Malveaux - Minority Report

Minority Report is a film by Philip K. Dick that explores the concept of distributing consequences to someone before their crime ever takes place based on foreknowledge provided by what the film refers to as “precogs”.  The film, set in 2054 Washington, D.C., presumes that any intended act in the future that does harm to society in any capacity is a crime. 

The “precogs, three physics, uses their gift of foretelling the future to determine who, where, when, and at what time someone will commit the crime. The police unit, led by Tom Cruise, then seeks out the pre-determined perpetrator and prosecutes them for the crime they haven’t committed “yet”. According to Terri Murray, in the article Our Post-Moral Future?, a crime is meaningless until it is done, and is a crime precisely because it is done therefore redefining the meaning. Murray also argues that the definition of a criminal is retrospective because the freedom that allows a criminal to choose whether or not to commit the crime is the reason he or she is defined a criminal should they choose to proceed with the act. This is an important concept that isn’t explored in Minority Report. 

The precogs foresee the crime and the police unit acts upon it. Their intentions are to prevent murders, however, they are stripping away someone’s inalienable right, which is free will. What viewer’s should ask themselves after watching this film is at what does a police unit’s obligation to capture criminals infringe upon a person’s right to have private thoughts. 

Labbe-Minority Report

Minority Report (2002), directed by Steven Spielberg, is set in Washington D.C in 2054. Scott Frank wrote the screenplay based on Philip K. Dick's novella. Dick questions humanity and reality throughout his works. Minority Report investigates these themes by the unfair treatment of precogs, who are beings with the ability to foresee crimes.


In the film, three precogs, Agatha (Samantha Morton), Arthur (Michael Dickman) and Dashiel (Matthew Dickman), reside together under the PreCrime unit's constant watch. The officers learn the names of future victim's and criminals as well as the time and date of future crimes. Precrime arrives at the scene before violence ensues, haloing the perpetrators, leaving them incapacitated. Then, the criminals are taken into custody and locked up.



Dr. Iris Hineman (Lois Smith), whose research laid the groundwork for the program says Agatha is the strongest precog. Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise) finds out PreCrime director Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow) killed Agatha's mother, Anne Lively. "You created a world without crime. All you had to do was kill someone," Anderton says to Burgess.



Lively wanted her daughter back. Burgess wanted the distraction out of the way. He knew there would be no PreCrime without Agatha, and his program would be a failure. He had no problem locking Agatha (and the other precogs) up and using her as a tool. He had no problem killing Agatha's mother because he didn't see Agatha as human.



In the article, "Minority Report: Narrative, Images, and Dead Women," Joanne Clarke Dillman says, "Agatha's trauma is the loss of her mother, Anne Lively;Anderton's is the loss of his son, Sean."



Anderton is decidedly human. His loss parallels with Agath's loss, putting them on the same human level. "Agatha reaches out to Anderton," Dillman says. The audience is led to side with Agatha's human qualities, showing Burgess' crime to be unjust.



"The movement of the film takes Agatha and Anderton from the position of melancholy to that of mourning, to a sense of wholeness where both move on." Their stories continue to move on the same level to the film's end. Anderton reunites with his ex-wife, Lara, and the precogs are allowed to live in an undisclosed location in peace.





This clip shows Anderton and Agatha's close relationship.

McCay Blog Prompt for Blade Runner or Minority Report

Both Blade Runner and MInority Report isolate and either imprison or destroy the other, the android or the possible criminal. Using either film, discuss how each film deals with the outcast, the other--the android, the potential criminal. Please make sure you integrate at least one article that you have read from the articles posted on blackboard.