Leadership as an Issue in Two Films

Leadership is an issue in the films Twelve Angry Men (1957) and Alive (1993). In each case, there is a small group with a specific leader. In the jury room, a foreman is selected as leader, though over the course of the story it is evident that this leader is not strong enough to guide the group. Various others vie for the leadership role, but the one who becomes the leader is one who embodies certain qualities of persuasion along with compassion and an inner strength. In the case of Alive, the group sets out with a traditional leader, the leader of the soccer team, and at first they accept him in that role once their plane has crashed. Later, though, as their situation becomes more desperate, they seek a different sort of leader, one less predictable, less controlled, and more appealing in an impossible situation.

In Twelve Angry Men, the characters are not given names but only numbers, their juror numbers, but they are individualized by their attitudes, their approach to the task at hand, and their prejudices as brought out during their discussions with one another. They represent various attitudes toward socioeconomic class and ethnicity which affect how they react to the defendant and to one another. They take a vote and elect a foreman, a mild-mannered conciliator. He may believe that the task at hand is simple and that the group will soon reach an accord, but this does not occur as Juror Number Eight wants to discuss the issues and needs to be persuaded to vo

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ation, the autocratic leader must make decisions, see to it that those with expertise are heeded and that they teach others, and that the group as a whole is made strong so that the weakest members are protected while the stronger take a role in leading and providing. This is what Antonio does so long as there is hope. Time is important in this film as well. This group was originally brought together to play soccer, and their current situation is viewed as temporary. They are bent on surviving, and in the beginning they believe they will have to do this for only a relatively short period of time until they are found and rescued. However, that goal becomes more distant as time passes and as members of the group learn that no one is looking for them. Survival becomes a more difficult thing to continue for so long a time, and the style of leadership offered by Antonio is no longer considered valuable. Instead, a more bizarre leadership style that is participative in nature develops under the less predictable Nando becomes accepted, imposed by his power in one sense, and accepted by the others because it gives them more freedom as well if they are strong enough to take it. Nando's style is reminiscent of the path-goal approach

Category: Film - L