Symbols and Tropes
Animals
Monkey See, Monkey DoFor a movie titled 12 Monkeys, there sure aren't a lot of monkeys to be found. We have the monkeys from the zoo, the monkey lowered down the well with the sandwich, and a cymba...
Lenses
12 Monkeys is like a visit to an eye doctor with a world-bending phoropter. The doctor swaps out a lens, and the bottom row is as clear as Ryan Gosling's sex appeal. He turns a nob, and suddenly th...
Parallel Images
Parallel images are everywhere in 12 Monkeys. And we mean everywhere, everywhere. Don't believe us? Here's a quick list:Young Cole's eyes open and close the film.Cages, cages, and more cages.Cole e...
Dutch Angles
You know Dutch angles even if you don't know that you know, you know? These shots have appeared in everything from The Man with the Movie Camera to Casino to The Avengers. They are used by brillian...
Nature
Cage the Elephant sings that there ain't no rest for the wicked, but while 12 Monkeys certainly features elephants in cages, it disagrees with the no rest part. The film suggests there is a place w...
Cassandra
Cassandra is a princess of Troy from Greek mythology, most notably The Iliad. So what the heck is she doing here in our discussion of 12 Monkeys? Serving allusion duties, which these days is pretty...