MovieChat Forums > 12 Monkeys (1996) Discussion > Insurance/ensurance woman makes no sense

Insurance/ensurance woman makes no sense

posted 8 months ago by avortac4 (3571)
4 replies | jump to latest

This movie makes more sense than most movies, which is saying a lot, considering this is ALSO a time-travel movie, which usually doesn't end well when considering how much sense things make.

However, the 'insurance/ensurance' woman makes no sense, because what the heck are they doing sending her back in time to the airplane - - furthermore, HOW can she even get INTO an airplane (yes, it's 'IN', not 'ON' in my opinion, if you have a problem with that, go be a female dog at George Carlin's grave) without a 'contemporary ID' and having bought an expensive airline ticket (a useless waste of resources from their point of view, surely)?

My biggest point is, why send her to THAT point in time, when they could send her MUCH EARLIER, now knowing how the virus is spread? Remember, they have a TIME machine, it doesn't matter if something is 'too late', they can always send people back in time to fix things!

They can gather information about how it all happened for 20 years, then send someone back to the correct time to fix it. There's no hurry.

So this 'insurance/ensurance' woman should've been sent to the lab, before the orange-haired guy ever got the idea of taking the virus and spreading it, then just destroy the virus before it gets any chance to spread.

Heck, she could've been sent to a time when this orange-haired guy was a baby, and just shoot this baby in the head. Problem solved.

From these examples, I am sure any reader can extrapolate 20 different times and scenarios where this woman should've been sent to, or maybe send 20 violent criminals from your cells to the same timeline to wreak havoc to make sure everything is destroyed/killed/whatnot, and the future is saved!

But no, they send this woman to a timeline where she has to SOMEHOW procure a contemporary ID, acquire lots of contemporary MONEY, has to make arrangements to fly from one point to another, then find out which seat this orange-haired guy happens to be assigned, then make sure she is assigned to a seat next to him, then..

..you see what I mean? This is INCREDIBLY complicated and convoluted thing to do, INSTEAD of meeting the guy BEFORE or AFTER the flight, where she doesn't have to do ANY of that!

Great movie, but dang this woman's uselessly elaborate and complicated effort just to acquire the sample makes no darn sense.

[–] Boromir (9712) 8 months ago

There is a theory that posits their intent wasn't to save the world, but rather, to preserve those who remained in the present. One of the consequences of the epidemic appears to be a technocratic-totalitarian regime in which scientists occupy the upper echelons of decision-making. Their aim isn't to relinquish their power but to safeguard themselves. As James remarked in the airport, |It's not about the virus at all. It's about following orders, doing what you're told" - it's all about power.

[–] JFZ (1459) 8 months ago

They never had any intentions of stopping the spread of the virus, just coming up with a Vax for their time. Only James was trying to stop it because he hated his life and wanted to stay in the past with Kathryn. The woman scientist was there to contract the virus because of how wild James was behaving. I guess they were confident they would have no problems curing her.

[–] Information-Police (4188) 4 months ago

The movie was made before 9/11 when security was pretty lax. You officially needed an ID but half the time they didn't check it. And I think that people who could make a time travel machine could figure out where to get a fake ID.

[–] RoboReCop (2807) 4 months ago

I've always thought it was a narrative theme of irony.

Meaning, that an insurance lady, ironically, is sitting next to a guy who starts a plague virus that her future self (now scientist) is trying to gather information about, in the past about said virus.

But of course, I'm most likely wrong.