Portrayals of John Anderton
Imagine a world in which the thought of murder is a thing of the past; a world that has successfully abolished the system of jails and fines with the aid of gifted individuals that can predict the future (Dick 72). Such a crime free world exists in Philip K. Dick’s famous short story, The Minority Report. Using the adaptation made by screenwriters, Scott Frank and Jon Cohen, DreamWorks was able to release the film version of Dick’s short story in 2002. Furthermore, this futuristic age film was directed by the famous director, Stephen Spielberg. The main focus of the short story and film surrounds the lead character John Anderton and his efforts to understand the minority report. In comparing the portrayal of John Anderton’s physical characteristics and the conspiracy surrounding him in the short story and film, one can clearly state that the character of John Anderton has been well adapted onto the big screen, even far more developed, than in the short story.
The plot of the short story takes place in the future, in which three gifted individuals known as “precogs” or “precognitives” can view the future and prevent an act of murder from taking place. The precogs’ prediction allows a specially trained group of agents from the Precrime unit, a policing organization, to apprehend the future criminal, effectively stopping the criminal act (Landrith). In the short story the founder and the commissioner of the Precrime unit, John Anderton, experiences the other end of the spectrum as a criminal when he is suddenly accused of a future murder. He is allegedly going to kill an individual by the name of Leopold Kaplan, the General of the Army of the Federated Westbloc Alliance, an aboli...
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...of John Anderton is well portrayed in Dick’s short story and in the 2002 movie version, the character seems to be far more developed in the movie than in the short story. Through his physical characteristics and the conspiracy that surrounds the character, the movie was able to bring forth a character that is appealing to the audience and engaging to watch on the big screens. In this writers’ opinion, Spielberg, Frank and Cohen made the right choice to portray John Anderton in such a heroic manner.
Works Cited
Dick, Philip. The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories by Philip K. Dick. New York, NY: Citadel Press Book, 1987: 71-102.
Landrith, James. “The Minority Report: In Print and On Screen”. American Military University HM 214, Science Fiction and Fantasy. 12 April 2004. 24 Oct. 2004. <http://www.jameslandrith.com/essays/minorityreport.html>.
In the article “The Thematic Paradigm” exerted from his book, A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, Robert Ray provides a description of the two types of heroes depicted in American film: the outlaw hero and the official hero. Although the outlaw hero is more risky and lonely, he cherishes liberty and sovereignty. The official hero on the other hand, generally poses the role of an average ordinary person, claiming an image of a “civilized person.” While the outlaw hero creates an image of a rough-cut person likely to commit a crime, the official hero has a legend perception. In this essay, I will reflect on Ray’s work, along with demonstrating where I observe ideologies and themes.
The 1919 World series resulted in the most famous Scandal in Baseball history. Eight players from the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the series against the Reds and were banned from Major League Baseball. (“History files-Chicago Black Sox”) All eight players were expelled in an attempt to save the purity of the game. The White Sox lost the opening game of the series nine to one, and then ended up losing the series five games to three. (“Black Sox Scandal”) They had won the American league pennant and were highly favored to beat the Reds in the World Series. (“Bankston, Carl. L”)
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
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The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
[1] Within the last few decades, we have generated a great number of “historical” films reaching the American public. With these “historical” films come the question of whether or not the film portrayed history in an accurate manner; if not, why were the facts manipulated the way that they were. Unfortunately, this question is usually answered in the negative, and the audience is left with a fictional account of a factual happening, thereby giving the viewing public mixed messages concerning the issues raised within the film. Film used in this manner can be a dangerous tool in the hands of powerful people with agendas and ulterior motives.
It is a fool-proof system born to ensure absolute safety…but when it crumbles, would you go against everything it stands for just to save it? This is the platform that Philip K. Dick, author of the sci-fi short story "The Minority Report" (MR), has given us. Set in a futuristic New York City, we see Police Commissioner John A. Anderton as the founder of a promising new branch of policing: Precrime, a system that uses "Precogs" (mutated and retarded oracles) to predict all future crimes. However, the system appears to backfire when Anderton himself is accused to kill a man he's never even heard of. The movie adaptation by the same name also centers on a younger Chief Anderton, a respected employee of Precrime, predicted to murder a complete stranger who he was unaware existed. Amidst scandal, betrayal, and distrust, both Andertons must run from the justice system they've worked so hard to put in place, and admit to themselves, as well as to society, that a perfect system cannot be born of imperfect humans. Though the basis of the film's plot and major conflict stayed true to the story's, many changes were made to the personalities and roles of the characters, as well as the nature and detail of the main conflict and the sub-conflicts.
Dick, Philip K. The Man in the High Castle. New York, New York: Vintage Books (Random House), 1990.
In the 1930's Native Americans and women were viewed as inferior races. The films produced during the early part of the 20th century, particularly those starring John Wayne reflected these societal attitudes. The portrayal of minorities in Stagecoach and Fort Apache clearly reflect the views of society at that time. The depiction of the West is similar to that which is found in old history textbooks, em...
The White Savior Complex is a damaging subconscious underlay of the Hollywood system, and more broadly all of western society. It is used to further separate the notions of “us” and “other” by creating a firm separation fueled by self-righteousness, and a sense of entitlement. Hollywood attempts to address race relations, but fails because of this trope. Kingsle, from the article “Does My Hero Look White In This?” described that both racism and colonialism are acknowledged, but not without reassuring that not only were white people against the system of racist power dynamics, but also were actively fighting against it in leadership roles (2013). In the remainder of my essay I will be commenting on many modern films and their use on this trope, and why subscribing to this filmmaking strategy is problematic.
This paper employs many books and articles that investigate the 1919 Chicago White Sox team- infamously referred to as the “Black Sox” scandal. These works come from different periods of time throughout the last century, with authors from many backgrounds. All of the works take a stance on whether or not eight players on the Chicago White Sox’s threw the 1919 World Series, but many differ in their view as to who should be responsible for the events.
Nio, T. (2003). Cultivation and social comparison of the thin-ideal syndrome: The effects of media exposure on body image disturbance and the state self-esteem of college women. School of Journalism in the Graduate Scho, 105-113.
Vargas, L E. (2013) The Negative Effects of The Media on Body Image. Personal.psu.edu. Retrieved 30 Nov. 17 from:
...developments already progressed in the media and body research field. She claims that images used by the mass media are the greatest cause for image dissatisfaction. This article will provide my research paper with a vast amount of statistics and solutions for preventing internalization of the false body images being advertised by the media. The article is very detailed and precise; it uses other articles to support its findings. Dittmar suggests that we need more credible research done because of the complexity of the topic at hand. Limitation that the article may have would be the fact that it is no longer up to date with 2014, however to I accommodate for any information that is not accurate, I will only use data that coincides with both the past and present. This article will be a primary article with multiple facts and statistics I can use in my research paper.