Back to the Future is one of my guilty pleasures. It doesn't stand up too badly to the passage of time and I think it's because it's not just a comedy, it's a very potent fantasy. Marty McFly is a happy, popular teenager, the only thing holding him back is an unhappy, dysfunctional family. He gets a chance to travel back in time and fix his family history - the potential Freudian nightmare of this scenario is boldly dealt with, head-on in fact when his mum gets on a teenage crush on him (though when she kisses him she says it feels 'all wrong, like kissing my brother.' So that's all okay then and the incest taboo is dispatched forthwith.)
He shows his dad how to stand up for himself, not be such a nerd, how to chat up women - a twist on the expression 'the child is father to the man.' He models his dad in his own image. And when he returns back to the future, he finds his dysfunctional, miserable family has been transformed by his own actions into a successful, happy one that he can be proud of. The family of his dreams. It must have touched a chord with teenagers everywhere.
And there can hardly be a person alive who wouldn't go back and change things if they had the option.
Nice car, too.
About teaching and crying
1 day ago
5 comments:
Aah, the old 'what would you change if you could go back in time' thought.
Much easier answered if you could go back and change something small, but significant in your own life without having it cause a huge ripple in the good old 'space/time continuum'.
You can get back to the future minimates :)
I don't think it should be a guilty pleasure, why feel guilty about liking one of the best fantasy movies of the 80's? I think I watched it about a thousand times on video (aah, remember videos?). Must watch it again soon, I think. Or ask somebody to get me the box set for Chrimbo.
Coincidentally, this arrived in the post for me this morning.
How do people cope with watching and rewatching the same films? I just can't do it. I think the most I've ever seen something is 3 times and that's mainly because I liked the soundtrack.
Bedshaped - Eddies in the space-time continuum... Is he? (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
Rad, it's the cult seal of approval.
Matt, you have a t-shirt for every occasion.
GSE - I rarely buy DVDS (or videos) because I don't watch films again that often, but I guess it's the same with reading favourite books or listening to favourite music - sometimes you just want something that you know you like, that is satisfying... I have watched Sex and the City, Spaced and Black Books again quite a lot. And Mean Girls.
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