Never Say Disc: Back to the Future

There are generation-defining pieces of genre media, influential works whose presence is immediately felt in everything that comes after it, works in whose facets we can see its peers, its predecessors, and all the many creations it will inspire. And then there’s Back to the Future (1985), which is somehow the complete opposite. Generation-defining, sure, but also wholly unique to its own vision, an unreplicable artifact, notable entirely for its own brilliance rather than an empire built on its foundation. These actors, these scenes, that direction… there’s really nothing else like it - even the sequels are largely their own things rather than rehashing the original. There were a couple expansions via the short-lived animated series and the much-beloved Telltale adventure game, but on the whole it’s been allowed to simply be - a rarity in today’s media landscapes of constant remakes, reworkings, and rehashes.

Back to the Future is a movie that means a lot to us at Never Say Dice, a movie that meant a lot to us long before we ever met, and means a lot to us now. For the 40th anniversary of its release, we thought we’d talk about why that is, the impact it had on who we are and what we love, and what it says in (and about) today’s world. So buckle up - to quote Doc Brown himself, you’re going to see some serious shit. - B

A Side: Even as we age, some memories from our earlier years always stick out to us. Given the post intro, it shouldn’t be surprising that, for myself, three of those instances involve Back to the Future. Though I find it hard to place the time frame, the movies themselves help. The first instance was watching Back to the Future at home, in the basement, on one of those console TVs with the wooden frame and the physical dials. It had horrible sound and no remote, but none of that would stop me from sitting inches away to watch a favorite movie, despite my parents telling me I’d go blind. (Incidentally, I still have the best eyesight in my whole family.) I fully remember getting to a key moment in the movie (as if it isn’t full of them) and the whole thing getting interrupted by a message from the President - (Ronald Reagan?!? The actor?!) Though I’m sure I’d seen the movie before, I was distraught. I have no idea what the president said, but I do remember being right there in front of the TV afterwards to watch the rest of the movie. The second memory found me walking into class on a morning around the time of the second movie release. One of my classmates had a coveted pair of Back to the Future II Pizza Hut Solar Shades - the black ones with the triangular rims and the hot pink temple pieces that went over your ears. Amazing futuristic 80s style that I coveted hard. I guess $2 for some silly plastic at Pizza Hut was a bit more costly in those days. At least, I never had a pair, myself. The third memory comes after the third film’s release: I clearly remember having a movie marathon with my dad in the same basement from earlier, watching all three movies after renting them from Blockbuster (or maybe it was Beta Barn.) I remember bits of our conversation from that watchthrough - pointing out things in Hill Valley that changed like the cafe or the movie theater, or rounding out alleged plot holes (something we'd continue to do with other films and shows). For some reason, all these memories stick with me 30-ish odd years later. But why? 

I suppose it suffices to say, I’m mildly obsessed with the movies. I have my own Marty cosplay outfit, multiple Lego sets, comics, homemade props... I’ve gone to see the musical multiple times. For one Halloween, we even hosted a Back to the Future-themed party where 90% of the guests came dressed up as characters from the movies: everyone from the 2015 future to the Wild West to the "Save the Clock Tower" lady. One of our kids is even nick-named Marty, and his pending birth announcement was Back to the Future-themed. Perhaps I’ve been a bit overboard, maybe even obsessed, but why? Some might call it a silly sci-fi movie or a comedy wrapped around sci-fi. Some might call it an adventure flick with just hints of sci-fi and comedy. In my eyes, though, it comes down to a few things: the power of love, friendship, and family. It would be hard to deny it being about family - after all we see multiple generations of McFlys throughout the films. The first one is largely about Marty keeping his family from being removed from history to fix the space/time continuum. It's also his 50’s extended family that sets him on the right path to finding Doc. That's without even delving into the family events of the second and third movies. Love also plays a major theme across the films, but in the first film in particular, without Jennifer’s love for Marty and her sharing her grandparents' phone number on the "Save the Clock Tower" flyer, Marty would have never made it back to the future. Of course, love causes issues as well, with Marty having to keep his past-mother’s advances at bay and having to set things up so his parents still end up falling in love, despite the issues his presence has caused. I guess the power of love is a curious thing. Finally, though, the movie is about friendship. Without Marty and Doc's friendship, Marty would never have gone to the past, made it back to the 80s, or saved Doc from his untimely death due to those terrorists he screwed over. Again, that's to say nothing of the events that are caused and saved by friendship across the other two films. 

Are they perfect movies? I’m not going to make that argument. They seem to maintain a classic status though, despite "the future" of the second movie’s 2015 now being ten years in our past. It doesn’t feel "dated" to sit down and watch any of them, even the first film - though we ourselves keep aging, and if it were made today with the same stipulations, Marty would go back to the year 1995... something that makes those of us alive when the movies came out feel older and older. They’re not bloody, they’re not overly sexual, there isn’t a significant amount of cursing, not much in the way of potty humor. I’m sure all of those things help the film’s longevity, but I’ll still maintain that it is all about the power of love, family, and friendship. Where we’re going we may not need roads, but those we need those three things even more today than we did in the past. 

B Side: You know what? I'll take the plunge and say that the original Back to the Future is a perfect movie, or close enough - at least by my own definition of "perfect." Barring some elements that haven't aged well or have issues in contexts beyond the film (which we'll get to later), there isn't any aspect of the film I can see being improved upon. It's a remarkably tight piece of work, constantly setting up things that will be relevant later, whether in terms of plot or characterization. It's funny to watch the deleted scenes and see that even material left on the cutting room floor was still part of an elaborate framework. The peanut brittle, for instance, taking center screen for a moment isn't solely to set place and tone - though it does so wonderfully, contributing to the dry brown visuals of the original 1985 timeline even if you aren't familiar with its taste and texture... and even moreseo if you are. It was intended to follow a scene where a neighbor (coworker?) forces George McFly to buy a case of the stuff, highlighting his nature as a pushover. There's a payoff for every setup, but it never feels like they're just arranging a series of Chekhov's Guns because these moments are always in character and consistent with the film's setting and general vibe. This isn't solely down to direction or story editing, though - the acting in Back to the Future is impeccable. Everyone inhabits their role from the leads all the way down to Huey freaking Lewis embodying every self-proclaimed dictator of volume that's ever declared someone's music "too darn loud" - and I've heard more than a few, personally. 

Given Zemeckis's later complaints about having to work around the limitations of human actors, it seems a minor miracle that the cast gets to put on as good a performance as they do. Certainly, he started to branch beyond merely human casts with his next film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which I highly recommend all Back to Future fanatics revisit if it's been a while - the movies have lot in common, even to the point of reusing some music cues, and is something of a "missing link" connecting the relatively sober Back to the Future to its significantly goofier sequels. In the actor-centric original film, though, the focus on character means the stakes remain personal and human. Rather than broad concerns about a paradox that could destroy the entire universe (which does come up in Part II), the focus is on the McFly family and Doc Brown, with the lowpoint only showing Marty himself start to fade from existence... nothing about reality itself disappearing or becoming undone. (Nonetheless, it remained a particularly scary moment for me as a kid - kudos to Michael J. Fox, Robert Zemeckis, and the rest of the team for making a simple double exposure, along with a shift in sound mix and, of course, inspired physical acting a truly terrifying moment.)

Thanks to those efforts on both sides of the camera, that humanity both defines Back to the Future and sets it apart from a lot of other genre work. Not only are the stakes personal, the outcomes are as well - I'd argue that even Biff is better off at the end of the film (where he owns his own business) than he was in the original timeline... although that could just be the lighting, of course. That being the case, the aspects of the film that might ruffle modern audiences are personal as well. Sexual assault, whether viewed through the lens of the 1950s or the 1980s, isn't given the seriousness it deserves, and Marty doesn't at all consider the traumatic effects even a fake assault might have on his mother... let alone the real one that nearly ends up happening. Likewise, since the focus is on the characters and their immediate situations, Marty "inventing" rock and roll is a satisfying moment, but also a rather loaded one. While the ingredients of rock and roll came from people of diverse backgrounds living and working together (Black, white, and Latino), the artists that actually fused the amalgamation into being were unquestionably Black... something that Powers That Be tried to cover up as quickly as possible once the music started to catch on with wider audiences, promoting versions of existing songs by white artists like Pat Boone and Elvis Presley (who, to be fair, was always open about acknowledging the original Black artists). While I wouldn't trade the Marvin Berry scene for the world, I'll still acknowledge how loaded it is to suggest his signature sound came from a white teenager... even one from the future and playing a Chuck Berry song, no less. Ultimately Chuck is being influenced by himself, but implications of the route that influence takes bears some real-world consideration.

In the end, though, that's the real world, and Back to Future creates its own... several, in fact!  That it does it so well, and so completely, is a testament to everyone who made it, and the reason I'll happily be climbing into that DeLorean again and again for the next forty years.

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