What makes 12 Monkeys noteworthy of the Science Fiction genre?

(Contains Spoilers)

Science Fiction, above all else, is a genre which inspires individuals and societies to change. The futuristic setting and use of time travel in 12 Monkeys creates an alien, yet familiar, setting for human existence after the apocalypse.12 Monkeys simultaneously tells a compelling story and asks questions about current issues in our society. The movie forces its audiences to consider just how protected we really are from viruses, our treatment of lab animals, and how and why we define certain people as insane. Director Terry Gilliam presents these questions through the “insane” rants of Jeffrey Goines. The following script passage demonstrates how 12 Monkeys invites its audience to redefine insanity.

Jeffrey Goines says to Cole:

“You know what crazy is? Crazy is majority rules. Take germs for example…. Eighteenth century, no such thing, nada, nothing. No one ever imagined such a thing. No sane person. Along comes this doctor, uh, Semmelweis, Semmelweis. Semmelweis comes along. He's trying to convince people, other doctors mainly, that there's these teeny tiny invisible bad things called germs that get into your body and make you sick. He's trying to get doctors to wash their hands. What is this guy? Crazy? Teeny, tiny, invisible? What do they call it? Uh-uh, germs? Huh? What? Now, up to the 20th century, last week, as a matter of fact, before I got dragged into this hellhole. I go in to order a burger at this fast food joint, and the guy drops it on the floor. James, he picks it up, he wipes it off, he hands it to me like it's all OK. "What about the germs?" I say. He says, ‘I don't believe in germs. Germs are a plot made up so they could sell disinfectants and soaps.' Now he's crazy, right?”

Jeffrey unintentionally hits the nail on the head when he makes the above statement. Patients died of unnecessary infection in the 18th century because their doctors did not want to believe in a new threat – germs – and so refused to wash their hands. They preferred living in blind ignorance than worrying about microscopic germs covering everything they touched. In 12 Monkeys , the virus will be released because no one will believe Cole's warning. Had the psychiatrists given Cole the benefit of the doubt, they might have warned the government who might have added extra precautions against viruses. Humanity had six years to prepare for the apocalypse, yet no one did anything.

In the second half of the movie, Railly gives a lecture on “Madness and Apocalyptic Messages.” In her lecture she gives numerous examples of people throughout history who have preached about the fall of humanity. All the messengers, claiming to be from the future, foretell of a virus that will wipe out the human race. She cites two prophets claiming to be from the future, one from the 14th century and one from the early 20 th century; Cole is the most recent of these prophets. All three were preached the same warning, and all three warnings were ignored. It is easy to see why Cole cries out in frustration “ Look at those assholes, they're asking for it! Maybe people deserved to be wiped out!”

Gillian very deliberately forces his audience to see the consequences when humanity ignores legitimate advice simply because it is frightening or off-beat. It is warning us all that not every solution is straight-forward and logical. There are unexplainable occurrences and unfortunate tragedies in our world. Until it is proven otherwise, nothing is unfeasible. Hopefully 12 Monkeys and movies like it will encourage people to open their minds up to all possibilities instead of just writing them off as insane.

Quotes taken from http://scifiscripts.com/scripts/twelvemonkeys.txt 5/2/05

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