Critical Analysis for Twelve Angry Men

The "Twelve Angry Men" is a subsequent screenplay written by Reginald Rose, and was then produced as a movie film by Rose himself with Henry Fonda, who plays the lead role, and directed by Sidney Lumet.

Reginald Rose begins his screenplay by showing that his purpose is not only to present a jury commences deliberating the case of a particular person on trial for commmiting a particular crime, but also to show how major components of communication influenced in the story. The Twelve Angry Men is much similar to a typical group communication. Group communication is an interaction between small group of individuals. In group communication, the group members share or discuss ideas, they even make decisions and solve problems. In the story, Rose emphasized the form of group communication when the twelve men are put in one single room (called jury court) to discuss a case involved by an eighteen-year old boy who was allegedly accused for stabbing his father to death, and to decide whether the boy is guilty or not. In a preliminary vote, all jurors vote "guilty" except Juror eight. Juror eight's character plainly stated, “It’s not easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy to die without talking about it first”. This shows that he wanted a further deliberation to examine all the evidence and facts before coming to his decision. This irritates some of the other jurors, who are impatient for a quick deliberation. In addition to this, Rose weighed in character juror eight as 'willing to stand alone' - putting himself in the position of one versus eleven. Despite the other's strong objections, they agree to begin a dialogue. Dialogue is a vital step to create effective communication. It's a form of discussion aimed at fostering mutual insight and common purpose. In relation to juror eight's 'stand alone', his vote and need for further discussion raises the interdependent nature of the group. Due to the unanimous jury, the decision of juror eight forces the other jurors to come together toward a solution. In communication, one of the most fundamental and important skill is critical listening. Critical listening is a rational process of evaluating arguments put forward by others. It involves analyzing the information in speech and making important decisions about truth, authenticity, and relevance. In the screenplay, Rose stressed out this skill by seizing it to one of her character - juror eight. Despite the fact that he's the only juror (at first) who believed that the boy is not guilty, he stood strong in his efforts to listen to others and respect their opportunity to share. He was thoughtful, avoiding interruptions and pointing out areas of agreement. He was motivated by the desire to understand the case and all its facets. He was interested in understanding the true thoughtful points of view of his fellow jurors. Again, he slowly helped those who were more silent

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