Minority Report (yay we're done)

Minority Report

Introduction:

            Minority Report is a movie that takes place in Washington D.C. Year 2054, it is the setting of an experimental justice system called pre crime, these being called pre cogs have the ability to see into the future to prevent crime, John Anderton head of pre crime, is forced to go on the run when the pre cogs predict he will murder someone. In the end his mentor and oldest friend turns out being his greatest threat.

            Similar Noir Qualities:

                        1. Traditional detective working for the justice system alone and by himself.

                        2. A white male protagonist

                        3. Detective is alone and only thinks about his work

Ambiguous Protagonist:

            John Anderton being Chief Justice of his precinct is a classic example of old noir due to his own self isolation and constant drive to put forth his best foot forward for his work. Because of his sons shawns disappearance Anderton joined the police force. And through this repercussion Anderton is isolated, distant from any real contact with people. Also with his disseverance of himself being predicted to be a murder he crosses the line and breaks his oath of justice.  

            Circumstances with the Protagonist:

                        1. Pre cogs predict Anderton will murder someone in the next 36 hours.

                        2. He runs in an attempt to purposely flaw and flawless system to ultimately save himself for being imprisoned for life.

                        3. Anderton is forced outside the law and becomes himself an outlaw, breaking every code he held as an ethos as former Chief Justice.

 Minority Report Neo-Noir Science fiction film:

            This film does have many classic noir attributes that make it in line with an updated version of such old fashion noir. Mostly the advancements and various twists make it a neo noir film. In Lee Horsely article “An introduction to Neo-Noir”, he says, “elements of 'the noir vision', most importantly the moral ambivalence of the protagonist and his (or in neo-noir often her) ill-fated relationship with a wider society that itself is guilty of corruption and criminality.” Like classic noir films neo noir professes an over whelming atmosphere of corruption and dismay yet the neo noir aspect is to inflict twice as much corruption and criminality. With this film corruption is at every corner and even from within its own justice system.

            1. A huge characteristic of all classic noir films is the infamous femme fatale, a sexy dangerous person with a mean of doing whatever it takes to get what she wants.

            2. This films deviated from this character and thus allows it to have one more attribute of neo noir.

            3. Male protagonist doesn’t really interact at all with the opposite sex instead this film focuses mainly on the case at hand as well as the protagonist.

Sex and Violence:

            Classic Noir films did a very good job portraying the dark side in all human beings. The corruption and betrayal were an everyday reality even for such a time. As time went forward certain events such as wars, unemployment, racial movements, assassinations of the presidents and various other history altering events were thrusted into society as a result of bad time changing into worse situations. With the result of this the movie industry evolved and lead to the expansion of immoral entertainment. People become used to it and development a tolerance due to calamity throughout history. As Keven Taylor in his work “Raising the bar in neo noir genre in film” he says , “To achieve this effect, neo-noir films were forced to use themes that were unimaginable to the audiences of the 40s and 50s.”  Todays audience is not easily shaken by murder, drugs and sex scenes.

            1. Although the sexual content and violence are extreme characteristics of the noir and neo noir genre this film only amplifies one.

            2. This film is a very good example of violence it portrays murder scenes as well as shoot outs among criminals and cops.

            3. With constant upheaval of injustice this film consists of car chases and questionable methods exploited by Anderton. The violence in this movie is a prime example of classic noir violence, the only difference is the unrestraint to show more of it.