SOURCE: “Trapping the Simians in the Scottish Highlands: A Viewer Response to the Hitchcock MacGuffin in Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys,” in Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, Vol. 19, Nos. 3–4, August, 1998, pp. 244–9.

In the following essay, Craig analyzes the misleading aspects of 12 Monkeys in an attempt to discern the actual meaning of the film.

In a key scene in Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys (1995), James Cole (Bruce Willis) and Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) take refuge from their pursuers in a movie theater holding an Alfred Hitchcock film festival. As the two plan their next move and discuss their feelings for each other, excerpts from Vertigo and The Birds flash on the screen behind them. The scene reinforces the film’s title, and presumed focus, as nothing more than Gilliam’s version of a Hitchcock “MacGuffin,” a red herring important to the characters that is designed to jump start the film’s story...