Watches and Clocks (Motif)
A major part of how PreCrime works is that once a Precog has a vision of a future murder, a timer starts on the event, and the cops at PreCrime are able to count down until the moment. Thus, throughout the film, there are numerous shots of clocks and watches. These images are both to show us exactly how much time is left until a crime is supposed to be committed, and also to call to mind the fact that time and the future are central themes in the film. In a society in which we know what will happen in the future, can people have free will?
Murder (Motif)
The film is about a technology that anticipates murders before they happen. Thus, murder recurs throughout the film as a kind of motif. Before we know much about the film, we see projected images of a violent crime, Howard Marks' brutal murder of his wife and the man she's having an affair with. The imagery is through a filter, to reflect the fact that it is a premonition, and it is violent and disturbing. Murder comes up time and again, which shows us that the world of PreCrime is a disturbing and intense undertaking, and reminding us that human beings are capable of great violence.
The Gold Gun (Symbol)
At the dinner in Lamar Burgess' honor, towards the end of the film, the director of PreCrime is presented with a golden revolver, which we are told is a kind of gun that was given to Civil War generals to represent peace. In this instance, the revolver represents the peace that PreCrime has brought to Washington, D.C., the fact that murders never happen anymore. When John Anderton exposes Burgess' murder of Anne Lively to the dinner guests, Lamar Burgess goes in search of him with the gun, and the symbol of peace becomes a symbol of death and discord all too soon.
Eyes (Symbol)
In the future of Minority Report, individuals are identified by their eyes. Whenever people enter a building, a machine scans their irises and identifies them. This can be either professional—a system for getting through security at more secured places—or commercial—a way to make advertising more targeted. When people walk through malls, holograms of salespeople address the people by name, making a more targeted shopping experience. When John Anderton has to go on the run, he knows that he has to get his eyes replaced so that he will not be identified. In the film, eyes represent identity, but they also represent the ways that the futuristic society surveils its citizens.
Nature (Motif)
In such a spacey, futuristic world, we do not get many glimpses of nature. Cars drive themselves, and the urban landscape of Washington, D.C. is not a green oasis but a green-tinged urban sprawl. Throughout the film, characters visit nature at different times. Thus, nature serves as a motivic relief from the chaotic, intense world of the city. Iris Hineman lives in a secluded cottage in the woods, surrounded by defensive plants. Lara and John's old house is a beautiful old house on a lake. Then, at the end, we see the Precogs, Agatha, Arthur, and Dashiell, all hole up in a cabin in an undisclosed location, where they can live out their days in peace. The film positions the natural and the pastoral as an ideal state, one that exists in contrast to and outside of the corruption and violence of society.
