12 MONKEYS ET DERAISON: PART 1
somehow when i sent my paper, it became corrupted. here is another attempt.
i learned that i can't use accents on the "e." that causes problems in
email. it is now split into several parts, because the server could not
handle messages that were too long. kip+@xxxxxxx
_______________________________________________________________
"12 MONKEYS" ET DERAISON
Foucault: The Sequel
By Kip Hinton, English
The Ohio State University
kip+@xxxxxxx
__________________________________________________________________
?The madman is an outsider not because he comes from the
world of the irrational and bears its stigmata; rather,
he is an outsider because he crosses the frontiers of
bourgeois order of his own accord and alienates himself
outside the sacred limits of its ethics.?
-Michel Foucault, "Folie et Deraison"
?You know what ?crazy? is? ?Crazy? is MAJORITY RULES!?
-Jeffrey Goines, "12 Monkeys"
Simply thinking about the film "12 Monkeys" feels like approaching
Foucault: you know you aren?t going to grasp it entirely, so you have to
settle for the general concepts. The schizophrenic camera work is dizzying
in much the same way that Foucault?s anti-lucid arguments are. When we
finally grasp some concepts, we must decide which ones to consider, because
there are too many issues in both cases. Foucault?s preoccupation with
institutions and madness comes immediately to mind. From there it becomes
apparent that these aren?t mere surface similarities. The conception of
madness in "12 Monkeys" embodies Michel Foucault?s. "12 Monkeys" is a
postmodern update of "Folie et Deraison."
As a psychiatrist, Dr. Kathryn Railly has been trained to deal with
just this sort of thing: a patient who is convinced he is from a different
world. James Cole claims he is from the future, and repeatedly mentions a
plague which is coming in 1996. ?Is 1996 the present, James?? ?No, 1996 is
the past, too.? The time periods are different worlds in Cole?s mind, and
their positions are relative to the reality he holds onto: he is a time
traveler from 2035, come to find a sample of the virus before it mutates,
so the human race can ?get back on top.? As we expect, to Dr. Railly, this
story is no different than that of the patient claiming to be ?from Pluto,
a member of an upper-class elite.? We don?t know whether this patient
believes his Pluto story is a construction of his mind or is merely
repeating what psychiatrists have told him, but we see the dual existence.
Dr. Railly?s job is now to convince Cole that he is not from the future,
and there is not going to be a plague in 1996. This clashing of realities
is the same as that which goes on in every delusional person?s mind. By the
time she succeeds in convincing him, he has convinced her as well. The
problem is that no matter which reality is accepted, one reality- equally
real- must be denied.
These characters and others very much represent Western thought on
madness. Jeffrey says ?I?m insane, I?m supposed to act crazy,? and every
patient is a stereotype of insanity: paranoia, hypochondria, schizophrenia,
delusions, depression, mania, or hysteria. Each person fits into their
category, and together they fit into the asylum. When Jeffrey is in the
asylum, and looks like an insane person, he is insane. When he is dressed
well and eating with the upper-class, he is merely eccentric.
Cole is given rough showers, because cold showers are both a
treatment and a punishment, traditionally believed cure frenzy and mania
(Foucault: MC, 168). He is placed in chains, because there is nothing ?more
obedient to man than the application of iron? (p.161). He exhibits ?the
apparent violence of madness, which sometimes seems to multiply the
strength of maniacs to considerable proportions? (160). His drooling,
repetition of words, and rocking back and forth are further evidence. When
he finds Jeffrey in 1996, Jeffrey refers to the traditional treatment of
madmen when he says ?This man is insane. Feel free to torture him or
whatever it is you do.? Even Cole?s ecstasy upon hearing ?Blueberry Hill?
fits: ?Music?s effects were especially remarkable upon madness... Wilhelm
Albrecht also cured a delirious patient... by prescribing the performance,
during one of his attacks, of ?a little song which awakened the sufferer,
pleased him, excited him to laugh, and dispelled the paroxysm forever??
(178). The scientists of the future were aware that Cole was mentally
unstable. He was chosen , as he said, because he had a good memory, but
also because he was ?susceptible to hallucinations and dreamlike states,?
making time travel less disorienting and leading him to truth others may
not see (Caputo, 237).
-<continued in PART 2>
somehow when i sent my paper, it became corrupted. here is another attempt.
i learned that i can't use accents on the "e." that causes problems in
email. it is now split into several parts, because the server could not
handle messages that were too long. kip+@xxxxxxx
_______________________________________________________________
"12 MONKEYS" ET DERAISON
Foucault: The Sequel
By Kip Hinton, English
The Ohio State University
kip+@xxxxxxx
__________________________________________________________________
?The madman is an outsider not because he comes from the
world of the irrational and bears its stigmata; rather,
he is an outsider because he crosses the frontiers of
bourgeois order of his own accord and alienates himself
outside the sacred limits of its ethics.?
-Michel Foucault, "Folie et Deraison"
?You know what ?crazy? is? ?Crazy? is MAJORITY RULES!?
-Jeffrey Goines, "12 Monkeys"
Simply thinking about the film "12 Monkeys" feels like approaching
Foucault: you know you aren?t going to grasp it entirely, so you have to
settle for the general concepts. The schizophrenic camera work is dizzying
in much the same way that Foucault?s anti-lucid arguments are. When we
finally grasp some concepts, we must decide which ones to consider, because
there are too many issues in both cases. Foucault?s preoccupation with
institutions and madness comes immediately to mind. From there it becomes
apparent that these aren?t mere surface similarities. The conception of
madness in "12 Monkeys" embodies Michel Foucault?s. "12 Monkeys" is a
postmodern update of "Folie et Deraison."
As a psychiatrist, Dr. Kathryn Railly has been trained to deal with
just this sort of thing: a patient who is convinced he is from a different
world. James Cole claims he is from the future, and repeatedly mentions a
plague which is coming in 1996. ?Is 1996 the present, James?? ?No, 1996 is
the past, too.? The time periods are different worlds in Cole?s mind, and
their positions are relative to the reality he holds onto: he is a time
traveler from 2035, come to find a sample of the virus before it mutates,
so the human race can ?get back on top.? As we expect, to Dr. Railly, this
story is no different than that of the patient claiming to be ?from Pluto,
a member of an upper-class elite.? We don?t know whether this patient
believes his Pluto story is a construction of his mind or is merely
repeating what psychiatrists have told him, but we see the dual existence.
Dr. Railly?s job is now to convince Cole that he is not from the future,
and there is not going to be a plague in 1996. This clashing of realities
is the same as that which goes on in every delusional person?s mind. By the
time she succeeds in convincing him, he has convinced her as well. The
problem is that no matter which reality is accepted, one reality- equally
real- must be denied.
These characters and others very much represent Western thought on
madness. Jeffrey says ?I?m insane, I?m supposed to act crazy,? and every
patient is a stereotype of insanity: paranoia, hypochondria, schizophrenia,
delusions, depression, mania, or hysteria. Each person fits into their
category, and together they fit into the asylum. When Jeffrey is in the
asylum, and looks like an insane person, he is insane. When he is dressed
well and eating with the upper-class, he is merely eccentric.
Cole is given rough showers, because cold showers are both a
treatment and a punishment, traditionally believed cure frenzy and mania
(Foucault: MC, 168). He is placed in chains, because there is nothing ?more
obedient to man than the application of iron? (p.161). He exhibits ?the
apparent violence of madness, which sometimes seems to multiply the
strength of maniacs to considerable proportions? (160). His drooling,
repetition of words, and rocking back and forth are further evidence. When
he finds Jeffrey in 1996, Jeffrey refers to the traditional treatment of
madmen when he says ?This man is insane. Feel free to torture him or
whatever it is you do.? Even Cole?s ecstasy upon hearing ?Blueberry Hill?
fits: ?Music?s effects were especially remarkable upon madness... Wilhelm
Albrecht also cured a delirious patient... by prescribing the performance,
during one of his attacks, of ?a little song which awakened the sufferer,
pleased him, excited him to laugh, and dispelled the paroxysm forever??
(178). The scientists of the future were aware that Cole was mentally
unstable. He was chosen , as he said, because he had a good memory, but
also because he was ?susceptible to hallucinations and dreamlike states,?
making time travel less disorienting and leading him to truth others may
not see (Caputo, 237).
-<continued in PART 2>