For the love of reading notes and comments on books for readers and teachers
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Jan 23, 2010
On The Minority Report by P.K. Dick
This survey covers the book more than the movie. Before discussing the story, let’s review the major and minor characters:
John Anderton, founder of Precrime. He is the police commissioner. He is paranoid about losing his job to the new assistant, Ed Witwer. He is proud of his achievements with Precrime, believes it has truly helped society by reducing felonies. After the car crash scene, he goes into hiding under the assumed identity of “Ernest Temple.”
Lisa Anderton, wife of John Anderton. Lisa is an executive in Precrime and met John when she was a secretary. John is paranoid about her as well; he thinks she and Witwer are conspiring against him. Tod Fleming also implicates her as being behind the frame job of Anderton, but this is false. She actually stands by her man and attempts to help him flee the police building.
Ed
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Anderton is packing to escape. He his abducted in his own home and transported to Kaplan’s house. A conversation between them ensues. Kaplan orders his men to take him back to the police.
IV. On the way back, Anderton discusses the possibility that Precrime may be imprisoning innocent people. Then their car crashes. He is dragged away by a man named Fleming.
V. Fleming provides him with a new identity (Ernest Temple) and Anderton escapes to the seedy side of New York City. He hides out in a hotel, listens to radio reports of his escape and the news that a minority report exists. He needs to read it. Perhaps it will exonerate him.
VI. Anderton phones Wally Page and asks to be allowed entrance to the monkey block. Page points out to him the Precog who produced the Minority Report: Jerry. Jerry’s vision took the majority report conclusion (that he would kill Kaplan) as datum and produced a conflicting, time-phased report where he doesn’t commit the murder. Lisa enters and offers to help him
Could the majority become the minority? Peter Wood’s Black Majority is a historical book about the rising African population to colonial South Carolina between 1670 and the Stono Rebellion of 1739. He examines how this majority affected the still maturing Colony and how the rise of slavery boosted the economy. Wood argues that Negroes were the majority of the population in South Carolina and the backbone to the economy despite what other historical works say about slavery. The novel illustrates the South Carolina colony being shaped more by the numerical majority rather than the minority, the Englishmen, who had a greater power in the social structure of the colony. Wood’s emphases three main ideas throughout the book to describe how the population
Steven Spielberg's, "Minority Report," tells about a future without murder. Three gifted humans, who are called precogs, predict the murder of an individual and it is viewed by cops who stop the murder from taking place. John Anderton, the main character, is predicted to murder a man by the name of Leo Crow. Throughout the story, Anderton believes that he will not kill this man because he doesn’t even know who Crow is. Unfortunately, Anderton is blind to the fact that Crow had kidnapped his son. Agatha, the female precog, reminds Anderton that he always has a choice to not kill Crow. Anderton learns that Crow was paid to make Anderton believe that he had kidnapped his son many years earlier. Crow tells Anderton about his being set up, but Anderton and Crow struggle over the gun and Crow ends up being shot. Anderton finally proves his innocence and begins a life with his wife.
In Ronald Takaki’s book “A Different Mirror” it appeared that anytime race relations changed for the better can be traced back to a historical event. Whether it was war or economics the only time policy changed for the minority groups was because it benefitted the people in power or white society. Ta-Nehisi Coates has also stated that changes for minorities will only come when absolutely necessary for those who are in power. Why does it take war or a cataclysmic economic downturn before people see the appalling way minorities are treated? Is it the “It ain’t broke, so don’t fix it” mentality or do people in this day and age still believe that people of color are inferior to white people? In my experience, the people in my world actually
Anderton Called Wally Page and asked if he could come to the monkey block. She demonstrates out to him the “Precog” who produced the Minority Report: Jerry. Jerry’s vision brought the discussion to a conclusion where it looked like that he would kill Kaplan as datum and produced a differing the report where he doesn’t commit the murder. Lisa enters and offers to help him escape.
In article “The Problem with Serial and the Model Minority Myth” writer, Julia Carrie Wong, claims that “In Episode 8, it becomes clear that Koenig is deploying another classic racial trope— that of the “model minority.” A sum up of this term “model minority” is when people fill up the stereotype image that is put on their race. Koenig has done a great job to represent each important person without (stereotyping.) In episode 8, Sarah Koenig gets in depth information on Jay; what kind of person he is, opinions on what other people think of him, etc. I disagree with Wong unanimously because it’s reaching to look for racism where there isn’t.
Reading newspapers or watching TV at home, at least we find one article or news describing a killing, a shooting, or an armed robbery. With all these problems, we are in fear but cannot avoid hearing and dealing with them. They happen every day and some time justice system blunders and leads to wrongly convict people for what they do not commit. This is reality of wrecked system that is resulted by injustice and corruption. Ultimately, Errol Morris confirms this reality based on a true story of an innocent convicted Randal Adams for a criminal case by creating a film, The Thin Blue Line. David Harris, an important accuser, claims Adams was a murderer and shot Robert Wood, a Dallas police officer. With Morris’ suspicion of Adams’ innocence, he turns himself to be a detective movie director and investigates the criminal case that occurred in Dallas, Texas in 1976. His goal is to show that Adams was wrongly convicted and justice system was flawed. By using juxtaposition and recreations, Morris successfully contrasts Adams and Harris to show that Adams is innocent and Harris is guilty, intensifies distrust of the legality in Adams’ wrong conviction to prove a flawed legal system, and evinces the eye witnesses are discreditable.
While giving a tour or precrime to Edward Witwer, the main character John Anderton finds the he is supposed to kill a person he never met Leopold Kaplan. When he tries to run and hide from precrime, Anderton is kidnapped by Kaplan. Kaplan is about to turn Anderton in to the police when Anderton is rescued by Fleming. Fleming gives Anderton money and a clue, which leads Anderton to conclude that he has an alternate future that will clear his name. He then goes to precrime to find his minority report and prove to the police that he will not commit murder. He is discovered by his wife, who he suspects is working against him, and they both leave precrime in a helicopter. On the helicopter, Anderton, his wife Lisa, and Fleming get into a fight and Anderton kills Fleming after discovering that Fleming is working for Kaplan in order to take precrime down and establish a military police state. Lisa and Anderton return to precrime where Witwer and they come up with a plan to save precrime by proving the predictions of the precogs correct where Anderton will kill Kaplan. At a press conference, Kaplan is about the revel the failure of precrime t...
Harper Lee uses Tom Robinson 's rape trial and story to develop her philosophy on how people should be treated. Tom understands the pre-set judgment of people towards African Americans during the time period and still makes his decision, disregarding the
She said that she was in the Barn making sinkers out of lead for a fishing pole. Then she said that she was using the lead to repair a screen. Next she said that she was downstairs when her step-mother was killed upstairs, but she never heard any sound of the body hitting the floor. Police then went
... gave necessary information about them to the movie audience. Emotion was brought in with the kidnapping of Anderton’s son and that event being used to drive him to murder was a concept that everyone could relate to. The action of Anderton running from his capture and unfolding who was behind his downfall kept getting better and better, he went as far as removing his eyes and kidnapping a precog. The film followed the same basic structure of the story, but changed certain parts and involved twists to make the story enticing to the variety of audiences across the globe.
Overall, the story raises questions: is the future set and unchangeable, or can free will create an alternate future/reality? Can free will still exist, if the future is known in advance? The fact that there are three precog reports suggests three alternate futures, therefore the existence of several time paths all existing concurrently. Dick suggests that all the time paths are intertwined at some point, and that the existence of a countless number of time paths entails that something can be done to create a better future from the predictions of the precogs. This is shown by the fact that the pre-crime division is able to stop crimes before they even happen. This main theme is also drawn from the paradox that Witwer raises: the pre-crime division arrests individuals who have broken no law. Anderton defends pre-crime by stating that these individuals will eventually commit the crime and their arrest does not change the fact that they would have committed a crime. This then, presents the idea that the future is rigid and whichever path someone takes will lead exactly to one specific moment that cannot be avoided. Therefore, Dick raises a theme of Determination, cancelling the existence of free
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, the attitude towards black people can be seen as quite sympathetic from those who defend Tom Robinson and yet at the same time it was condescending. Throughout the entirety of the text, many examples display this theory. Although it is not actually stated how the attitude towards black people in the text is meant to be intended. Many people debate that although the characters in the novel were sympathetic; they were also still condescending on many occasions. The attitude was condescending in the way that there was an expectation that the “white people” needed to help them. A sympathetic approach is then also shown in that some characters of the text were willing to assist against racism. It is unclear whether Lee intended the novel to be sympathetic or condescending and this can be seen through many themes and
A young policeman is called to Annie's house carrying out a search because of Paul's absence. Paul calls for him to save him, but Annie sees this and savagely and brutally murders him. Two other policemen are called to Annie's house about the first missing policeman, and when they leave Paul kills Annie and he is rescued by the police when they return the next day.
Many times in Hollywood, a movie that intends to portray a novel can leave out key scenes that alter the novel’s message. Leaving out scenes from the novel is mainly do to time limits, however doing so can distort the author’s true purpose of the story. In history, Movies were directed to intentionally leave out scenes that could alter the public’s opinion. This frequently let novel 's main points be swept under the rug. There were times of this at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, where white Americans were the only ones making movies. Not many African Americans had the opportunity to be involved in the process of major productions. Because racism in To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is underplayed in the film, it shows
middle of paper ... ... Despite working for Precrime for a long time, Anderton was shocked to learn that such important information was not told. Since there are times when there is a “minority report” the outcome of a prediction of a future murder is rather uncertain. Even if there is a small possibility of a “minority report” there could still be a possibility that the perpetrator or murderer would not commit the murder attempt.