12 Angry Men is regarded as one of the best courtroom dramas ever made. It was released in 1957 and the premise is that 12 members of a jury are faced with coming up with a verdict for a murder trial accusing an inner-city teenager.
First, I was skeptical at first, but this movie was surprisingly “woke” for its time (Other than of course, the majority of the cast being old white males…) Anyway, a young boy of color, who has grown up in an impoverished neighborhood with a broken family is accused of murdering his father. These 12 white men go to the backroom to decide his fate. All but one juror is convinced that beyond a reasonable doubt, that this boy committed the crime. The one who objected was juror #8, played by Henry Fonda, who starts by saying that they are deciding the fate of a young boy and feels they should all at least have a dialogue before sending the boy to the electric chair. I find it hard to type into words, but each juror brings in their own identity and power dynamic into the back room. I think each one showcases how everyone’s personal biases, emotions, and ulterior motives can cloud and skew decision-making.
(SPOILER ALERT)
It may be kind of obvious, but basically one by one, each Juror changes to a non-guilty verdict. Each juror is either convinced that there is “reasonable doubt” or is faced with their own hypocritical biases that cause them to experience this extreme dissonance, which ultimately gets them to vote not guilty. I think that I could relate this movie to many of the texts we have read this semester. In a much broader sense, I think this is movie is a great example of this class in general. Each character had to reflect on his own biases and widen his perspective to see the whole picture. Initially, it was an easy, “poor colored kid who is abused in a poor neighborhood, of course, he is guilty.” But taking a step back and analyzing all of the evidence, this was not the case. I also think that it shows how all it takes is for one person to “stand up” against injustice, or else the injustice will just continue to perpetuate. It reminds me of all the work we have done with the systematic injustice diaries we have done this semester.