Minority Report is one of the most vivid visions of the future around. It takes place two steps into the future with technology that’s astounding yet doesn’t seem too far fetched. It deals with he ideas of free will and destiny, but what is most interesting about minority report is that its a world on the cusp of becoming a totalitarian state. As always the best of intentions lead to the worst actions. This vision of the future stands on the border line between utopia, and distopia as freedom is in the process of being sacrificed for security.
Inspired by the kidnapping and death of his son Tom Cruise plays Captain John Anderton, the head of Washington DC’s Pre Crime division. Thanks to three telepathic “precogs” this section of the police department is able to detect murders before they happen and arrest the would be murderer. The number of homicides has dropped to zero.The Pre Crime division is a cutting edge experiment about to go national. No thought is given to the fact that the murderers are technically innocent, or the rights of the precogs who are kept drugged and wired into a computer. In fact most people have gotten used to their retinas being scanned on a regular basis for security checks. The system works. Its flawless, except for the minority report. The potential that something the precogs see isn’t entirely accurate. When the precogs see Anderton commit a murder he has to go on the run, and prove he wouldn’t kill anyone. His only hope is to find a minority report.
Much of the technology we see is based off of standard modern tech taken to paranoid extremes. Retinal scanners are on every street corner. They function the same way traffic cameras do in stoplights, except scanning liscence plates the scan people. Any where you go you can be mapped and cataloged. Billboards near scanners will customize themselves to whoever walks by, similar to adds on Google and Facebook customize themselves to your searches and profile information. Even the eye candy special effects, such as genetically engineered attack plants, jet packs, cars that drive up the sides of buildings, holographic memory download, and mechanical spiders which scan and catalog people indiscriminately, give a sense that you are never alone. Even your thoughts can be probed and used against you. It’s not wrong to be paranoid in this type of world. America isn’t a police state… yet.
As technology advances it’s easy to use it ensure safety. We now have full body scanners at airports, conversations on the internet and the telephone can be observed, and surveillance cameras are everywhere. Anderton has suffered the loss of a child, and tries to turn his grief into something positive. The technology he uses to prevent others from going through what he has, nearly becomes the noose he’s hung with. With power so condensed at the top it only takes one crooked person to abuse the rights of everyone. Though I don’t think we’re as close to a totalitarian regime as as the world of Minority Report, but if technology continues to develop its something to remain ever aware of.
