The Minority Report Essay

“The Minority Report” is a short story following the head of the fictional Precrime system, John Anderton as he attempts to clear his name after the system he invented labels him a future-murderer. It was adapted into a feature-length film titled Minority Report, which makes several changes to the original work while remaining faithful to the original work. “The Minority Report” is told in a third-person perspective by an unnamed narrator. The protagonist of the story is John Anderton, a police commissioner. The human antagonist of the story is initially unclear but ultimately turns out to be retired army general Leonard Kaplan, the man John is set to kill. In the grander scheme of things, it can be argued that the antagonist of the story is

fate. This conflict is introduced at the end of this scene when John reads the card with his name on it. John does not believe he is capable of murder and struggles against fate to avoid that outcome, though he ultimately succumbs to fate in order to protect the Precrime system. “The Minority Report” was adapted into a feature length film titled Minority Report. This adaptation makes many alterations and additions to the original work while still remaining somewhat faithful. Key alterations include John going from overweight and middle-aged in the short story to fit and young in the film and the setting being changed from New York City to Washington D.C. Witwer takes a much more antagonistic role in Minority Report. Instead of being John’s new assistant, he is tasked with finding and reporting flaws within the Precrime system. One key difference between “The Minority Report” and Minority Report is the resolution of this first meeting between Witwer and John. In the short story, John receives the report during his first encounter with Witwer. In the film, he obtains it