be sentenced to death by the electric chair. The jury go in to the jury room, sit down, and take a vote. The defendant is found guilty eleven to one, but since the vote has to be unanimous someone must be persuaded in to agreement with the other side. Either eleven men must change one vote, or one man must persuade eleven men to change their vote. And to the surprise of the other eleven men on the jury, it
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Number eight, played by Henry Fonda, is starring intensely out the window in deep thought, while all of the commotion of the room is happening around him. The viewer can see that there is something different about him compared to the other jurors, his decorum does not fit with the others in the room. Presenting himself this way might not be the best tactic for his audience of other jurors, but since juror number eight persuades both peers and viewers’ of the film, this should be taken in to consideration. Because of this loner attitude, the audience takes notice of him; even if they do not know whether they are on his side or not, they are lured in to listen to what it is he is going to …show more content…
Then, he retells the old man’s testimony: “He heard ‘I’m gonna kill you’, then a split second later heard the body hit the floor.” And the woman’s testimony: “she saw the killing through the last two windows of the passing el train.” At this point the other men of the jury are listing intently waiting to see how juror number eight is going to fit these two pieces of information together like a puzzle, but when the time comes to do so, he proclaims that they in fact do not fit. Now number eight uses logos to put the testimony together, “Since the woman saw the killing through the last two cars, we can assume that the body hit the floor just as the train went by.” Which means that the train would have been going by when the old man heard the boy yell. As established earlier, when the train goes by, it’s very noisy so the old man could not possibly be a one hundred percent certain of what he heard, which means there is reasonable doubt of the boy’s
Number eight, played by Henry Fonda, is starring intensely out the window in deep thought, while all of the commotion of the room is happening around him. The viewer can see that there is something different about him compared to the other jurors, his decorum does not fit with the others in the room. Presenting himself this way might not be the best tactic for his audience of other jurors, but since juror number eight persuades both peers and viewers’ of the film, this should be taken in to consideration. Because of this loner attitude, the audience takes notice of him; even if they do not know whether they are on his side or not, they are lured in to listen to what it is he is going to …show more content…
Then, he retells the old man’s testimony: “He heard ‘I’m gonna kill you’, then a split second later heard the body hit the floor.” And the woman’s testimony: “she saw the killing through the last two windows of the passing el train.” At this point the other men of the jury are listing intently waiting to see how juror number eight is going to fit these two pieces of information together like a puzzle, but when the time comes to do so, he proclaims that they in fact do not fit. Now number eight uses logos to put the testimony together, “Since the woman saw the killing through the last two cars, we can assume that the body hit the floor just as the train went by.” Which means that the train would have been going by when the old man heard the boy yell. As established earlier, when the train goes by, it’s very noisy so the old man could not possibly be a one hundred percent certain of what he heard, which means there is reasonable doubt of the boy’s