For the end of the semester, we watched Twelve Angry Men. 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 detective story that presents an unfolding of clues creating doubt, and a mini-drama of each of the jurors’ prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. All of the action takes place on the jury floor. My personal favorite scene is when one of the juror 3 gets so fed up he rips apart a picture of him and is son, and is furious with emotion. I was really touched by the emotion in this scene, because I’m sure it is very common for jurors in everyday life to experience their personal lives come out in cases. Overall, I really liked it and rekindled by love for black and white movies.

To conclude this semester, I would first like to start off by saying thank you to Dr. Schlegel and my classmates for making this semester less stressful in this class. I really enjoyed reading everyone’s blogs and hearing what they have to say. The thing I enjoyed the most about this class was the freedom to write about whatever I wanted. Yes we had topics, but I appreciate everyone, including me, getting very creative with their ideas for our blogs. I loved learning about these different mediums and especially during the election, it was really helpful to learn some of these tactics used by the media to get what they want. I have learned a lot about myself and how I work in this class, but most importantly I’m walking away with more knowledge about mediums then when I went in the class.

An overall recap of 12 Angry Men is a murder trial in 1957. There was twelve members that were selected into the jury, for this trial. The individual on trial was a hispanic inner city teen, who was accused for stabbing his father to death. If the teen was to be found guilty, it would be delivered quickly and sentence him to the death penalty. The teen claimed that a knife he once had lost, was later found at the scene of the crime. Many of the witnesses saw and heard things that were strange. One witness heard screaming from a male voice. A women saw the physical killing but it was later determined that the women didn’t have her glasses on at the time and she needs them in order to see. The film begins to get interesting when only Eleven of the the twelve jurors vote guilty. This meant that one of the jurors said the teen was not guilty, this was Mr. Davis. This gave Mr. Davis the time to convince the jurors that if they say the teen is “not guilty” it could be better outcome for the teen. In Mr.Davis’s head, he knew that the situation didn’t seem correct. Some of the members started to believe that Mr. Davis was right and that the teen was not guilty. In the hot room you begin to see the jurors true personalities. Each one of them had different preconceptions of how they seen people and their backgrounds. The majority of the jurors were more self concerned rather than understanding the implications of a guilty verdict. One member made a statement that he would kill the teen just because he was hispanic. They later had a discussion of how the father was stabbed to death.The father was a tall man and taller than his son, but the police report said it was a downward stabbing. Someone who is shorter and trying to stab someone taller, in a downward motion didn’t fit this scenario. As the men try to come to a unanimous decision after being stuck in a room together for six days, the defendant was found “not guilty”. After watching this film it shows you how unfair the justice system can be at times. Mr.Davis stood up for what he thought was the right decision and didn’t listen to the prejudice thoughts about the hispanic individual. In Mr.Davis eyes he was pleased to see the right outcome and justice for the teen.

This semester was definitely a struggle for all of us. We had to adapt to being fully online for most of our classes and not being in person learning. It was difficult at times not having that close connection with some of our professors because we were on zoom. I have never had to do blogs for classes and I loved them, doing these blogs got me enabled me to step out of my comfort zone. It often times gave me joy to be able to post good hard work on wordpress and have everyone see it and comment there opinions. Being able to do blogs and relate them to the topic and movie of the week gave you a better sense of the course and was easier to understand each topic. In my opinion being in person and seeing your classmates and being able to elaborate more on each class together was something I miss. If gave you the opportunity to meet new people in your classes and build new friendships. We talked alot about social media and how it affects and if I didn’t ever take this class I would have not realized how much social media affects us in positive and negative ways. After being home for a few days and discussing my classes with my family, I wish there was communication and social media classes in high school because it gives students more opportunity to see what classes interest them to take in college. Even with having a learning disability this class gave me a chance to express my thoughts more to my classmates and professor. I have sincerely enjoyed my time in this class and have learned a lot. This was my first class for starting my major in communications and I can’t wait to continue this journey with the major I have selected.

The screening 12 Angry Men was an interesting one. I did not like it at the start. It grew on me over time. The one man who raised all the questions in the beginning was my favorite character. For a lot of the movie he was the only one doing some deep thinking into the trail. The jury was 11-1 after the first vote not in favor of the defendant. And by the end it was 9-3 in favor of the defendant. That one man very well saved that that 18 year old boys life. A lot of the men did not think about different aspects of the case until it was forced upon them to do so. I also noticed the jury was all men. Why were there no women? were women not on juries back then? I also noticed in comparison to now, the English language was spoken differently back then. They used the word suppose more then we ever would today, also had more manners.

I don’t believe all the men on the jury were angry men. I think there were two angry men out of the twelve. You could tell the two who were yelling the most and trying to convict the boy were set on doing so. They would not be open to the ideas the other men raised. I also believe among the twelve men there was only one dumb man. The man with the hat who wanted to go to the baseball game. He was not taking the matters seriously. He kept saying unnecessary comments and that bugged me. He is the kind of man who believes everything he hears and is apart of the problem with our society. Men like him, who don’t think for themselves and make decisions for the wrong reason are the ones who mess everything up. The people who do things for the wrong reasons and have the wrong motives.

I would have ended up voted not guilty, solely based on the lack of legitimate evidence against the boy. I would never vote for someone to die with not enough evidence against them. Those two angry men had something dark inside them to be able to vote guilty. I also thought that was very clear the one man did not like his own son very much, leading him to want to vote guilty for this young man. Which is wrong, you can not bring your own emotions into something like this. He was not fit for the jury.

In regards to this class, I enjoyed it. I have learned a lot of valuable information about media I did not know before which is good. I can say I learned a lot. I think you (Professor) taught the class well and always went into great detail when explaining things. Class was always interesting and full of good discussion. My favorite chapters were the movie and tv chapters. I found a lot of that stuff interesting. The book chapter in the beginning was good too.

Watching 12 Angry Men was actually a fun blast from the past and brought back some memories to high school. Also, how boring it was but how at the same time got more and more interesting as it went on. There is a lot of character development in this movie that is almost too complicated to understand even as a high schooler. You really see 12 people completely change their point of view in only one day’s time. It really just goes to show that humans look for approval from other human so bad that they can cloud their judgement. It started off with 11 guys that just wanted to get out of that hot room and be done with the seemingly open and shut case of a murder done by a young Hispanic boy that lived in the slums. This story not only tells the story of the unfair treatment of some people in the legal system but shows how powerful one person standing up for what they believe in because it’s the right thing to do not because it’s easy. You see a whole room of men go from one side to the other just because one man stood up the rest and didn’t make that boy another statistic.    

This semester will defiantly be something to remember, being my first full semester not being on campus and it was really hard to get used to and I don’t think I would ever want to do it again. As for this class I really enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone and posting my work for everyone to see and also getting comments about your work. It was very cool to be able to see others blogs and almost get a sense of how the class is feeling about that week’s topics. I also thing we looked deeply into topics that people don’t really talk about and most likely don’t have an opinion on the topic. It was awesome we had to go through and elaborate on our thoughts and we actually had to make it good because we would want our classmates to see something that want good. I really enjoyed my time in this class and want to thank everyone for an enjoyable experience I hope everyone has a safe and fun thanksgiving and winter break, stay safe out there.               

In the movie 12 Angry Men, it is clear that the majority’s thought is not always the correct thought. Have you ever been in a class where the teacher asks you to raise your hand if ____ is the correct answer? If a couple people start raising their hand, soon the entire class is going to shoot their hand up as well, regardless of whether or not they know the answer or even if they think this answer is incorrect. This is what we see in the movie. And just like what usually happens in this classroom scenario, the teacher says no that is not the answer, you are all wrong. So, even if you were pretty sure this answer was wrong, once you saw everyone else starting to raise their hands, you convince yourself that you must be wrong and you should side with the rest of the class. Yet, no matter what you thought at first, once you raised your hand, you were wrong too. Now, in the movie, the consequence of siding with the majority is much more severe than a teacher telling you you are wrong. You may think that with such high stakes such as the death penalty, you would think for yourself, and ignore others’ opinions. But this is harder than it seems. But, as we see in the movie, going against the group and being confident in your own thoughts can be a heroic thing to do.

https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/minnesota-pre-k-k-12-educators-express-concerns-and-hope-about-distance-learning-during

This class has been fun. I loved being able to write in this blog style where I feel less confined to being so structured and refined. I think adding opinions into writing allows me to learn more. I also liked being able to read what my classmates thought about the topics we learned about this semester. I learned a lot about myself by seeing how I compared to my classmates in terms of the ways our generation consumes and critiques media. 

My favorite topic we covered was the news. Especially this year with the election going on, it seemed so difficult to escape. I do not care about the news very much or go out of my way to watch it like I know I should. But this semester taught me that the media will find its way to me whether I am looking for it or not. And that I should be careful about how I consume my media. Thank you for this semester! 

The movie, 12 Angry Men was a great example of the term, “Groupthink” and how it can play out.  At first, the jurors were quick to base their vote of guilty on faulty ways of thinking.  Several already had preconceived notions and prejudices against the person in question.  Many had their own motives outside of justice for wanting to vote guilty.  They had shown complete disregard for a man’s life for their own selfish reasons. A couple of the men would rather get it over with so they can get back to their lives.  They did not view the accused as a person that was equal and deserved to have their case thoroughly examined or even entertained. Their inability and refusal to think of all of the possibilities in the case could have cost an innocent man his life.

Some of the jurors felt indifferent and had lazy reasons for their verdicts.  They had what is called herd mentality, influenced by their peers and just going along with what everyone else thinks.  They had to be coaxed to even think for themselves.  When the group is slowly starts to see that they do not have proper evidence to convict the man, they end up voting not guilty.  The final juror takes a little convincing and it seems that he is the hardest one due to prejudice and pre-conceived notions involving the upbringing of the accused.  This movie to me is about ethics and conveys that sometimes you have to go against others to get to the root of an issue and do what is right.  If the juror had not had the courage to go against the group, they could have sent an innocent man to the electric chair!

Looking back over the semester, I am thankful for the opportunity to blog.  I think it is an excellent way to analyze the readings and materials that we were assigned and it helped to provide a safe space in which to get creative and explore different ways of writing.  I also enjoyed having several different ways in which to learn, ie. Readings, watching you-tube clips, movies, listening to podcasts, websites, etc.  I was able to see just how many various forms of media are woven into our everyday lives.  Being an older student, it was nice to take a look back a little and see where we are and how far we have come.  This was a great class because it introduced us to the many different types of media and gave us some of the background and history on various forms of media.  I really enjoyed working on my essay and diving a little deeper into early Hollywood.  I think that was one of my favorite chapters.  I also found Gerbner’s theories interesting about how violence in the media shapes our thoughts and perceptions over time. I have felt that the media we see every day has generally become more violent recently.  I never understood why it is okay to show extreme violence in everyday culture, but when it comes to showing the body, that is deemed inappropriate.  I think after taking this class I will be even more mindful of the media I consume, but now I have a little bit of the background to make more informative decisions.  Thank you for a great semester and class!

Work Cited: 12 Angry Men https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o9LE5C_E_ge3wWsYdP_9UQmdaqOwTzT0/view?usp=sharing

 In the beginning of the film 12 Angry Men it takes place in court with a young man on trial for allegedly stabbing his father to death.  There are 12 members of the jury must deliberate with a guilty verdict, in this case would be death.  The beginning vote was 11 votes for guilty and 1 vote not guilty. Number eight wanted to talk about the evidence before jumping into killing a young man with the electric chair. One major piece of evidence was the weapon, the knife is categized at a unique knife, but one member that voted not guilty pulled out the same knife which proves that that knife was not unique in any way.  The other piece of major evidence is a testimony of a women across the street that said she saw the young man kill his father, but later the truth came out that she wears glasses to see but she was not wearing them when she “saw” the young man.  At that point, the other members started to think the young man was not guilty besides one member that had so much hatred for his young man. He wanted to kill this young man because of his race.  There was another conversation about how the father was stab. The father was 6’2” and the stab was downwards, the child is only 5’7”. After demonstrating with the knife anyone shorter than the father it would be impossible to have a downward stab, the grip of the knife would have been to awkward and someone shorter like the kid would have given a upward stab. After talking in a hot room for six days the verdict was not guilty. The member that voted not guilty from the beginning was proud of himself that he just saved a life.

I watched this film in my English class in high school, this film is important to watch because of the American judicial system that regularly points out the faults in the people that the system protects and serves. During this time, it was in a cycle with the origins of the civil rights movement after the disorder of McCarthyism and by the fear of nuclear war. This film stands as a sign to Americans that we have responsibilities, stay unified, and be understanding with one another or the nation will fall. It’s also a public announcement that our democratic system represents someone innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This class has been a reality check on how media is really affecting us, and we do not even realize how much it is really causing damage to America as a whole. No matter what topic it was I was always learning something that I had to idea. I personally think there should be this kind of class in high school. Young people made bad decision and media really affects us. Kids do not have their frontal lobes developed all the way, so we are more influences during that time.  I personally, learn better with power points on canvas than zoom. I can learn and read over and over again if I needed to and with zoom it’s a one time only and with my dyslexia it’s more difficult for me, but the class was a great learning material that will change my life on how I view the world.

The Use and Gratification theory is based around an active audience and is an approach to understanding why we as consumers enjoy and continue to enjoy specific forms of media. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs outlines four basic needs for someone to use a type of media outlet and can be simplified and applied to this series as, information, personal identity, personal relationships, and diversion. One of the main aspects that we focused on in this theory was the idea of fandom, or personal identity driving you to use media. Fandom began in the united states with baseball. Baseball became a very popular sport in the US and has picked up a lot of fans on the way. Fans were and still are able to buy and collect baseball cards featuring their most beloved players, but fandom (as we know) doesn’t apply to just sports. In the mass media world there are fandoms for almost everything, just look at what kind of groups there are on Facebook!

This weeks screening of the Galaxy Quest documentary and the Jaws 45th anniversary remake were very interesting and truly showed the power of the fans. I remember the first time watching Galaxy Quest when I was younger. My parents thought it was the funniest thing in the world, not only because it was casted with funny actors that they had grown up seeing, but it had also tapped into their childhood of watching Star Trek after school. This was accomplished by using actors who were real life and of the movies it was based off of, and real great use of special effects all the way down to the costume design and character development. This made it even easier for the movie not to come off as making fun of Star Trek, but making it a funny memory of good old times and possibly made it into an even bigger fandom.

What Fandoms are you in or were in?

Do you think fandoms are powerful enough to impact society as a whole to create change in a community?

It is no secret that we are being watched by our phones. We are completely spied on everyday, just not in ways you would expect. We obviously know there is an algorithm that social media uses to get to know your interests and you, to further recommend things you would be interested in viewing, buying, or doing. This way, the people in charge of monitoring you will are trying to get to know you, and overall the population on the app, better. I have a real problem with this. It completely invades my privacy, and I don’t want an app guessing who I am and what I want. Sure it is nice to have something pop up on my Instagram that I was just talking about needing, but does anyone else not see a problem with this?

Apps learn from us, and use that information for God knows what. I believe this information could be going somewhere big, and cooperation’s are using all this information to gather opinions about the public and how we react to things. Another example of how the media controls us is by simple manipulation through facts. The Corona Virus is the perfect example. We have been told plenty of information since it started in January basically, and still some people are in their own world of what it going on. People should be told concrete information about something as big as this, but we have now accustomed to not fully believing everything we are told face value.

We are manipulated to give our full attention to the stories going on in the world, however when we take in this news as something true, we are confronted with the choice of ignoring the people who question it. It is true not everyone believes what they read online, but there are people out there that really do believe everything they take in. Those are the people who are easily taken advantage of y the media, and have trouble thinking for themselves. It is extremely important to have your own thought process to distinguish your opinions from what society is trying to get you to believe.

Sidney Lumet’s, 12 Angry Men was one of his earliest and perhaps one of his greatest films. The film takes place inside a jurors’ room at the New York County Courthouse in lower Manhattan. When we first meet the jurors they are about to take a vote on the guilt or innocence of an 18 year-old who had murdered his father. We are told that all 12 jurors must agree on a verdict, otherwise it would be a hung jury. A guilty verdict would lead to the boy being sent to the electric chair.

When we meet the juror played by Henry Fonda, we see him from the back and staring out the window. We know that this is the character that will be the protagonist that he will change the course of the events in the room. When the vote is first taken, eleven jurors vote for conviction and juror number eight, Henry Fonda votes against conviction on the basis of reasonable doubt, forcing jurors to question their decision and values.

We spend the next hour and 20 minutes listening to the Jurors one by one discussing the crime. Fonda questions the testimony given during the trial by two witnesses. One by one jurors move from being certain of the teenagers guilt to having doubts. Throughout the film votes are taken on the guilt or innocence and the jurors gradually change their votes. The last character to change his mind was juror number 3 who was played by Lee J. Cobb. This juror had a son age 16 who he had decided to toughen up after his son had not fought back during a school fight. An altercation when the son was older led to the dad getting punched in the jaw, which resulted in the son no longer talking to his father. The parallels between the verdict and juror number three have clearly biased his judgement.

Just as juror number three is forced to evaluate his own actions so too are we the audience forced to examine our own self-image, personality and experiences relative to the question to guilt or innocence. Though it seems unfathomable at the start of the film that one person could change the opinion of eleven, it is indeed the power of that one person to change each other’s decisions and moves the entire room to question their group decision.

I enjoyed this film and the many films and readings throughout the semester. The lectures were stimulating and assignments were helpful in analyzing the content that was presented in class. There was a lot of ground covered in this one short semester. I could see wanting to take more in depth classes on several of the others in class. It is a monster of a class, however it gave me an appreciation of the many aspects and issues surrounding mass media. I spend my day on mass media in one form or another. I believe this class has given me insights into how and why that happens and what it all means. It also gives me an appreciation of the evolution of mass media and its impact in the world in which we live.

Thank you Professor Schlegel for these learnings.