Ms. Gokturk
Trends in Literature
Twelve Monkeys DAY 1
"You
live a beautiful world, but you don't know it. You have freedom, sunshine, air
you can breathe. I would do anything to stay here, but I must leave."
–James Cole
“…5 billion people will die from a deadly virus in 1997…The
survivors will abandon the surface of the planet…once again, animals will rule
the world…”
-- Excerpts from
interview with clinically diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic,
April 12, 1990 –
1.
Explain how this statement illustrates ideas from
course.
2.
Airport scene #1. What occurs in the first scene at
the airport? Describe with details what
you saw.
3.
For what is James Cole “volunteered”? What has happened to world above? Describe the setting.
4.
James Cole is a revealer
of the truth. Find other evidence that
supports James Cole is a messiah figure, a redeemer figure (one who sacrifices
for sins) who tells of the world to come.
5.
How is the idea of
opposing forces of heaven and hell developed in this film?
6.
Airport scene #2. What has been added to this
second scene at the airport? Describe
with details what you saw.
7.
Airport scene #3. What has been changed to this
third dream scene at the airport?
Describe with details what you saw.
8.
Make a T chart comparing and contrasting 2035 to
the 1990s
Timeline: 2035 Post-Apocalyptic à 1990 à 2035 àWWI à 1996 à 2035 à 1996 Apocalypse
Pay attention to:
Tubes & Tunnels
Animals
Naturalistic Imagery
Heaven & Hell
Interview Panels
References to Déjà vu
Institutions:
Compare Prison to Mental Hospital
Televisions & Screens
Keys
Ms. Gokturk
Trends in Literature
Twelve Monkeys DAY 2
“You haven’t become addicted,
Cole, to that dying world?” –2035 scientist
DAY 2
9.
Continue your T chart comparing and contrasting
2035 to the 1990s.
10.
Airport scene #4. Who is the screaming woman now?
11.
"When my father gets upset, the ground shakes!
My father is God! I worship my father!” Jeffrey shouts in the hospital in
1990. Now, we learn that he is a famous
virologist. In 1996, Goines
says, “My father has warned people
about the dangers... of experimenting with DNA viruses for years.” Why is this significant in understanding Goines’ role in the apocalypse.
12.
Airport scene #5. Huh? Who’s the kid? Explain Railly’s
smile.
13.
Did James Cole cause the end of the world?
14.
Did James Cole save the future?
15.
How do explain the truth about the airport
scene? How is this possible?
16.
“You might say human beings are the next on the
endangered species list,” Dr. Jones says to Dr. Peters
on the plane. We know that’s true, but
what does she [Jones] mean when she says, “I’m in insurance”? Why is she there?
17.
The man
attending Dr. Railly’s speech says, “I think, Dr. Railly,
you have given your ‘alarmists’ a bad name. Surely there is very real and very
convincing data that the planet cannot survive the excesses of the human race:
proliferation of atomic devices, uncontrolled breeding habits, the rape of the environment, the pollution of land, sea, and
air. In this context, isn't it obvious that ‘Chicken Little’ represents the
sane vision and that Homo Sapiens' motto, ‘Let's go
shopping!’ is the cry of the true lunatic?”
How do his words prove to be at the core of the film’s message?
18.
Goines has been,
in many ways, the “voice of reason” in that he is not happy with the modern
world. What
sins have we committed?
Timeline: 2035 Post-Apocalyptic à 1990 à 2035 àWWI à 1996 à 2035 à 1996 Apocalypse
Pay attention to:
Tubes & Tunnels
Animals
Naturalistic Imagery
Heaven & Hell
Interview Panels
References to Déjà vu
Institutions:
Compare Prison to Mental Hospital
Televisions & Screens
Keys
Cool Quotes from Twelve Monkeys
The poet says, “Yet among the myriad microwaves,
the infra-red messages, the gigabytes of ones and zeroes, we find words,
infinitesimally small, byte-sized now, tinier even than science lurking in some
vague electricity but if we but listen we can hear the solitary voice of that
poet telling us,
Yesterday This Day's Madness
did prepare;
Tomorrow's Silence, Triumph or
Despair:
Drink! for
you know not whence you came, nor why:
Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where."
The Rubáiyát of
Omar Khayyám. ... of the luminous
conversation between Edward FitzGerald and Omar Khayyám
L.J. Washington: I don't really
come from outer space.
Jeffrey Goines: Oh. L. J. Washington. He doesn't really come from outer space.
L.J. Washington: Don't mock me
my friend. It's a condition of mental divergence. I find myself on the planet Ogo, part of an intellectual
elite, preparing to subjugate the barbarian hordes on Pluto. But even though
this is a totally convincing reality for me in every way, nevertheless Ogo is actually a construct of my psyche. I am mentally
divergent, in that I am escaping certain unnamed realities that plague my life
here. When I stop going there, I will be well. Are you also divergent,
friend?”
“There's the television. It's all right there —
all right there. Look, listen, kneel, pray. Commercials! We're not productive
any more. We don't make things any more. It's all automated. What are we for,
then? We're consumers, Jim. Yeah. Okay, okay. Buy a lot of stuff, you're a good
citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, if you don't, what are you then,
I ask you? What? Mentally ill. Fact, Jim, fact:
if you don't buy things — toilet paper, new cars, computerized yo-yos,
electrically-operated sexual devices, servo systems with brain-implanted
headphones, screwdrivers with miniature built-in radar devices, voice-activated
computers...” – Jeffrey Goines
Jeffrey Goines: In the eighteenth century, no such thing, nada, nothing. No
one ever imagined such a thing. No sane person, anyway. Ah! Ah! Along comes
this doctor, uh, uh, uh, Semmelweis, Semmelweis. Semmelweis comes
along. He's trying to convince people, well, other doctors mainly, that's
there's these teeny tiny invisible bad things called germs that get into your
body and make you sick. Ah? He's trying to get doctors to wash their hands.
What is this guy? Crazy? Teeny,
tiny, invisible? What do you call it? Uh-uh, germs? Huh? What? Now, cut
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 in this fast
food joint, and the guy drops it on the floor. Jim, 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 is just a plot they made up so they can sell you
disinfectants and soaps." Now he's crazy, right? See?
Railly, speaking about her new book, says, "In a
season of great pestilence...there are omens and divinations. And one of the
four beasts gave unto the seven angels...seven golden vials full of the wrath
of God...who liveth forever and ever. "Revelations. In the 14th century, according to
accounts of officials of that time...this man appeared suddenly in the
“My father said that to me. He said, ‘Never cry wolf.’
Then people won't believe you if something really happens.”
“We were in the day room watching television... and
you were upset about the desecration of the planet, which I understand. Then
you said, "Wouldn't it be great to have a germ or virus... that would wipe
out mankind and leave the animals and trees?" --Goines