Blog 13: Minority Report response

The movie Minority Report is the perfect allegory of the society we live in today. The movie depicts a society in a not to far future where murder is reaching in all time epidemic proportions and people living in this world would trade their independent freedoms for security. In this post 9/11 world we’ve done the something similar except without the word murder being on everyone’s lips its terrorism. In Minority Report the only way to deal with the epidemic rise of murder is to start the precrime program. Precrime is a division unit that has the technology and capabilities of predicting murder cases that haven’t even happen yet. The technology and the entire division though experimental gain the public’s trust by showing results of murders being committed entering an all time low. This raises many philosophical debates of free will and determined fate that these characters are playing with.
Precrime in its self is immoral and should not exist in a utilitarianistic way of fixing the murder epidemic situation. It promises to neutralize the problem but it involves changing destiny and playing with the fate these people have. In the movie precrime employs three beings with the ability of precognition murders being committed. The main character John Anderton believes the good precrime can do for humanity up until he saw himself committing a murder. John starts to question if Precrime is as accurate in its predictions as his boss Lamar said it was. Later John soon realizes that there is an alternative prediction called the ‘minority report’ in which the murder being committed by the person could have never happen. Only few people had a minority report though they were still ignored and put in prison in a vegetated state. It’s immoral in a sense that those innocent people who didn’t commit murder and have the minority report are still being prosecuted for the greater good. Idealistically it feels right but at the same time those people who are for precrime failed to realize that they might commit murder and might have an alternative future where the action never took place. Many may argue its better to be safe than sorry, yet if one does not commit the crime why should that individual be punish? This system plays with the lives of ordinary people and is too powerful toy with it, especially for those who are innocent or have a possible future like John Anderton who was set up by Lamar to begin with. Precrime predictions are a lot like the Oracle of Greek mythology in a way where you ask a prediction of the future and it only states what is going to happen. Not how, when, why, just states this situation or event will take place in your life. Like in Oedipus, Oedipus fate was to kill his father and marry his mother according to the prophecy. The Oracle never said what time, date, nor reason just stated this event will happen.
The movie also displays the sacrifice of independent freedom for security. In the movie society in which John Anderton lives is heavily anti privacy. Each subway station has an eye scanner to see if you’re a law abiding citizen or not. When entering a shopping mall it’s like going to a place where advertisers know your name. Also the police no longer need a warrant to search your apartment or daily activity, if need be they’ll scan your eyes with their drones of miniature spiders. All this security to hunt down a murder based on a prophecy from the precogs. While many would argue ‘If you have nothing to hide then why be afraid’ and accept this police state security I oppose it. What people don’t realized is that they are waving their rights away for protection of a threat. People can be persuaded by fear and intimidation to the point of willing to give up their privacy hoping for the threat to be over. The problem is that once the threat is over their privacy will still be monitored by big brother. People forget those who are monitoring our lives are just regular people that can become nosey neighbor. The individual may have nothing to hide in the closet yet his/her private life is entertainment. Without even realizing it we’ve become reality stars to big brother. By waving our rights for security big brother now has a show to watch for twenty-four hours and seven days a week. Multiple genres you can imagine and only big brother has access to those channels. It’s also hard to imagine a world where the police can interrupt your private life with random searches. For security individuals are now forced to get comfortable or use to it. In the book 1984 its main purpose was to ask its readers this question and that is how we as a society should avoid entering a totalitarian civilization?
Minority Report reflects on society willing to give up their individual rights for safety and security while playing with the concept of fate vs. free will. People need to start realizing that we live in a dangerous world and we might eventually come to an end because of that. It’s within our instinct to be violent and solve our needs and wants with that primal instinct. It’s only up to our morals and beliefs for we are complex to rationalize the situation. Only we can control the small portions of our existence but in the end the appointers will cut our thread.