Minority Report(ed) (3 of 3)

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Criticisms aside, Spielberg may have been actually done a good job in terms of class in “Minority Report,” sending the message that underneath the power structure, it is women’s intelligence that are running the show, shown by the female pre-cog and the inventor of the whole system.

“Minority Report” also did a good job in its critique of capitalism and technology. The movie opens with an overload of technologically advanced scenes, but the first case that Tom Cruise handled occurred in a middle class family where technology had not taken over their lives. Further, when Tom Cruise was being chased, it is interesting to see that Spielberg imagined all kinds of different neighborhoods. In fact, he really showed that the gap between the rich and the poor was much wider than real life today: the drastic contrast from Lexus-driving communities to the working class families living in the slums. While society became more advanced, only those who were in the power structure had access to the new technology. The government then used that technology to monitor and intervene in people's lives, perhaps a not-so-subtle comment on the current Bush regime.

Yes, “Minority Report” was an exciting/original movie—a joyride where we can shut off our brains for 140 minutes. But it was also incredibly racist, sexist, and heterosexist, all packaged very neatly to reinforce the power structure of this world. That, my friends, is not very original at all.

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