Bienvenu, Minority Report and the Idea of the "Other"

Films that take place in the future are always intriguing to people (including myself). This is mostly because they give a visual representation of what our world and our lives might be like some 20, 40, even 60 years from now. In Steven Spielberg’s film Minority Report (2002), he addresses specifically the way crime, imprisonment and security could be like in the future. In this film, the invention of Pre-crime and the use of the precogs’ predictions allow this special department of security to stop criminals from committing murders before it even happens. Once caught, they are put into a vegetable state and forced to watch their predicted crime over and over again.

In our blog prompt, it is suggested that “the other” in this film are the convicted criminals caught by the Pre-crime department. After thinking this over, I found that this may not be entirely true. Everyone is this future world is being watched, not just the criminals. Everyone is being eye scanned in every step they take. This allows them to be tracked at any given moment. When John Anderton is trying to run from Pre-crime cops it is virtually impossible for him to get away because of these eye scans. In this film I think EVERYONE is the other, not just the criminals. Nobody has privacy and everyone is a suspect is a sense. In Antonio Sanchez-Escalonilla’s article, The Popular Genres of Action and Fantasy in the Wake of 9/11 Attacks, Steven Spielberg speaks out about the idea of giving up certain freedoms to insure that our country is safe. He explains that this is in fact what the film is about.

The article connects the plots and themes of certain movies to the aftermath and emotions following the 9/11 attacks. In years following the attacks, airport security amongst other things have been heightened to an extreme. This entailed privacy issues that effected everyone, not just suspected terrorists. Just as in Minority Report, everyone was being questioned, everyone was given less privacy and everyone became “the other.” After reading this article I realized more and more that this film wasn’t about the criminals being the other, it is about anyone and everyone being the other.