I just shook the Monday morning blues and decided to get productive. Over the weekend I watched this 1957 movie Twelve Angry Men. To begin with I wasn't too excited about watching some lawyer jury flick. But once we started watching I was rivetted to my seat. The movie works on jury deliberations in a room. Surprisingly the jury is an all male group. I guess it was the 50's where women had little or no role in such events. The twelve jurors are your everyday joe's working in various professions. But the beauty of the film is such that it makes the jurors get in touch with who they are. Two most common human flaws are highlighted in this movie.
1. Shallow thinking. Inability to analyze a fact from different view points.
2. Prejudiced thinking.
In the movie Henry Fonda (super controlled acting!) is the lone fighter, he is the only one against the "Guilty" verdict. Well then it is his job to convince the 11 others why he thinks so. He works better than the accused's defense lawyer :). He goes about analyzing various facts that were presented. Thereby convincing people that more evidence is needed before a conviction of "guilty" can be pronounced.
Without giving away too much of the film. I can say the movie has to do a lot about breaking free of prejudices, pre concieved notions and standing by what you think. Another factor I noticed was Henry Fonda or the 8th Juror, throughout the film shows kindness to people around him. You could categorize him as being emphathetic. I noted it when a juror, who is the oldest of them all, feels faint after a particularly long and heated discussion, Fonda helps him to sit and asks him if he needed any water. Also towards the end he goes up to the guy who was the most antagonistic and helps him with his coat. I wondered if it is this kindness and empathy towards people that made him think about the accused?
The movie throws at us another question. Are we all biased/prejudiced in most of our thinking? A bias can be about people and events. Arent we all prejudiced about so many things. Be it religion, politics, food, the list is endless. An open mind is so very important to learn new things. Why then, is it so difficult to remain unbiased?
8 comments:
Hey Priya,
Welcome! and I must say that was a cool start. Good to know your thoughts (and better still that you put your thots down in such a brilliant and controlled manner!).
Well, well... after going thru the comments, I absolutely have to see the movie. Will be in a better position to add to ur musings once I have seen it.
Keep writing.
MJS
Thanks to Deepak who suggested this movie :).
- Vijay
since i read your post on this movie, it's been thinking - where did i see a movie on similar story line??... well, the eureka moment finally came :) -- it's a hindi movie i saw long back, Ek Ruka Hua Faisla (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157571/)
- rachna
Hi Priya,
welcome to blogging, good sifting of thots! u have taken the the step of translating thots into writing, u have a keen observation ,I feel like watching the movie
keep it up
GV
8.20a.m
hi priya
nice to see ur post. i think u r putting ur psychology knowledge to good use. I wil see the movie n then comment on it
Hi Priya
Great start. Shylini told me about your blog.
"Ek Ruka Hua Faisla" (Pankaj Kapur) is a remake and is as good as the original. Do see it if when you get a chance.
Your psycological viewpoint is very interesting. I usually enjoy the technical aspects in movies.
You should also try Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" and Akira Kurosawa's "Rashômon". You might enjoy the human aspect/angle in these stories.
Prabhu/~
That was a nice blog. Looking forward to more blogs from you
Good to see you blog.
I atteneded a management training program long back...and the most interesting part was that the entire two day program was based on movies!
They used various movies to illustrate topics. Some times the entire movie was screened...pausing at places to explain concepts. It was wonderful.
I still remember the program vividly after 10 years. One movie about "12 O'clock High" was used to demonstrate the concept of "Situational Leadership". Excellent piece where a WW II army...someone junior takes charge, builds up a team from bunch of low-morale guys and goes ahead and wins the battle. Fantastic.
The second one they used was "Karate Kid". They demonstrated the phases any learner goes through and how he needs to be coached to become a Star Performer! THis was used along with Ken Blanchard's learning model (his presentation).
Wonderful way to teach. Full of fun and clear demonstration of concepts. The person who taught this program had put a lot of effort to pick the topics and matching movies/clips. Didnt know there is so much more to learn from movies, beyond simple entertainment.
- Jay
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