Time Travel in the Movies

by grandi09

Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 02:52 PM EDT

The theme of time travel is very appealing. There are mixed beliefs about whether or not time travel is real. Albert Einstein believed it was possible and that we can only travel one direction in time. In the films La Jetee and 12 Monkey’s the common theme is time travel. The characters are each traveling through time, either to the future or the past in order to gather information. Time travel is a very interesting and complicated concept. It draws the viewer in and makes you concentrate on what is going on.

In 12 Monkey’s a deadly virus is released in select cities and ahs killed over 5 billion people. Since the Earth is considered inhabitable the 1% of people left are living underground. James Cole, a prisoner underground volunteers to travel back in time to 1996 to gather information on the group “The Army of 12 Monkey’s” who is believed to have spread the virus. Cole is originally sent to 1990 which is 6 years too early. He is found on the streets and interviewed by Dr. Kathryn Railly. He is then put into a mental hospital. While in the hospital he meets Jeffrey Goines whose is also a patient there. Cole is taken back to reality and interrogated for the information he collected and then given a second chance to go back. He is yet again taken to the wrong year and ends of on the battle field in Word War I. There he gets shot in the leg.

During his time travel, James is having these so called dreams, or flashbacks of a man getting shot in an airport. He sees a blonde-haired woman running toward him as a young boy looks on. When James finally arrives in 1996 he kidnaps Dr. Railly and tries to convince her that he is from the future. Cole attends a party of his old roommate in the mental hospital, Jeffrey and finds out he is working for his father who is a virologist. Jeffrey has started a group called “The Army of 12 Monkey’s.” James manages to convince Railly that he is from the future and she is now trying to help him find out who is going to spread the virus.

La Jetee is also about a man who is held prisoner underground but he is sent to the past to gather information on. Throughout La Jetee the man keeps having these dreams of a kid witnessing the murder of an older man. The young boy is actually him as a kid and the older man is actually him as an older man. He witnesses his own death. The prisoner catches a woman’s eye as he is reliving this “dream” and finds her while he is time traveling. He too, like James Cole falls in love with this mystery woman.

As the movies progresses you begin to develop feelings toward the characters. You feel like you are actually in the movie and going through all of the obstacles with them. As Dr. Railly and Cole draw closer and closer to each other you hope that everything works out so they can be together just like the characters in La Jetee. But in the end, like all sappy stories someone dies and this someone is James Cole and the prisoner.

Time travel is a very complicated topic throughout the pubic. To me it is very simple, time travel is not possible. Even if we were able to travel back in time we can’t change the past or the future. What is meant to be will happen. There is no way to change that. As in 12 Monkey’s no matter what the scientists or James did to try and prevent the virus from spreading, it still did. He also died in the end despite Dr. Railly’s efforts to stop it. They had all of the clues and answers but still could not stop what was meant to happen. In the end what is meant to be will be.

This article originally appeared on FYS '13.