Steven Spielberg’s Interpretation of Philip K. Dicks’s Minority Report
In the year 2054 crime has become a thing of the past. The relatively new Pre-Crime system allows the government to operate an elite police force, which with the help of three very talented and unique human beings can see into the future and prevent countless crimes, especially murders before they happen. In Philip K. Dicks’s short story, The Minority Report, the world we live in is nearly infallible. With the reduction of violent criminal acts, people can live their lives in peace and prosperity without the fear of the pain and suffering, which usually accompanies violence. Likewise, in director Steven Spielberg’s 2002 movie re-creation of Dick’s renowned story, Spielberg also offers up an image of a nearly flawless society whose foundation is about to be tested to its limits.
The atmosphere Philip K. Dick immersed the reader into in his short story about what is to come of crime and the future is very fast paced. The story itself being fairly short in length is action packed and abundant with drama, mystery, and suspicion. The opening scene takes place at the Pre-Crime headquarters where John Anderton, the Pre-Crime director confronts Ed Witwer, who is an ambitious newcomer to Anderton’s agency. As in Spielberg’s film the two quickly bond in not such an affectionate way. However, when Anderton decides to show off the way his crime prevention scheme works he’s stunned upon realizing that he has been predestined by his own system to kill a man in the upcoming week. In both versions of the story the main character, Anderton, now embarks on a quest to find out exactly what is happening to him. Under the suspicion that he’s being fr...
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...y reasons why this could have occurred, the most probable one is that Spielberg needed to lengthen Dick’s short story and alter it slightly in order to make it more lengthy and meaningful to his target early 21st Century audience. Lastly, I personally preferred the original version of the story after seeing the film; however, after being given the chance to actually listen to Spielberg’s reasoning behind some of the things he did in his version of the story, the movie adaptation became more intriguing and meaningful to me than it had previously been.
Works Cited
Dick, Philip K. The Minority Report: And Other Short Stories by Philip K. Dick. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2002
Minority Report. Writ. Dick, Philip K., Frank, Scott, Cohen, Jon. and Dir. Steven Spielberg. Prod. Goldman, Gary, Shusett, Ronald. Perf. Tom Cruise. 20th Century Fox, 2002.
Dick was 33 years old and he did not have the best character. Dick was one who
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Ross, Michael E. "IN SHORT: NONFICTION." New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed.Aug 14 1988. ProQuest. Web. 2 Mar. 2014 .
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Into the Wild, a novel written by Jon Krakauer, as well as a film directed by Sean Penn, talks about Chris McCandless, a young individual who set out on a journey throughout the Western United States, isolating himself from society, and more importantly, his family. During his travels, he meets a lot of different people, that in a way, change his ways about how he sees the world. There are many characteristics to describe McCandless, such as “naïve”, “adventurous”, and “independent”. In the book, Krakauer described McCandless as “intelligent”, using parts in his book that show McCandless being “intelligent”. While Krakauer thinks of McCandless as being “intelligent”, Penn thinks of McCandless as a more “saintly” type of person.
Dick presents our main character, Commissioner John Anderton, as the balding, pot-bellied founder of a revolutionary new crime detection system who's been showing his years for longer than he'd care to remember. In the short story, he has just acquired a new assistant, Ed Witwer, and fears being replaced by the younger man. In the beginning, Anderton is portrayed as slightly insecure about his job (to the point of near paranoia of being set-up), as well as his importance to society, though by the e...
These opposing sides of nature are established as Dick Prosser’s true identity is revealed, as the narrator exclaims that “there are two hemispheres of light and dark, two worlds discrete, two countries of his soul’s adventure. Thus, at the head of those two poles of life will lie the real, the truthful image of its immortal opposite” (2). This statement in the story is extremely substantial, for it tells the reader of the theme and what Wolfe is attempting to explain to all mankind. The last piece of essential imagery is the comparison of Dick to a cat, in which the narrator describes him having a “great black paw” and that he “covers the ground with cat-like speed” (2). Next, Hall includes examples of actions performed by different characters that develop the plot.
Minority Report is a 2002 science fiction film directed by renowned director Steven Spielberg and is set in the year 2054 in Washington, D. C. The film revolves around an elite law enforcing squad; Precrime. The Precrime Division uses three genetically altered humans called Pre-Cogs whom possesses special powers to see into the future and predict crimes beforehand. After each crime is foreseen and analyzed, Precrime police officers are sent to the crime location to apprehend the future murderers and place them under arrest. The future murderers are then put into a sleep state with a device called a "halo". Based on Minority Report, it suggests that humans are free willed beings and have the ability to alter the future that was predetermined for them.
Throughout society there are both individuals and groups of people with a wide range of perceptions about crime and justice. These perceptions are influenced by the media and what the media presents. Media presents crime stories in ways that selectively distort and manipulate public perception, thus creating a false picture of crime. Therefore the media provides us with perceptions and social constructions about our world. Firstly I will be discussing the role of the media in constructing knowledge about crime. I will begin by explaining why the media is important, and go further to explain that media representations construct knowledge of crime and since knowledge about crime is constructed it does not necessarily capture reality in fact crime stories are often sensationalised. I will then link this to my central argument that the media shapes people’s perceptions of crime and how this is important as it can lead to changes in the law. I will then explain what it is that the public or society needs to be aware of when reading and watching media reports about crime. We need to be aware of bias and moral panics that are created by the media and how the media shapes or influence’s public perception through this, it is important for us to be aware of misleading or false crime stories so that we are not swayed by the media in believing what they want us to believe.
That is, violence in films stereotypes both the average aggressor and the victim when these do not match official records. For example, according to Warr, M. and Stafford, M. (1983), even though most people would say women and the elderly are the most likely to experience violence and crime due to their vulnerability, according to official records, in real life, the victims are black young males more often than not . Meaning that, even if film and TV do generate empathy for victims, it does it in an unrealistic way that can not be applied to real life. This indicating that, not only is TV and film generating an unnecessary fear in society, it is distracting us from what we should in fact be more cautious