The Minority Report
The Minority Report is a story set in a futuristic America where killing crimes aren’t a thing any longer because of the predicting system that enables the government to foresee the murders before they happen. Anderton is a Police Commissioner that handles with the predictability system, which is made up out of three mentally disadvantaged persons who’d shown to have a talent for predicting the future.
Anderton has kept the position for quite some time, so he sees the young newcomer Witwer as threat. His suspicion becomes greater after the card predicting the next murder comes out-the murderer is him. Anderton panics and shows the card to his wife Lisa, towards whom he also grows suspicious, and escapes the premises. The name of the person he is supposed to kill in the next few days is Kaplan, a wealthy businessman. Kaplan captures Anderton, because the news about the next murder are already out. Anderton is now a wanted fugitive and Kaplan agrees to help him escape.
The story culminates with Anderton’s realization that he has to see the reports of the predictability system, especially the minority report, which turns out to be a prevailing factor that can bring him his life back. According to the minority report, the fact that he saw the card predicting the murder nullifies the prediction. This poses a threat to the entire system, as every convicted possible murderer could have walked free by just seeing the card.
At the end, Anderton decides to kill Kaplan, who decides to make the truth about the predictability system public, to keep the system safe. As his punishment, Anderton is banished to another planetary system, leaving his wife and Witwer, in the position of a police commissioner overlooking the reports, behind.
Analysis
As many of his other works, the author explores a futuristic world in this story as well. In this instance it is a seemingly idyllic futuristic world where crime isn’t an issue anymore, as it is being predicted and prevented. Nevertheless, there are a lot of holes in this world; from the exploitation of the mentally undeveloped individuals, referring to them as monkeys, for the predictability system, through to the flaws in the system as well.
As it is revealed at the end, the system isn’t stable, as many factors influence it, the reports change based on circumstances. The reports themselves are paradoxical because by viewing them they are deemed useless. There is a question of morality in the story as well; lives are ruined with the predictions. But, as they discover, the mere knowledge of the predictions by the affected individuals could have prevented it. Nevertheless, there is uncertainty whether this could be completely effective. The ending isn’t a hopeful one, as it shows that in order to maintain the system, individual possibilities for changing predicted paths are completely diminished.
