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'Back to the Future' Is Actually a Tragedy

posted 6 months ago by TMC-4 (19424)
5 replies | jump to latest

https://collider.com/back-to-the-future-tragedy/

Marty McFly didn't really have a happy ending.

A more persuasive argument: https://popcultmaster.com/2015/06/10/bttf-the-overlooked-drama/

Nah, that's just a prior draft. "Ghostbusters" was originally a sci-fi drama. "Roxanne" was originally the tragedy of Cyrano de Bergerac. Stories can be rewritten to change their tone and presentation, ESPECIALLY when new actors are involved.

Many, like Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy and Will Smith, have their own personal screenwriters who'll take an existing script and revise it to fit their personas (e.g., fitting "Aw Hell No" into the dialogue)

BTTF isn't a drama in its final form. It's interesting to think of how it might've played (boring and depressing in my view), but the notion of traveling back and "fixing" your parents is inherently comic.

It plays better as a comedy

[–] Cognoscente (2464) 5 months ago

I'm reminded of Joe Dante's episode of Hollywood’s Best Film Directors where he talked about Innerspace. It was conceived as a serious film until Jeffrey Boam rewrote the screenplay after pitching it under the scenario of imagine if Dean Martin shrank and was put inside the body of Jerry Lewis.

[–] Burgershmurger (1273) 16 days ago

In a tragedy people die. And you can choose the genre for almost all stories you want to tell. BTTF is so popular because it has the right mix of drama and comedy.

[–] ExTechOp (2756) 5 months ago

BTTF is a comedy first and foremost, not hard sci-fi, so Collider is applying the wrong reasoning. George and Lorraine ARE the same people, just "improved" -- and it's acceptable because it's funny

Secondly, we're never shown conclusively how the characters are affected by the past changing. We know anyone who makes his own existence impossible will disappear, so changing the past affects the traveler, but it happens gradually

Since the brain is just a physical organ, it stands to reason Marty's new timeline memories will eventually catch up with him

This was directly addressed in the "Butterfly Effect," where changing the past causes a flood of new memories poured into the traveler's brain, causing nosebleeds.