Back to the Future: Made today.

[The Old Mixer]

No one's denying technology has radically changed but society is more the question.

And everyone pretty much already made the point that it wouldn't work on a societal level. Hence my offering that the tech angle would be a more viable choice, in which case the emphasis shifts to the teenager of today being a fish out of water in 1985, rather than a teenager of today shocking the kids of 1985.

Societal change has been huge in the area of how information tech has changed people's lives, but as Marty's tech wouldn't work in 1985, there'd be no practical way to wow the natives with the wonders of it...it would have to be the other way around--Marty having to learn to live without it.

I'm not saying that it would be a brilliant success of a film like the original was. Just that it's the more viable option for how the original film's premise could be used today.

 

[theenglish]

In 1985, if we wanted to call somebody we had to use a pay phone, home computers didn't have hard drives, "record" stores existed, people still had to watch the nightly news for information, and ask for directions

All of that stuff is still there though, and teenagers who are not stupid also know that. The difference from now to 1985 isn't that huge.

Yes, but the original movie was based on exaggeration. Marty wouldn't have figured out that diet soft drinks hadn't existed in 1955? You could easily do a funny scene with Marty working as a clerk in a store and not know what to do when a credit card doesn't have a magnetic strip or trying to boot up a computer without Windows.

Culturally, there are things that could be done, but they all involve issues that are still sensitive. Sure, you could do something about attitudes toward gays but the AIDS epidemic was in full swing in the eighties and would make it difficult, for example.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Technology has changed a lot, sure. No one would deny that. but the question is how much society has changed. Which, sure, it has. But as vastly as it did between 1955 and 1985?
Eh, I don't think so.

Yeah, the changes we've had are more from social and cultural standpoint than a technological one even though technology has progressed rapidly. On the surface, you just wouldn't notice those changes which would be hard to make it a focus. Ironically, it's the miniaturization of technology making the technology fade into the background, with much of the advancements being more under the hood, and into our daily lives. A joke could be made about asking for a cellphone and receiving one of those bricks A joke about the first IBM PC could also be made.

 

[IndyJones]

No one's denying technology has radically changed but society is more the question.

For example, in the original movie Marty encounters Hill Valley's future mayor (a black man) in the diner. When Marty says the guy will one day the man will be mayor the diner owner dismisses this with a, "A colored mayor. That'll be the day!" In 1955 it was pretty far-fetched and absurd for black people to have a meaningful place in politics.

Now, imagine in our little scenario Marty is in the diner in 1985 and, oh I don't, know he encounters a young man named Barack Obama. Marty realizes who he's talking to and says, "That's right! He's going to be president of the United States!"

That's not too far fetched of an idea, a black president was a reasonable idea and not entirely far-fetched. It *could* be something that'd happen in 30 years. So there's a joke that couldn't work.

You seem to have a much rosier view of the history of race relations in this country than I do.

 

[JarodRussell]

The thing is we are so in love with the 80s that we keep repeating it. Sequels to Star Wars. Stallone in talks to do Rambo V. A Robocop remake. Even Arsenio Hall is back with his own show again!

 

[theenglish]

Technology has changed a lot, sure. No one would deny that. but the question is how much society has changed. Which, sure, it has. But as vastly as it did between 1955 and 1985?
Eh, I don't think so.

Yeah, the changes we've had are more from social and cultural standpoint than a technological one even though technology has progressed rapidly. On the surface, you just wouldn't notice those changes which would be hard to make it a focus. Ironically, it's the miniaturization of technology making the technology fade into the background, with much of the advancements being more under the hood, and into our daily lives. A joke could be made about asking for a cellphone and receiving one of those bricks A joke about the first IBM PC could also be made.

Who had a cell phone in 1985? It was a huge deal when one appeared in "Wall Street".

 

[The Old Mixer]

No one's denying technology has radically changed but society is more the question.

For example, in the original movie Marty encounters Hill Valley's future mayor (a black man) in the diner. When Marty says the guy will one day the man will be mayor the diner owner dismisses this with a, "A colored mayor. That'll be the day!" In 1955 it was pretty far-fetched and absurd for black people to have a meaningful place in politics.

Now, imagine in our little scenario Marty is in the diner in 1985 and, oh I don't, know he encounters a young man named Barack Obama. Marty realizes who he's talking to and says, "That's right! He's going to be president of the United States!"

That's not too far fetched of an idea, a black president was a reasonable idea and not entirely far-fetched. It *could* be something that'd happen in 30 years. So there's a joke that couldn't work.

You seem to have a much rosier view of the history of race relations in this country than I do.

I'm with Trekker on this one. It wasn't time yet, but a black president was very conceivable to at least part of the populace at the time, and even seemed inevitable. Jesse Jackson ran for president twice in the 80s. Bloom County did a gag where one of the white parents in the strip was going to the black parent to relieve his white man's guilt because he wasn't voting for Jackson. The black parent reassured him that the first black president would be a more moderate candidate than Jackson.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Technology has changed a lot, sure. No one would deny that. but the question is how much society has changed. Which, sure, it has. But as vastly as it did between 1955 and 1985?
Eh, I don't think so.

Yeah, the changes we've had are more from social and cultural standpoint than a technological one even though technology has progressed rapidly. On the surface, you just wouldn't notice those changes which would be hard to make it a focus. Ironically, it's the miniaturization of technology making the technology fade into the background, with much of the advancements being more under the hood, and into our daily lives. A joke could be made about asking for a cellphone and receiving one of those bricks A joke about the first IBM PC could also be made.

Who had a cell phone in 1985? It was a huge deal when one appeared in "Wall Street".

Exactly my point. They were very expensive, there weren't all that many around, and they were large as a brick.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The problem with doing the gag is that it would defy credibility that somebody would even happen to have one in any particular public place.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

The problem with doing the gag is that it would defy credibility that somebody would even happen to have one in any particular public place.

Doc might own one, because the things fascinate him and his family used to be pretty loaded I think.

 

[sojourner]

Yeah, this time around Doc could lose all his money in the stock market crash of 1987.

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Yeah, this time around Doc could lose all his money in the stock market crash of 1987.

That would be his driving force to build the machine in the first place, this time.

 

[Trekker4747]

You seem to have a much rosier view of the history of race relations in this country than I do.

The status of black people in 1985 was a hell of a lot better in 1955. Hell, look at 1968 when it was consider controversial to show a black woman and a white man kissing on TV so it had to be faked (Star Trek.) In 1985 such things weren't a big deal, yeah there were still a hell of a lot of problems in the area of race relations but black people were certainly in much better positions and DID hold elected office. So if you told someone in 1985 that we'll have a black president in 1988 that might be a bit hard to swallow. But in 30 years? Could seem likely. Certainly wouldn't be as big of a joke as a black man being mayor of a small town was to a 1955 man.

 

[Corran Horn]

The thing is we are so in love with the 80s that we keep repeating it. Sequels to Star Wars. Stallone in talks to do Rambo V. A Robocop remake. Even Arsenio Hall is back with his own show again!

People who were children in the 80s having money now helps a lot.

 

[RJDiogenes]

There's no way BTTF could work today like it did in the 80s. There were huge cultural changes between the 50s and the 80s-- the 60s fell in between them, after all. The current era is so dismal primarily because society has been mostly stagnating for the past thirty years.

Some TV or film screenwriter or producer I follow on twitter (not necessarily Damon Lindelof but it might've been somebody of that ilk) said that if Back to the Future were made today the problem would have to be of the world-saving variety. Making sure you were born is just too small a problem nowadays.

Sounds like a pretty piss poor screen writer.

I agree. Very much so.

Why? He didn't say that's what he wanted. He was making an accurate assessment of contemporary pop culture.

 

[bbjeg]

I came across this awhile ago. I think it fits with this subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBBw9E2Q_aY&feature=share&list=PLimhOT0Avg-R-PrHjrMvwriny4OyOsxhK

 

[Agent Richard07]

There's no way BTTF could work today like it did in the 80s. There were huge cultural changes between the 50s and the 80s-- the 60s fell in between them, after all. The current era is so dismal primarily because society has been mostly stagnating for the past thirty years.

I'd say 20 years, give or take, since the early 90s. Maybe it's because the emphasis has turned to media technology, which is where we've seen most of the advancement, instead of outward culture. Or maybe we're seeing a leveling off period following a century or transition.

As for the casting of Marty McFly, I don't think they'd even get Shia Labeouf. I think we'd see an unknown Disney star or something. He'd look and be a lot younger than mid 80s Michael J. Fox.

 

[bbjeg]

Lately the 80's and early 90's have been appearing on the big screen. I wouldn't be surprised if BttF had a remake or reboot in the works. Honestly, I hope they don't remake it. I wouldn't want them to ruin it.

 

[Gaith]

Anyone remember the four-season CBS show Early Edition? Ran from '96 to '00, and was about a guy getting tomorrow's Chicago Sun-Times, meaning he had to spend all day running around foiling distasters, accidents, and crime. Early on in the first season, he learned that there was a guy who got the paper before him. All well and good.

But then, at the end of the series, he met this nine-year-old girl who he realized was fated to get the paper after him. Small problem: what paper? By the time she's old enough to take the mantle, will there even be a print edition? Or will she get tomorrow's Sun-Times tablet download today? Some stories just don't work as time goes by. A text message from Juliet would have saved Romeo's life, and all.

There's always compelling story potential in the notion of a modern teenager going back thirty years meeting one or both parents. But one would have to rely far less on culture-shock moments, and make the actual characters much more nuanced and detailed. It'd probably also help to not have said parents be high school sweethearts - not that lots of marriages didn't still start that way in the '80s, just a lot fewer. I didn't love Safety Not Guaranteed, but in many ways that'd be a better blueprint for an update of the concept than BttF itself.

 

[Holdfast]

Wasn't Hot Tub Time Machine basically a modern version of BTTF already anyway, complete with going back to the mid-80s and having a make-sure-you're-born paradox?

It even has Crispin Glover in it.

I thought it was OK. But I like almost anything with John Cusack in it; he's great at that type of role.

(examples of the gags flagging up the change in era: Michael Jackson skin colour, texting & social media, Chernobyl Energy Drink, inventing Zac Efron ahead of time, etc)