Phillip K. Dick is well known for inspiring some of the greatest story worlds ever put on screen, and Minority Report is no exception. But the design of the technology isn’t the most important part of the story world. The concept of Precrime—arresting people before they’ve actually committed a murder—is the important part of Minority Report’s story world; the futuristic cars, jetpacks, and illogically transparent screens are just cool. In this video we compare three versions of this story—Philip K. Dick’s original short story from 1956, Jon Cohen’s 1997 script, and Scott Frank’s final script—to explore how each tries to establish the philosophy of the story world. We look at how they attempt to persuade the audience to believe in the system of Precrime, and examine how the story world itself becomes the antagonist of the story. Let’s take a look at Minority Report.
