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Film Festival - 12 Angry Men
Thursday
- March 4, 2004
MAC Playhouse - 3:30 pm
- 6:15 PM
College Now Course - Humanities
Hosted by: Dr. Robert Singer, Professor of English
College Now English Course Coordinator
Dr. Eleanor Cory, College Now Humanities Course Coordinator
About
the Movie: 12
Angry Men
Director, Sidney Lumet 1957 - Rating PG
The defense and the
prosecution have rested, and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide
if a young man is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins
as an open and shut case of murder soon becomes a mini-drama about the jurors'
prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.
All of the action takes place in the jury room.
About the Presenter: Dr.
Eleanor Cory
Dr. Eleanor Cory is a composer whose music is often inspired by art,
literature, dance and film. A member of the Kingsborough Department of Communications
and Performing Arts, she teaches traditional music theory and appreciation
courses as well as a contemporary music/humanities course and interdisciplinary
courses with the English Department. She sees film as a dramatic unfolding
of events in time analogous to the interactions of instruments in musical
compositions, shapes and colors in art, and words in books and poems.
Extra Credit Assignments
Standard College Essay
Many issues
arise from the analysis and discussion of the film, 12 Angry Men.
Some of the more personal issues involve objectively listening to details
and facts and not forming opinions too hastily, controlling emotions when
faced with making important decisions, and how we perceive and judge other
people, such as members of minority communities. Some broader social issues
discussed in the film involve our belief in the criminal justice system,
the idea of a fair and impartial jury, the right to have adequate legal
counsel, and not to be subject to cruel or unusual punishments. There are
other related personal and social issues arising from the analysis of this
film, and these are only some suggested significant themes to consider.
In a full-length essay (approximately 400-500 words), later to be revised
for content and correctness, using one of the questions provided, discuss
any of the social, legal, moral, or political issues raised in the film
12 Angry Men that you consider to be of special interest
either for you or for society. Explain why and how these issues are significant
not only in the film but also in relationship to your own life, past or
recent events in American culture, or both.
1. Did any of the jurors voting guilty at the outset of the film have a
valid argument for the defendant's guilt? What was the argument and why
was it valid? What made the juror change his mind? Did you believe the change
was valid? Please explain in essay form.
2. Is justice served in 12 Angry Men? Did a guilty man walk free?
Was Juror 8 correct?
3. The courtroom drama is a very popular genre in American dramatic literature.
After studying 12 Angry Men, do you have any ideas why this is so?
Do you find it an interesting genre? Why or why not? Please explain in essay
form.
4. At the beginning of the movie, Juror 8 is outnumbered 11 to 1. Do you
remember times you have been in a similar situation? How did you react?
If you were on a jury, do you think you would be able to convince eleven
other individuals to change sides and vote with them, or would you be tempted
to change your own vote?
5. The conditions under which the jurors deliberated were very inhospitable.
Consider how things might have been different had the men been seated in
comfortable armchairs in a large, well-cooled, soothingly decorated room;
also consider parallels between how circumstances provoked the jurors and
how circumstances might have provoked the defendant in the case they were
debating. Please explain in essay form.
6. Setting aside the issue of diversity - a jury in 2004 is unlikely to
be all white and all male - do you think this group of characters, with
their assorted personalities and prejudices, is representative of a typical
jury today? Why or why not?
7. Watch another film and describe what techniques the filmmakers used in
that film to enhance dramatic tension.
8. Weather is often used strategically - to add dramatic tension, for instance,
or to diffuse a situation. Give examples of other films in which weather
is almost like another character. What role does it play? How does it influence
people and events?
9. Some of the posters that were used to advertise the 1957 film contained the following headline: "Life is in Their Hands-Death is on Their Minds! It Explodes like 12 Sticks of Dynamite!" Do you think that this was an accurate advertisement for the film? In what way? If not, in what way is it misleading or inaccurate? Can you think of any recent examples where the advertising for a film (or anything else) did not seem to match what was being promoted?
Event
Photos 12 Angry Men - March 4,
2004
Film
Festival host, Dr. Robert Singer, and Humanities
Course Coordinator, Dr. Eleanor Cory, preview
"12 Angry Men" for the audience.
Students participate in a question/answer
session following
the screening.
John Dewey
H.S. Humanities students
pose with instructor, Mr. Haber and Humanities
Course Coordinator, Dr. Cory.
Some
Susan Wagner H.S. students who
attended the screening of "12 Angry Men".
Two Humanities students from Susan Wagner
H.S.
smile for the camera after seeing the movie.