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Minority Report: Free Will Vs Determinism

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Does arresting someone before they commit a crime remove the perpetrator’s free will? What if they changed their mind? These topics are discussed at length during the 2002 film Minority Report by Steven Spielberg. The plot of Minority Report centres around protagonist John Anderton, the chief of a futuristic police department, that uses “pre-cogs”, humans who can see crimes before they happen, to arrest the perpetrator before they have committed the crime. This polarises audiences, who either believe that they have a right to arrest someone for planning a crime, and those who believe that everyone is capable of changing their mind, before committing the crime. One major theme in Minority Report, is free will vs determinism. Minority Report shows how quickly and easily, society can lose free will when trying to drastically change how law functions within a large population.

Characterisation is an important feature in Minority Report, used to emphasise the …show more content…

The example on the left is from Minority Report when Danny realises the truth about Lemar and is killed. In this scene, Danny is shown to be higher than Lemar, symbolising that Danny is judging this information, in the same way that a Judge sits higher than the rest of the courtroom. Danny is exercising his free will vs determinism by determining whether or not the information from Lemar is correct. Danny is also shown above Lemar because He has the moral high ground.

Minority Report by Steven Spielberg effectively uses characterisation and cinematic techniques to reinforce the theme of free will vs determinism. John, Agatha, and Lemar all reinforce this theme. As do the cinematic techniques, over the shoulder camera angle and framing characters. Steven Spielberg has clearly put a great deal of thought into how Minority Report will comment on free will vs

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