Minority Report: From Story to Screen
Adaptations are never carbon copies. A prime example is Philip K. Dick’s short story and Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film, Minority Report. The structure of the storytelling is indeed different as well as other key elements. The narrative transforms its structure into a more episodic approach when brought to the screen. Words on paper take on a new identity when brought to life on a visual basis.
Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report, written in 1956, was ahead of its time. The short story explores the consequences of technology and science and how the technology echoes the present state of society. Both the story and the film emphasize the same basic themes, however the actual plot is almost completely diverse. The film takes place around the year 2054. For five years (six in the film), the Pre-Crime Unit has successfully made murder a thing of the past. Their astounding technology is credited to three pre-cogs. These “idiot” pre-cogs identify killers before they commit their crimes, drastically cutting the crime rate by “ninety-nine and a decimal point eight percent” (in the film this rate was zero) (Dick 74). However, this infallible system runs amuck when Commander Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, is accused of a future murder. Anderton finds himself with only 24 hours (36 in the film) to discover who set him up and in the process, flee from the hands of the authority he once governed. If he fails, Anderton will fall victim to the perfect system he co-created. Both the story and the film are suspenseful and ask the question, “Is pre-crime justified?” The notion of innocent until proven guilty is virtually discarded. The accused murderers are based upon pure metaphysics...
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...short story, it would be pretty dull.
The timeliness of Minority Report is uncanny, given the current situation in politics. Philip K. Dick’s short story emerged in 1956. The script for the film, written by Jon Cohen and Scott Frank, was completed well in advance of the shock of the post-9/11 terror frenzy. Dick’s intuitions of pre-crime enforcement have been brought to the big screen at just the moment when his seemingly sixth-sense is starting to be seen in real life. Both the story and the film warn the future of society of the suffocating effects of an encroaching police state.
Works Cited
Dick, Philip K. Minority Report and Other Classic Stories. New York City: Citadel Press, 1987. 71-102.
Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton. DVD. Twentieth Century Fox and Dreamworks, 2002.
All in all, the man accused of murdering Trayvon Martin, was not found guilty and will undoubtedly be imprinted in America’s history. As a result of the verdict, many citizens were alarmed around the nation and has generated an immense amount of controversy. The three academic government reports I have used explained why crimes occur within certain neighborhoods and what can be used to prevent and deter individuals from committing the same type of offense.
“The Minority Report”, by Philip K. Dick, is set in the year 2054 where three mutants called “Precogs” have cognitive abilities to see into the future and predict crimes before they happen. These Precogs have been plugged into machines that decode their visions to serve the pre-crime division, which arrests individuals before they commit any crime. Founded and Headed by John Anderton, the pre-crime division has gone five years without failure and has cut down felonies by up to 99.9%. In order for this to happen, all three precogs have the same vision of an even. In some cases, the precogs have different visions, and then a computer analyses the visions and produces a majority report (where two precogs have similar visions) and a minority report
During the summer, I heard of a story that seemed very controversial and I demanded to learn more of the subject. The story covered by nearly all NEWS stations ridiculed the fact that parents are leaning towards faith-healing instead of medicine when their children are. Typically this situation becomes aware when a parent believing in faith-healing takes their practice too far and the children suffer dire consequences. An article that demonstrates the importance of change and awareness of faith healing is of two parents who are found guilty of murder after their second child dies from pneumonia because they prayed and seek people who claimed to have healing powers through Christ.
At this point, the readers create their own movie in a way. They will determine important aspects of how the character speaks, looks like, and reacts. Whereas, in the movie, the reader has no choice but to follow the plot laid out in front of them. No longer can they picture the characters in their own way or come up with their different portrayals. The fate of the story, while still unpredictable, was highly influenced by the way the characters looked, spoke, and presented themselves on screen.
You might find yourself reading the topic of this paper and automatically shaking your head in disagreement. After all, this is the 20th century and the Jim Crow Laws are a thing of the past. These laws are something that we read about in our History books. Racial segregation and discrimination is all but a thing of the past. Right?.....................Wrong! The facts and statistics (which I will document below) are overwhelming and the crux of the matter is that racial disparities and bias are indeed found within our criminal justice system today even in the year 2014. The truth is that our U.S. criminal justice system is a very racist system.
Inglourious Bastards. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Perf. Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz. The Weinstein Company, 2009. DVD.
Throughout history, it seems that medicine and spirituality have been linked in many circumstances. In a study looking at the use of complementary and alternative therapies in cardiac patients, spiritual healing was one of many practices patient sought to utilize. In another study, 29% of participants chose to use prayer or premeditation as a way to cope with their chronic illness. In both studies, prayer or meditation was more likely to be used by individuals who had a large social network, as well as support from another person in the same health situation. Based on these studies, it seems that many individuals (not just cardiovascular patients) turn to their spirituality in times of health distress.
Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin, a hormone needed to allow glucose to enter the cells and produce energy. There is no cure for this disease but it can be controlled with treatment which consists of daily injections of insulin and constant glucose monitoring. For both the patient and the caregivers it usually takes a significant amount of time to learn how to manage the disease; furthermore it is important to learn to read food labels, be able to count carbohydrates correctly and dose accurately. It is crucial for insulin dosing to be accurate in order to avoid underdosing and overdosing as it can be fatal in either instance, learning to recognize the difference between high glucose and low glucose symptoms is important as well. High glucose can present itself as increased thirst, headaches, blurred vision, trouble concentrating, fatigue and frequent urination; low glucose symptoms can be excess hunger, fatigue, nausea/ vomiting, lightheadedness even fainting. Low glucose can be treated by eating small portions of food that are high in sugar but being careful not to increase your glucose levels too much, if they do increase significantly then you have to correct with insulin DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) Since their is no cure for the disease the goal is ba...
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
Type 1 diabetes, is an incurable but treatable disease which can occur at any age but is mostly found in children due to the high levels of glucose in the blood (Eckman 2011). Juvenile diabetes affects about 1 in every 400-600 children and more than 13,000 are diagnosed yearly (Couch 2008). Type 1 Diabetes means your blood glucose, or blood sugar, is too high. With Type 1 diabetes, your pancreas does not make insulin. Insulin is a hormone, which helps glucose gets into your cells to provide energy. Without insulin, too much glucose stays in your blood. Over time, high blood glucose can lead to serious problems with your heart, eyes, kidneys, nerves, gums and teeth (American Diabetes Association). Previous research has suggested proper insulin management, a balanced diet and exercise will help maintain glycemic control and lessen the chance of complications (Couch 2008).
Historically, the concept of caring for the afflicted was founded on biblical principles, especially morality. On a personal level, an individual’s spirituality also influences how one copes with stressors in life, such as illness. When addressing an individual’s emotional and spiritual needs, health benefits such as decreased pain, decreased stress and anxiety, improved rates of insomnia, as well as decreased cardiac and respiratory rates have been realized (Puchalski, 2001). More broadly stated, “Spiritual practices have been shown to improve health outcomes” (Puchalski, 2001, p.
Religion and spirituality is a major essential part of one’s’ health. They have included things such as prayer in healing, counseling, and the use of meditation. Spiritual issues make a difference in an individual’s experience of illness and health. With spirituality, the health care providers can learn to support the values for the art of healing. The health care provider must have respect for their patient’s religion. (Larry Dossey. Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine. Harper Collins, San Francisco. 1993.)
In Type 2 Diabetes, very high blood glucose levels and dehydration can lead to a life-threatening condition called as the "non-ketotic hyperosmolar coma". In this condition, the blood glucose may rise to 6–20 times the normal range and unconsciousness may develop. Urgent medical care and re-hydration are required.
Primarily, cerebral edema occurs in children. Studies show that the largest reported cases are 95% within patient’s younger than 20 years of age. One third of these cases occurs in patient’s younger than 5 years of age. Generally, after the initiation of therapy, within 3-12 hours it occurs in children who seem to be metabolically returning to normal (Pandey). Insulin was discovered in 1922, prior to, “the mortality due to DKA was virtually 100%. With the discovery of insulin, antibiotics, intravenous potassium replacement and use of norepinephrine for blood pressure support, rates ranging from 2....
perception is that all men of color are prone to commit more crimes than white men. Studies from Pollock (2014) noted, “Courts that administer the laws, and the corrections system that makes decisions regarding the liberties of those convicted have all been described as agencies that systematically and pervasively discriminate against minority groups” (p. 138). Based on the aforementioned researches from Clear et al. (2013) and Pollock (2014), many questions were raised about police ethics, powers of discretion, pre-conceived discrimination, and prejudices that society has bestowed on individuals of minority background.