Story, Plot, Character Development, Foreshadowing, and Order in Robert Zemeckis' (1985) Back to the Future.
ENG 225 Introduction to Film
Professor Allison Sansbury
Back to the Future (1985) is a Robert Zemeckis film that was directed by Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg. Zemeckis and Bob Gale co-wrote and co-created the film (IMBD.com). Some of the major actors include Christopher Lloyd, Michael J. Fox, and Lea Tompson. Back to the Future is the first film of a trilogy, but this blog will focus on the story, plot, character development, foreshadowing, and order from the first film.
Story and plot can be difficult to distinguish. Story time extends beyond plot time. If we take Back to the Future as an example, the story about going back in time and then back to future to save the Doc doesn’t begin when the plot does. According Goodykoontz & Jacobs (2014), the plot includes “those particular elements of the story that the writer and director decide to use in the film, including the order in which they’re presented, the point of view, etc…” The plot begins at Doc’s house in the 80’s. The exposition would be when Marty enters the house to find Doc missing. The crisis develops when Marty helps Doc test the time machine, and it works. Shortly after, the Doc gets shot by a Libyan that he acquired plutonium from, so Marty goes back in time to warn him. After a fantastic week in the 50’s, the plot reaches the climax when the Doc trashes Marty’s warning letter, successfully harnesses the lightening as energy, and sends Marty back to the future. In the future, the Doc wears a bulletproof vest and doesn’t get killed by the Libyans; he taped Marty’s letter back together. The Doc goes to live in the future (the year 2015), and Marty returns home to Hill Valley—but the denouement, or resolution, at the end of the movie is a façade. This home isn’t how Marty left it, which left room for an adventure filled, time traveling, sequel.
In the course text, the story is defined as “a narrative; all elements and events that characters experiences, whether before, during, or after the plot that is depicted” (Goodykootnz & Jacobs 2014). Back to the Future is a story about time travel in which a boy goes back in time to rescue his mentor and friend, Dr. Emmett Brown, a.k.a, the Doc. The story of how Marty and the Doc became friends transcends the film. Co-creator Bob Gale shares this part of the story in an article for Mental Floss (2011) online entitled “Back to the Future Co-creator Bob Gale Explains How Doc and Marty Became Friends”
For years, Marty was told that Doc Brown was dangerous, a crackpot, a lunatic. So, being a red-blooded American teenage boy, age 13 or 14, he decided to find out just why this guy was so dangerous. Marty snuck into Doc’s lab, and was fascinated by all the cool stuff that was there. When Doc found him there, he was delighted to find that Marty thought he was cool and accepted him for what he was. Both of them were the black sheep in their respective environments. Doc gave Marty a part-time job to help with experiments, tend to the lab, tend to the dog, etc...
Marty risked traveling back in time to save the Doc because he’s Marty’s friend and “accepts him for who he is” (English 2011). At the core, the message in this story is about friendship, and accepting loved ones for their accolades as well as their faults.
While this film spans three decades, it moves in chronological order. Chronological order means that the “events in the movie’s plot follow the same order in which they would in the story” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs 2014). The film begins in 1985. After Doc gets shot, Marty goes back to 1955—but that doesn’t make the story nonlinear. Had we seen the alternate time line at the end of the story appear as the beginning of the story, then the order would be nonlinear.
The chronological order of the film helps the audience learn about the evolution of the characters and the town they live in. One of the first shots of the Doc’s house introduce him to the audience without him even being there. A medium shot shows Marty place the key back under the mat—indicating that Doc trusts him enough to let him come and go as he pleases. These characters are friends. The camera slowly pans over the collection of cat clocks and simple machines that govern this eccentric home. The clocks foreshadow the time travel that is to come, and the “brevity of human life” (Goodykootnz & Jacobs 2014). There’s also a quick shot of plutonium under the bed. Once the Doc calls and talks to Marty, it’s clear that this is the Doc’s place and someone is going to have an adventure sprinkled with danger.
Had the movie started in the middle (during 1955), the audience wouldn’t know about time traveling in style with the Delorean or the purpose of going back in time in the first place. Beginning at the end of the story would have been even more confusing since an alternate time line is in place. The audience wouldn’t see Marty’s dad grow from a shy guy to a confident man. The audience also wouldn’t know who Marty’s mom and dad are; they wouldn’t understand the internal conflict Marty experiences in 1955, and why he can’t date Elaine—but George McFly needs to. To be continued…
English, Jason. (2011). Mental Floss. http://mentalfloss.com/article/28526/back-future-co-creator-bob-gale-explains-how-marty-and-doc-became-friends
Gale, B., Spielberg, S., & Zemeckis, R. (1985). Back to the Future. United States: Universal Pictures
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
