MovieChat Forums > Back to the Future Part III (1990) Discussion > The piece of paper makes no sense

The piece of paper makes no sense


These movies are riddled, full of, ruined by, saturated by.. (and so on)

..all kinds of plot holes, time travel goofs, things that make no sense, contrivances, things that couldn't work, things that wouldn't work, things that would change other things, etc.

The photos, for example - even the first movie's photo makes no sense because of how photons and cameras work, but even just thinking of the cameraman and the people composition - three people are going to be positioned differently than two people or one (how convenient that Marty just 'happened' to be in the middle so people wouldn't notice, but even then, the framing would've been different for sure).

I am not sure if it's worth pointing out just ONE of these probably more than three hundred such illogical things, plot holes and so on, but just to pick up ONE - the piece of paper makes no sense.

Jennifer is holding the 'You're fired!!11'-fax (yeah, FAX) print, then the text disappears. So future Marty is no longer fired. Fine. But, why does the paper remain?

This is the kind of thing the writers of these movies didn't think, apparently - WHY would Jennifer take an empty paper with her? (Not to mention, why would there ever be a fax machine in a darn closet..?)

When the text still exists, it makes sense that Jennifer would pick up the note, read it, be shocked by it, put it in her pocket. But since the fax seems to only spew those pieces of paper AFTER printing the text on them, how would Jennifer even get that piece of paper from the fax machine? Also, WHY would she just pick up an empty piece of paper (except for the logos and whatnot), be shocked that there's no text, and put it in her pocket?

NOW it makes no sense. Why wouldn't the whole darn piece of paper disappear instead of just the text?

The more you think about pretty much ANY photo that changes in these movies, the more you can realize how little any of it makes sense. The tombstone photo, for example, exists EXACTLY because Doc's name is on it. Marty/Doc in 1955 is NOT going to go to the graveyard just to take a photo of a textless tombstone, the area where a tombstone MIGHT be, but isn't (would you take a photo of just 'empty grass area' if you were Doc or Marty?), etc.

Also, would a 'nameless tombstone' even BE in the graveyard? How would they be able to photograph a tombstone that doesn't have a name on it (wouldn't be in the graveyard before it has a name carved on it, right?), and WHY would anyone take a photo of a tombstone that has no name or date or any info on it (again, not that it would even BE in the graveyard)?

I know there are tombstones marked 'Unknown' and such, but even they have SOME info on them, at least the burial date, if nothing else, and that usually happens when masses of people die and there's no way or time to track everyone before they're buried (mass graves and such probably have some kind of info added near them later on).

These are just tiny details in these movies, but their existence basically makes the stories impossible, and thus are major plot holes. If a tombstone photo makes no sense, it destroys the possibility of its existence in the story, and thus kills the story and therefore destroys the immersion and removes the viewer's ability to suspend their disbelief.

This is why these movie mistakes are so crucial, they basically heavily UNDERLINE what impossible cartoons they are, so you can't even fantasize about the events ever happening for real, because they can't. This is why it's so sad that writers don't think and movies make no sense.

It would be so glorious to have a movie that makes sense, so you could at least fantasize about something possibly happening for real, but the movies make it perfectly clear it can't happen, because they contradict their own reality so harshly and heavily.

The piece of paper should've disappeared, not just the text. However, even if they had fixed this goof, there would still be the around 299 other similar plot holes and stupidities that needed fixing... so why even bother.

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These are just tiny details in these movies, but their existence basically makes the stories impossible, and thus are major plot holes. If a tombstone photo makes no sense, it destroys the possibility of its existence in the story, and thus kills the story and therefore destroys the immersion and removes the viewer's ability to suspend their disbelief.

Obviously I only skim read your missive, but that right there is the most patently bullshit part
all your little niggles are possibly correct but in no way do they ruin the movie and they are not "major" plot holes.

Also it is impossible to make a time travel movie without some sort of paradox, whichever model you use.

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Avortac4 is either (A) a troll trying to waste everyone's time with such idiotic comments, or (B) the stupidest person on these message boards. Look at his posts. He doesn't think anything in any film makes sense. Don't feed the troll. Don't comment after my comment.

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Not likely a troll as trolls usually (but obviously not always) try to be sarcastically funny in their posts but this guy is what I think to be on the spectrum. He's trying to be funny but doesn't understand humor.

Don't comment after my comment.


Got it.

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