Brutus and John Anderton

What do Brutus (from The Tragedy of Julius Caesar) and John Anderton (from Minority Report) have in common?

The answer is: pre-crime, preemptive action. And this is why my Sophomores will have the opportunity to watch Minority Report after school with popcorn and pop. I don’t tell the kids why they are watching the film, and then I ask them to explain how the film relates to Shakespeare’s play.

Eventually someone arrives at Anderton’s job where he stops people from committing future crimes and connects this to Brutus’ lines (Act II, Scene 1, Lines 10-13 and 30-34) where he says:

It must be by his death: and, for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,

But for the general. He would be crown’d:

How that might change his nature, there’s the question…
Fashion it thus,—that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities:
And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg
Which hatch’d, would, as his kind grow mischievous;
And kill him in the shell.

It’s a ton of fun to watch and a learning experience, too. Plus, Phillip Dick’s stories were so far ahead of his time that I can usually hook one or two kids on his writing for a few weeks.