Lynda Wright

Choices, Choices. Which would you choose?

Film for Discussion

Back to the Future II from Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment, directed by Robert Zemeckis, 1989.

Trajectory of the Future

  • Alternative (alternative history):

In this film, time travel is done in order to change the separating paths of the space time continuum that created 2 separate paths for history to take in the year 1955.

Dimension of the Future

  • Near Future:

The time travel does not surpass the year 2015.

Discussion of other Course Objectives

  • Objective 2: Is the future written or being written?

In this film, the future is definitely written due to the creation of the alternative futures by the character, "Biff" (he travels back in time in order to become a millionaire, thus creating 2 separate paths for history to take).
  • Objective 5: Interpretations of future predictions that are reflective to present time in which film was created.

The future of "Hill Valley" does reflect the time in which it was originally created, 1989. For example, skateboards were very popular around that time, so in the created future, this trend was carried over and futurized. The skateboards became "hoverboards," floating skateboards. The creator of Back to the Future II took the popular idea of the 80s and created what he though would be the futuristic version.

Explanation of Movie Clip

  • Prior to this clip, the Doc has taken Marty to the future (2015) in order to prevent his future son from being imprisoned. In this process, Marty buys a Sports Almanac for the 20 century for the purpose of making a little money. His plan backfires. Doc notices the Almanac and demands that Marty throw it away. Well, when Marty throws it away, Biff finds it and steels Marty’s idea and the time machine, and he goes back to 1955 to give the young Biff the almanac in order to become a millionaire in the future. By doing this, Biff creates the forking paths of the future from the year 1955. Marty and Doc have just discovered the changing of history after returning to a hellish version of "Hill Valley" in1985. Doc is now explaining to Marty what has happened and what they must do to fix it all.

"Food for Thought"—Question

  • If you had the opportunity to go back in time, knowing what you know now, and create an alternative path for history to take, what would it be? To become a millionaire as well? Save the Ozone Layer? What? & Why?

Sources

Robert Zemeckis, Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment, 1989. Back to the Future II.

http://bay.grove.ufl.edu/~locutus/Bttf/bttf.html

http://xenti.ics.uci.edu/FoRK–archive/oct97/0706.html