Movie Night
Philosophy 100
Spring 2008
Danielson
Minority Report
Here are several questions to keep in mind while watching the film. These can be used for discussion the night of the film or to write
on for those who watch on their own. If you are writing answers because you did not attend the film, or because you are writing this
for more extra credit, please answer one or more of the questions with a two-page response. You have until the date of the next film
to submit your responses.
1. A central theme of the film is the idea of determinism v. free will. Are we able to make choices which control our
behavior and future or are our actions controlled by some other forces outside of our direct control – fate / the gods
etc.? If our future is determined would you want to know what is in store for your life? Why? Why not? Feel free to
expand on ideas that link to Neo’s choice in “The Matrix.”
2. There is a scene where Tom Cruise’s character Chief John Anderton walks through a mall. Sensors pick up his
presence and display products that he would want to buy. Is this a subtle critique being made about our world today?
Are we moving towards a world, or does it already exist, where we are bombarded every where we go with
advertising? Is that a good thing? Why or why not? What are the implications for privacy?
3. The three Pre-Cogs, named Agatha, Dashiell and Arthur, work in unison in a location is called “the temple.”
Together they are like the Oracle at Delphi in ancient Greece. The oracle was consulted to tell the ancient Greeks of
the future. How do those ideas influence the meaning of the film? Are we to see the film as a modern myth? What
are we supposed to think of the oracle at the end?
4. Early in the film Anderton, Cruise’s character, acts like a symphony conductor moving the images around on the
screen while symphonic music plays. He is orchestrating the safety of the city. What does he symbolize to the
viewers? Does this technological wizardry enhance our trust in the precogs and the pre-crime unit? How does the
music influence how we feel about what he is doing? (Music is a key component of film to convey emotions.)
5. Does the act of Anderton getting new eyes symbolize gaining of insight? (Remember the drug dealer says to him “In
the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”) He is an anti hero: a drug taking, confused and pained individual.
Yet with these new eyes he able to “see” the truth of what has happened in order to create the conditions of the
Precogs and the police unit “Pre-Crime.” What does “getting new eyes” represent? Are there similar practices we
could engage in which would open our eyes?
6. When Anderton rescues Agatha, it is like the ancient myth of saving Persephone by taking her to the underworld.
They escape by being washed down a drain as if into a Jungian collective unconscious. Is Spielberg enticing us with
more mythological references that appeal to a modern cultural psyche? Does this work to enhance and deepen our
experience of the film?
7. The film is politically very timely. It asks whether we should surrender our civil liberties in order to be safe from
crime – or in our case terrorism. (The film was completed before 9/11 but was released in the Summer of 2002.)
Anderton’s son was kidnapped before the Pre-Cogs were in place. He is emotionally driven to save others as a result.
He wants to arrest people for thinking of doing wrong. Is his story a morality tale about sacrificing liberty for safety
as a response to the impotence of being able to stop a previous tragedy? How does that relate to our political
environment?
8. “Pre-Crime: It Works” is on the billboard. The consumerist future portrayed is like Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon.
“The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners
being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the "sentiment of
an invisible omniscience. (Wiki)” What are the costs and benefits of having a system like the precogs in place?
Would you want a system that works like this for us if it were possible? Would it mean that we are really stuck in a
cultural prison, constantly under surveillance? Why? Why not?
9. The world of Minority Report is a dystopian future. Not a Utopian one. It’s also a discussion of technology gone
badly. The use of the new drug Neuroine leading to great harm. How does this play out as a film about our mood as a
country?
10. “There is always a flaw; they are always human.” This is a common theme in science fiction. It is the idea that the
technology is perfect, machine-like, whereas with humans there is always some flaw. How might this reveal a
connection to the religious myth of the fall of man, at heart deeply flawed and needing a savior?
11. “Sometime to see the light you have to risk the dark.” This quote points to the costs of transcendence. In order to
achieve new understanding, we must let go of our old knowledge or safety. Is this choice Anderton makes related to
leaving Plato’s cave? How so?