Fathers in Law: Violence and Reason in <em>12 Angry Men</em>

In this article I argue that 12 Angry Men is as much a film about fatherhood and law as about juries and civic virtue. It is a powerful presentation of sons subject to paternal brutality, of fathers tormented by their sons, and of the very real possibility of sons murdering their brutal fathers. This film thus deploys complex images of fatherhood as a site and source of violence and anger. By presenting those images it reminds us of law's own complex relationship to reason and violence.