Notes on Minority Report

Abstract

Using Spielberg’s 2002 film Minority Report as a cultural text, this symposium essay explores the 'de-shadowing' work film does in relation to the criminal justice system, rendering visible the schism between the justice courts imagine they are administering and the justice that actually exists. This symposium essay also examines how Minority Report problematizes the role of the spectator, both as a watcher of filmic media and as a surrogate thirteenth juror assessing truth, guilt, and innocence.

Keywords: criminal justice, film, popular culture, cultural studies, cinema, race, gender, law and humanities, cultural analysis of the law