I
was in middle school when I learned what the term "dystopia" meant.
It was described by the teacher as being a utopia (a word my classmates and I did know). It didn't really make sense to me,
but she went on to explain that it's impossible for a utopia to exist, and all
attempts to make one would result in a dystopia. I kind of understood at the
time, but at the same time I didn't, and up until watching Minority Report, I still didn’t. Theoretically, given enough time
and effort, it should be
possible, right?
In
Minority Report, there’s a police
force called “precrime” who have access to a precognitive trio that can see into
the future. The precrime unit uses the information they can obtain from the
precognitive visions and try to arrest people before they commit the crimes
they see that they’re going to commit. Supposedly, the precrime unit has
brought down crime to 0% in their area of operations (by stopping it all before
it happens), which sounds like a pretty great sell for basically anyone that’s
not a diehard criminal. Who doesn’t want
to live in a world where people don’t commit crimes?
There
are, of course, numerous flaws with this system (many of which are brought up
throughout the course of the film), but even assuming that the precrime system
is 100% accurate, without flaw, and that everyone
knows it, the precrime system is basically all that Nineteen-Eighty Four’s Thought Police could ever hope for and more.
It’d be an absolute cinch for them to catch thought criminals because they’d
literally be able to see their thoughts. Granted, the precrime system can only
detect criminal thoughts, but that’s still a breach of privacy. The idea that
you can be arrested for thinking the wrong thing is an incredibly controversial
one even today, so one can pretty easily imagine what would happen if precrime
ever became a thing in our world.
In
the world of Minority Report, we’ve
got a system so efficient at stopping crime that crime no longer happens. That
sounds like a step towards a utopia if I’ve ever heard of one. Yet, it comes
with a few strings attached. While I’m certain that are people who’d be okay
with Minority Report being a reality,
there will be those opposed to it. In this way, I can see how a utopia might
become a dystopia.
Still,
I’m not totally convinced that a utopia cannot exist, let alone the fact that
all utopias are doomed to fail, that they all must become dystopias. I think it’d be possible for there to be a
place where everyone just gets along, and no crime happens because there’s no
reason for there to be any. I don't necessarily think that a utopia should be what a society strives, or that it'd be a practical goal, but I do think that one could exist.
A point was made in one of the readings that dytopia and utopia can be the same thing depending on your perspective of society. Even the universe of Star Trek can be considered Utopian because of the values society places on exploration and the eradication of hunger due to replicator technology, but even then, there is still war and political conflicts. These systems don't come into place from the top down, the powerful always want to maintain the status quo, normally they are demanded and put into place by demand from the masses. In minority report, D.C was still in the experimental phase, but the citizens of the city saw the benefits of the pre crime program and venerated it. It was only people on the outside that saw potential dangers in the system. So I think any world can be a Utopia if from the perspective of the main character, the benefits of society outweigh the negatives, while a dystopian view would from those disenfranchised from society. A great anime series that goes further into the vein of minority report is Psycho-pass, its worth a watch.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point you made about Minority Report. If The Party in 1984 had access to precogs, that society would be so much worse. In Minority Report at least the government isn't completely corrupt and is actually trying to protect the citizens (however misguided their attempts may be), so the program is eventually shut down. In 1984 no one would have a say in whether or not to implement that program, and it would bring that government one step closer to total domination of the populace. Also, they'd be able to use that technology to avoid any surprise rebellions by the proles.
ReplyDelete