Saturday, February 7, 2015

What is the theme of "Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick?

“Minority Report” explains the need for those in authority to maintain the status quo, especially when they believe in it. Anderton is the police commissioner in charge of Precrime, a unit that makes use of prelaw methodology to nab criminals before they can break the law. The Precrime system makes use of three precog mutants, called Donna, Jerry, and Mike, who predict the names of would-be criminals. These “criminals” are then apprehended and confined in...

“Minority Report” explains the need for those in authority to maintain the status quo, especially when they believe in it. Anderton is the police commissioner in charge of Precrime, a unit that makes use of prelaw methodology to nab criminals before they can break the law. The Precrime system makes use of three precog mutants, called Donna, Jerry, and Mike, who predict the names of would-be criminals. These “criminals” are then apprehended and confined in the detention camp before they have the opportunity to carry out the crimes. It is touted that the system has managed to cut down felonies by about 99.8%. When the majority of the precogs predict that Anderton intends to kill General Leopold Kaplan, of the Federated Westbloc Alliance, two forces emerge: the Army, led by General Kaplan, who want to use the minority report to discredit Precrime’s system so that they can get back to the good old days when they would do their own police work, and Precrime, who would like to maintain the status quo. Anderton thus decides to kill General Kaplan, so as to maintain Precrime’s status as the chief criminal investigation unit of the state. The question of choice also arises, as one wonders whether Anderton would have made the choice to kill the General all other factors constant.


The story also explores the concept of individual freedom. When people are detained for their intentions to commit crimes, even when these intentions may not come to life in the long run, individual freedom is curtailed to a large extent.

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