ipl-logo

Precrime System In Minority Report

791 Words4 Pages

Upon its release in 2002, Minority Report was a defining moment for Steven Spielberg’s career. A return to the top of his form, the landmark piece of intelligent, adult science fiction leaves you to contemplate the inevitable technocratic takeover that is just around the bend. Based on the short story of the same name, Minority Report delves even deeper into the world Philip K. Dick constructed – but does it live up to its source material?

In Washington D.C., 2054, a ‘PreCrime’ unit has been in operation for roughly six years now, under the leadership of Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow). By using a system made up of three procogs - human-like creatures that can prophesise murder before it transpires - the unit has successfully eliminated all …show more content…

In the film, the precogs are essentially viewed as a higher power. Suspended in a pool of photon milk, they are kept in a room called ‘The Temple’. Here, they are treated with the utmost reverence, and that reverence is transferred to the process of harvesting their visions. The short story portrays the precogs in a nastier light, describing them as ‘mutants with enlarged heads and wasted bodies’ that are ‘deformed and retarded’ and storing them in a ‘monkey block’. Essentially viewed as emotionless objects, there is an obvious lack of respect in comparison. While Dick is all about dehumanization, and Speilberg is about the myth of humanity. For Dick, the pre-cogs are a simple plot device, while for Spielberg, they serve as the most obvious victims of the system’s tendency to put the ends before the means. The decision to divert from the original text and parallel it almost entirely, really demonstrates Spielberg’s intention to recreate the story through his own eyes.

Anderton is an undeniably complicated character. Left to struggle with the loss of his kidnapped son, he falls to narcotics as a coping mechanism. The tragedy leads him to become head of the PreCrime initiative, where he continues to take hits to help fight his inner demons. Philip K. Dick’s version of Anderton is in another ballpark entirely. In the story, he is in his late middle-age; possibly getting close to retirement. He has tirelessly worked on the PreCrime initiative for the last 30 years and is one of the few to find a publicly-valuable usage for

Show More
Related
174 Words | 1 Pages

To begin, Charlie, one of the main characters, creates destruction through his thoughts. “No more talk, Steve. You’re going to talk us right into a grave! You’d let whatever’s out there walk right over us, wouldn’t yuh? Well, some of us won’t” (Serling, 769).

Read More
789 Words | 4 Pages

Harrison Bergeron was a book written in 1961 that portrayed an abnormal child defying the dystopian government; in 2009 a movie was made, based off of it called 2081 that changed the character both physically and morally. The differences in how Harrison Bergeron, the main character, appears in each story changes how the audience perceives his morality. These changes are easily highlighted in Harrison’s age, dialogue, and appearance. The tone of the story is also changed, resulting in similar changes to what the audience interprets. As both stories continue these differences become more and more apparent and by the end, there is a clear split in what the audience ‘takes away’.

Read More
647 Words | 3 Pages

Critics then and now have knocked Mr. Smith for failing to engage with the complex practicalities of governance. But Capra never wanted to inform his audience; he wanted to inspire them. There are no Democrats or Republicans, no “right” or “wrong” party, because that would limit his influence on the people whose side prevailed. References to the Depression or World War II would have only dated it; instead, the film remains timeless and universal. Mr. Smith isn’t about politics, it’s

Read More
961 Words | 4 Pages

Capote portrays only one of these two seemingly distinct characters (Perry) in a way that the reader feels the need to relate to and even sympathize with him. One can be taken aback by such an attachment to a murderer. This is not surprising as the author uses his compassionate diction to manipulate the reader’s emotions with a use of pathos, the appeal to emotions. At one point Capote goes as far as to write that “Smith’s life had been no bed of roses,” (Capote 245) attempting to have the readers relate to Perry. On the other hand, Capote has Dick say this about himself: “Deal me out, baby, I’m a normal” (Capote 116).

Read More
580 Words | 3 Pages

Society is built upon a grand scale of assumptions and misunderstandings, all of which tend to lead us in a path for the worst. There is, however, a remedy for our seemingly infinite list of problems that lead us to war, hate, and unrest. Unfortunately, this remedy is not very likely to be found because we have not been looking in the right places, which happen to be right beneath our noses. You see, we as a society have spent our lives writing books, directing movies, and painting murals, and yet we have overlooked our own genius; Footloose, The Breakfast Club, and Dirty Dancing. These three movies all share a common thread, and it’s not their epic soundtracks and classic ending scenes.

Read More
1829 Words | 8 Pages

This can turn dangerous as some many feel they are deserving of more, so they go and create their self-righteous version of terror. Because of this powerful businessman and their rent-seeking activities and the abusers of the BlueServo project possess similar motives. But when people are the ones being viewed or spectated, humans attempt to escape reality to focus on irrelevant things. The

Read More
2475 Words | 10 Pages

In this narrative, two movies, Blade Runner (1982) and Brave New World (1980) are analyzed on their postmodernist aspects. Both are dystopic films that predict humanity’s future from the circumstantial fears present on their times. The movie Blade Runner by Ridley Scott was a dystopian film set in the city of Los Angeles in 2019 and was actually derived from the book of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Mr. Phillip Dick. In the film, nuclear pollution and atomic waste aftermath pushed the citizens to go off world.

Read More
1283 Words | 6 Pages

The film is a scathing critique of the institutional corruption and racial inequality that pervades the justice system. Through the character of Stanley and his fellow inmates, the movie raises critical questions about the role of the state in regulating the lives of citizens, the use and abuse of power by authorities, and the ways in which social and legal norms shape our perception of crime and

Read More
2002 Words | 9 Pages

Herbert Blumer looked at conflict theory through an emphasis on group position and how that generates conflict. Marilynn Brewer takes a different approach with conflict theory and focuses on the need to fit in but also the seemingly conflicting need to separate oneself from others as an instigator of conflict between groups. Both of these theories have something to say about the historical conflict between the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the blacklisted, Communist screenwriters in Hollywood. This paper aims to show which of the previously mentioned theories is most adequate for analyzing the historical conflict in Hollywood.

Read More
702 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout history and into modern day civilization, humans have always come across a question, “Can I control that being?” This question then flows into acts and experiments of mind control and hypnosis. Hollywood has also produced multiple movies based around the inhuman experimentations of mind control; but those things only happen in movies, right? Well, not quite. The Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) in the United States of America, has performed many heinous experiments on humans.

Read More
803 Words | 4 Pages

In these two critically-acclaimed movies, government ignorance is explored in distinct ways. In 12 Angry Men, a jury of 12 men is sent to determine the fate of an 18-year-old slum-raised Latino boy accused of stabbing his father to death. A guilty verdict means an automatic death sentence. In Beasts of the Southern Wild we are taken on an adventure alongside Hushpuppy, an African-American six-year old, who lives on a poverty-stricken island called the Bathtub and whose father’s tough love prepares her for a harsh world. As completely opposite as these two perspectives seem, each represents opposing sides of social injustice and ultimately deliver similar messages.

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

In doing so Capote invents a new genre of literature by telling the story through a new perspective. Capote as a writer chooses to put most of the focus of the book on the criminals, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, particularly Smith. He follows Smith’s life story, and explains that Smith was abused as a child, and the reader is to infer that as a result he seeks approval from others. This approval is what leads him to kill, and invent stories about killing, as he wants Dick to think of him as macho. Capote provides a plethora of evidence to support this reasoning, “He was seven years old, a hated, hating half-breed child living in a California orphanage run by nuns- shrouded disciplinarians who whipped him for wetting his bed,” (93).

Read More
1071 Words | 5 Pages

Explain how the movie deals with consequentialism and non-consequentialism, particularly in the role the “Pre-Cogs” play in the movie and the idea behind Pre-Crime. Consequentialism can be defined simply as being concerned with the consequences of an act or event. The consequences are of greater priority than the act itself. This is a means justifies the end view of things. There are two main forms of consequentialism, egoism and utilitarianism.

Read More
1177 Words | 5 Pages

He is portrayed as a mastermind in the cold-blooded killing of the Clutters family, a man with little respect for the lives of others, which can be seen through Dick’s expression before the murder of the Clutters when he converses Perry, “We’re gonna go in there and splatter those walls with hair” (Capote 234). This sudden tone shift enables Capote to depict Dick as a cruel and immoral character. Dick’s lack of empathy and concern for other people beside himself allow him to commit crimes without remorse, which is in contrast to Perry’s moral contemplation after each bad actions they committed. Moreover, Dick is represented as the true criminal with evident motives in murdering the Clutters, while Perry is seen as a vulnerable victim who depends on Dick for validation and acceptance, something in which Dick happily provides in order to manipulate Perry, as Capote writes, “Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, ‘a natural born killer,’—absolutely sane but conscienceless, and capable of dealing with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows. It was Dick's theory that such a gift could, under his supervision, be profitably exploited” (Capote 205).

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

From this novel, we can learn and see that being ruthless and irrational will eventually lead us to disappointment. Dick is a world renowned psychologist who is intelligent and ambitious. He works in a clinic in Switzerland and this is where he meets Nicole Diver, a woman who seeks help from him after being raped by her father. The tragedy that struck her affects her deeply physically and mentally causing her to suffer from schizophrenia, a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between a real life experience and an unrealistic imagination. When Dick sets out and joins the army, Nicole sends him letters after letters talking about absolutely everything under the sun.

Read More

More about Precrime System In Minority Report

Related Topics

Open Document