Wednesday, September 25, 2013

6. Minority Report

                How far is too far when it comes to technology? This is one of the major questions that Minority Report asks. In 2054 Washington D.C. has what is called a PreCrime police force. They can detect murders and arrest people before they even happen. They do this by using three people who have been trained to see the future. Their memories are then saved and uploaded onto the computer where Captain John Anderton and his team use plenty of futuristic gizmos and gadgets to analyze the memory and determine where and when the murder is going to happen.
                This means though that basically the government can always see what we’re doing, before were even going to do it. The main theme of the movie is fate versus free will. Free will is a trait that defines us as humans. We have the ability to make choices. Yes, we have to live with the consequences, but we have the choice. The government now has a machine though that can see what choices we make before we make them. Are we still in control then? Or is big brother really in control?
                The deeper problem is when you find out what your future is. Are you still making the choice if you’ve been told already you’re going to make that choice? Is there any way to change that future? This is what John has to deal with when one day a vision comes up of him committing a murder.

                I think this is where things get taken too far. Free will is important. The future should be left unknown. If you know the future that ruins the journey to lead us there. It could even alter that journey if you know too much. Plus should we as society allow the police and the government to creep that far into our lives that they know things about us that even we don’t? No one knows us better than ourselves. If that isn’t true anymore than we don’t have anything to call ours. Everything about us is out there for everyone to know. That sense of having something about you that is inherently yours is important.

Works Cited

Spielberg, Steven, dir. Minority Report. CD-ROM.

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