Film and American Culture Series: "Back to the Future" Review


     This week I am reviewing Back to the Future directed by Robert Zemeckis. It was produced by Bob Gale and Neil Canton and was released July 3, 1985. The cinematography was done by Dean Cundey and the musical score was written by Alan Silvestri. The film won an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing.

     Back to the Future is about teenager Marty McFly who is friends with an inventor Dr. Emmett Brown. Doc invents a time machine in a DeLorean using plutonium as an energy source that he tricked terrorists into giving him. As he is showing it off to Marty the terrorists arrive and attack them. Marty escapes in the DeLorean but ends up going back in time to when his parents first met. He unintentionally causes his mother to like him instead of his father so he has to put things right by getting them together. While he does this Doc of the past creates a way using lightning as a source to fuel the time machine to take Marty back to his time because they do not have access to plutonium. When Marty arrives home he finds his family has changed a bit due to his trip for the better. Soon after the Doc leaves to travel to the future he comes back to inform Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer that they must travel with him because of a problem with their kids.

 Does this film have specific meaning to the time it was released? Or does it have a universal them we can apply to today? The universal theme that stands out a little is that of self confidence and self belief. You see this with Marty not being self confident with his music at the beginning. Then you see it with the father as an adult and as a teenager. When Marty talks to him about his writing he gives the same line that Marty told Jennifer about his music. Eventually his father gets more confident in himself and uses that to win back Marty’s mom. When Marty returns back to his time period he sees how his life has changed with his father’s new attitude.

     This movie is a feel good family classic that always is nostalgic when I watch it. The mix of comedy, drama, positive message, and opportunity to daydream about future technology always makes Back to the Future fun and entertaining to watch.

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