Surveillance in the City - Essay Example

SURVEILLANCE IN THE MINORITY REPORT CASE ANALYSIS Words: 2759 Introduction surveillance is one of the most crucial aspects of any metropolis in any country. Censuring that there is enough surveillance in the city always results in adequate security for the residents, public and private properties. Security has always been a major issue for politicians and administrators in any city. Hence, each and every city dweller and other stakeholders would always want to have enough security whenever they are. Modern cities and metropolis have invested heavily in city surveillance technologies and personnel in order to ensure that their citizens have the required security1. Closed-circuit cameras have become common in cities and they have become an important aspect of city security. Security teams and personnel form an important aspect of the city surveillance teams. Control of urban space and inaugurated surveillance measures are widely used worldwide. Ethical, legal and even moral questions arise when there is mass surveillance and accumulation of personal data from individuals without their knowledge and consent. The film and movie industry has always illustrated how city surveillance has become crucial and important in the modern age. One of the most iconic films that represents the divergent views on city surveillance is Minority Report (2002). It is vital to study and understand how minority report represents and handles the various views on mass or city surveillance through scholarly analysis2. Summary of Minority Report Minority Report is a movie that was directed by Steven Spielberg based on Philip Dick’s Sci-Fi short story “The Minority Report” written in 1956. The film is set in 2054 in a modernized Washington DC where crime and murder have been wholly eliminated. Tom cruise takes the character of John Anderton, who is the head of a Pre-crime, a unit under the Justice department that works in the Jurisdiction of Washington D.C. Three psychic human beings called precogs have been harnessed and their power to see future crimes projected on computers. The precogs have the ability to see images of future murders and those who are identified are apprehended before they commit crimes after which they are incarcerated. The pre-crime unit is to face a national vote on its effectiveness and take it from the Washington D.C. jurisdiction to a national level. Anti-pre-crime advocates such as Danny Witwer who oppose the move. Witwer has been sent by the Justice department to access the ability and effectiveness of pre-crime. Pre-crime surveillance is 100 percent accurate but while at the labs, John Anderton becomes a victim of the precogs when they show that he will commit a murder. He runs away in search of answers. The pre-crime unit that he has led are after him. The movie is set on Anderton’s flight and his quest to get the minority reports that are usually hidden in the precogs memory. This reports of surveillance may show that pre-crime is not one hundred percent accurate. The movie shows that basically, a future urban society will be highly technical when it comes to issues of surveillance. Surveillance forms the major source of evidence for the justice department in the minority report. Due to its ability to post images of crimes before they happen, those who are accused of crimes or caught before they commit them, are not usually taken before a court of law. Their judgment is done immediately at the site of the crime after which they are sentenced to prison terms3. Analysis of scenes with surveillance Minority Report is essentially a surveillance film. The major purpose of the movie is to highlight the ethical practice of using mass surveillance methods. There are several scenes in the movie that highlight how institutions deal with the notion of surveillance. One of the scenes that shows how surveillance is applied in an unethical way is when Anderton is on the run and he has to go and change his eyes. In the future, eyes are used to recognize individuals whenever they pass near a camera. As soon as an individual looks in a camera, he is immediately recognized and flagged by the pre-crime division. There are other means of also surveillance on an individual. For example, when he is at Dr. Eddie’s backstreet clinic, after the eye changing operation, Pre-crime have already identified that he is hiding in the building. They sent mechanical spiders which prod the eyes of all the individuals in the building in order to identify Anderton. This is an abuse of privacy, but pre-crime as an institution is allowed to carry out this types of surveillance. In the modern context, this is a practice that cannot be allowed because, before any private property is searched, the respective crime fighting institutions have to get a warrant from courts of law. The practice of gathering surveillance from individuals in the movie is unethical because mechanical spiders have to prod an individual’s eyes which is clearly shown to be discomforting and even having the probability of causing physical injuries4. One of the major scenes that depicts the unethical means by which institutions use power when carrying out surveillance, is the first scene of the film. Using the precogs, Anderton and his pre-crime division are able to see a murder which is to take place and to be committed by Howard Stone. Stone is to use a pair of scissors in murdering his wife. The precogs invade the privacy of individuals as they show the home of stones and how his cheating wife carries out the act. This is invasion of privacy at all levels. The pre-crime division has all the jurisdiction and power to invade and even access the very basic private space of individuals. The powers that are vested in pre-crime can be used in a manner that is unacceptable. Through access of this information, government institutions spy on their own citizens in an apparent move to prevent murder. In the end, Howard Stone is caught and he is incarcerated. The question that arises from this scene is whether it is right to jail someone on the basis of the precogs images. The individual is not offered a trial where he can have judicial representation. The accuracy of the precogs image is beyond doubt in the movie based on the notion that they have never been wrong. The question that the film asks is whether this images can be manipulated. In case the images are manipulated, then there is the possibility that pre-crime may be imprisoning people who are innocent. This is because pre-crime captures people before they commit a crime5. A scene which also is important on surveillance is a scene when Anderton has to steal a precog and then take it to a hacker so that he can see be able to find the minority reports. When he enters the mall building, which houses various shops, he is immediately recognized and the adverts are directed to him. The advertisements automatically call his name in trying to convince him to buy products. On entering the building, the surveillance cameras immediately recognize the person. Even for him to open doors, he has to have his eyes scanned and his data to be recognized before he can be able to access certain parts of the buildings. This is a clear indication that the rights and privacy of individuals are used in a mass manner. Collection of data is efficient and it is easy to track someone wherever he walks to. The futuristic world of Washington D. C. means that an individual cannot walk freely. Freedom of movement and privacy is curtailed through the various forms of surveillance that litter everywhere. The movie shows how technology has become a big part in human life. Technology is shown to be the basis by which people’s security is controlled. The end result is that the government and institutions like pre-crime have up to date information on the whereabouts of the citizens. Visual design is a vital part in any form of communication or representation. In the minority report, the film employs various aspects of visual design in its representation of surveillance and oppression. The creators of the film employ the use of space, color, characterization and other factors of visual design to create the contrasting aspects of oppressions. The members of the elite pre-crime division are clothed in modern uniforms made of technological gadgets that allow them to fly. The uniform of the pre-crime squad represents the power of the institutions that carry out surveillance. They look modern. In comparing the upstate city dwellers and those who live in dilapidated conditions, the visual aspects indicate how oppression is shown. The building where the crooked Dr. Eddy stays is shown through visual aspects of color and space to be riddled with dirt and poverty. Occupants of the side of the city are shown to be poor through their clothing and the way they live. These represents oppression by the government. Upstate city dwellers are shown to be modern and their clothing are shown to be more sophisticated. They are happy. However, the same people are the ones who have embraced pre-crime surveillance. Children are shown to worship the precogs. Hence, through visual aspects of color and space, Minority report manages to show the contrasting aspects of oppression and surveillance6. In addition to the use of color, space is employed to show oppression and surveillance. There is a contrasting use of space and color to portray the two different lives of city dwellers and those in the upcountry. When Anderton runs away from the city, he visits Iris, one of the people who experimented on the Precogs. The countryside is green and very healthy and fresh with air. The environment is sparse and it creates a certain feeling of peace. The city is shown to be congested busy and always full. Surveillance is done in the city which is congested and with a lot of people. On the other hand, the environment in which Iris resides is peaceful and less congested, evergreen. Surveillance and oppression cannot be found in this environment. It is this peaceful atmosphere that the creators use to show how peaceful life without surveillance is. In addition to this, the environment in which Lara, Anderton’s wife stays is shown to be peaceful and in the countryside. The hand of the pre-crime division under Witwer cannot reach this area. There is a contrasting use of visual aspects in trying to paint the image of the countryside and that of the city. While the city is congested and full of technological aspects of surveillance that lead to surveillance and oppression, the countryside is shown to be peaceful and with barely no congestion. The countryside is peaceful. This is attained by the careful use of space and color7. The city is represented through various ways of imaging in the Minority Report. One of the ways in which the city is represented is that it is shown to be an insecure place which needs constant large amounts of money invested in its security. The insecurity in the city is very high to the extent that only a miracle can solve the problem of murder. Surveillance and technology are shown to be the only solutions to the city’s insecurity problem. In the movie, an advanced form of technology which combines human psychic abilities and technology is used to capture images of crimes that are to happen and then they are collected and projected via technology by human beings. This miracle helps the city to rid of its insecurity problem. However, questions on its ethical ability are portrayed by the film. Perhaps the major purpose of Minority report is to show that crimes in the city can be eliminated using high end surveillance method. However, the film tries to ask the question of the cost at which wiping crimes will involve. The precogs, are human beings who have psychic ability. They are captured and locked in a liquid that helps to tap their ability. This shows that the administrators in the city will go to the deepest means possible in order to ensure that the city is safe8. Scholarly Analysis of Minority Report According to Foucault, surveillance is a decisive economic tool as an internal part of the production machinery and as a specific mechanism in the disciplinary power. Through ensuring that there is enough and adequate surveillance, the city dwellers are not only provided with security, but they are forced to act in a certain disciplined manner. Production is likely to increase. From Minority Report, the citizens are shown to be busy while at the same time following a certain form of order. The power of the system established by Pre-crime makes it to have ultimate power on controlling and ensuring that the masses are well disciplined9. Foucault further asserts that discipline makes it possible for the operation of relational power that sustains itself by its own mechanisms and which for the spectacle of public events Substitutes the uninterrupted play of calculated gazes. This structure is seen through pre-crime and its inventor and chief advocate Lamar Burgess. To him, everything is a calculated play that is meant to lead to a national pre-crime division10. Foucault further states that surveillance and normalizing of judgment go hand in hand. Surveillance brings with it a certain form of jurisdiction is created. In the minority report, it is normal to immediately proclaim judgment at the scene of arrest even without a court hearing for the accused. The criminal is also judged based on a crime that he is yet to commit. However, this may be due to the powerful and accurate nature of the images that have been send by the precogs. Foucault asserts that disciplinary punishment is a function to reduce gaps. He states that discipline should be corrective in nature. However, in the minority Report, discipline is punishment. It does not have any corrective measures. People are locked in body fitting cells. They are completely immobilized and incarcerated from the world11. Foucault paints an image of surveillance in his article panopticism. He uses the idea of Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon to show how surveillance is used to gather information and keep people in place. Foucault states that the major function of panopticom is to instill into an inmate a certain form or state of conscious that will ensure there is a permanent visibility that leads to automatic reassurance of functioning power. It is this same principle that the designers and administrators of pre-Crime employ in ensuring that they keep all the city dwellers in check. Cameras are placed everywhere. This leads to people in the city to always have a sense or feeling that they are under watch. Even the notion of precogs and their ability to see images of crimes before they are committed is also a form of panopticism. Criminals who will want to commit murders will not even think about it because they will be caught before they do it12. In conclusion, Panopticism is shown to be a very important mechanism because it automates power and at the same time ensures that power is disindividualized13. Minority Report is essentially a form of panopticon as envisualised by Jeremy Bentham. The Precogs and pre-crime are the same machinery as discussed by Foucault in his text. Pre-crime as a machine that controls and offers surveillance is characterized by the aspect of discipline that is well discussed by Foucault. The visual aspects, the storyline, and the characterization employed by Spielberg offer a critical platform on which surveillance and the city can be discussed. The excess of technology and the ethical issues that arise from this depiction are important in discussing the aspect of panopticon. Bibliography Brooker, P. Modernity and Metropolis; Writing, film and urban formations (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002). Burdett Ricky and Deyan Sudjic, eds., The endless city, (London: Phaidon, 2007) Burdett, Ricky and Deyan Sudjic, eds., Living in the endless city, (London: Phaidon, 2011) Foucault, Michael. The Means of Correct Training. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979) Foucault, Michael. Panoptocism. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979) LeGates, Richard T. and Frederic Stout, eds.,5th ed., The city reader, (London: Routledge, 2011) Miles, M, et al. (eds.), The City Cultures Reader (London: Routledge, 2000). Spielberg, Steven. The Minority Report. (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp, USA, 2002) Read More