[轉載] What does the woman from the future mean when she says she's 「in insurance」

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http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/871/what-does-the-woman-from-the-future-mean-when-she-says-shes-in-insurance#comment2743_1862

為保證自己不會忘記，偷偷轉載一下老外的精彩解讀。


------ 提問 ------

What does the woman from the future mean when she says she's 「in insurance」?

At the end of 12 Monkeys, the doctor spreading the virus gets on a plane and sits next to a woman we know (or can assume) is from the future. She tells the doctor that she's "in insurance." What does she mean by this?

Is she there to make sure he's stopped once and for all?





------ 回答 1 ------

he caricature of insurance people is that they are like leeches -- that they make their living off of people's fear. Mortality rates and actuarials are not appealing topics. Their paradox is that without tragedy, insurance wouldn't be a viable business.

This conception has existed for years -- well before the bad behavior and negative publicity insurance companies have earned over the past decade. Denying coverage or revoking claims for profit.

泰瑞 Gilliam does what he has always done, and does best! The line "I'm in insurance" is a punchline, absurdism pure and simple. Maximum irony: That insurance woman scores on ultimate tragedy. She is not only immune to the virus, but she prospers in such a way as to become a post-apocalyptic ruler. Ha!

[see Fight Club for a big send-up of greedy insurers]





------ 回答 2 ------

（個人覺得這個最靠譜）

She is "insurance" that the virus will successfully be spread around the world.

The key is that the scientists were never interested in stopping the virus in 1995. As Cole says early on, "I just have to locate the virus in its original form before it mutates. So scientists can come back and study it and find a cure. So that those of us who survived can go back to the surface of the earth."

But later Cole decides to stay in 1995, and by the airport scene, he has given the future scientists the slip by cutting out his teeth. Except Cole leaves a message from the airport, leading the future scientists back to him -- with a two-part plan:

1. Cole's message did not identify the virus spreader, so Jose's task at airport is to give Cole the gun and then watch who Cole goes after. When Catherine runs up and says she's figured out it is the redhead assistant to Dr Goynes who spreads the virus, Jose fades out of the scene, having got what he needed. (for confirmation see scene as written in production draft of script)

2. From there, the scientists need to make sure Cole does not actually prevent the virus from being spread because that would dramatically disrupt the timeline. To prevent the disruption, the lady scientist is sent as back-up who -- if Cole somehow manages to stop redhead-ponytail guy -- can grab the briefcase, take the flights, and make sure the virus still gets spread around the world (which seems to end up being unnecessary because redhead-ponytail gets on plane OK)

Luckily for the scientists, airport security shoots Cole when Cole tries to shoot the redhead guy. (The scientists may have provided Cole a non-working gun to encourage this outcome.)

More evidence:

- the lady scientist says insurance remark on the plane seated next to redhead-ponytail guy, suggesting she was prepared to go to the same destinations, which the scientists had Cole list earlier in the movie.

- the scientists may have been worried because Pitt's father changing security procedures, showing Cole could indeed disrupt timeline.

- at one point, a scientist in the future scornfully calls the pre-virus world "that dying world" suggesting no interest in saving it.

- the overall story of the movie is Cole wants to live in the past despite being ordered not to (Cole: "This part isn't about the virus, is it? It's about obeying, about doing what you're told.")