Midterm

Erasing the Family

In both Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985, USA) and The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984, USA), human reproduction is threatened by the intervention of technology and, more specifically, the use of time travel. In both films, time travel facilitates the obstacles to human sexual interaction which directly affects the futures of the film’s heroes. In the case of Back to the Future, Marty McFly, who travels back in time with use of the DeLorean, interrupts the first meeting of his parents and, in turn, threatens his very existence. Similarly, The Terminator’s titular character (which I will now refer to as the T-101) is sent back in time to kill the mother of the future leader of the human resistance against deadly machines, thus threatening mankind’s future. Although both Marty and the T-101’s actions are carried out with contrasting intents and motivations, the cost of failure means their own eradication.

It is important to start with the fact that both films are produced during and rooted in the Cold War-era tensions between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Additionally, the threat of nuclear annihilation and the use of radioactive substances in the narratives are the direct causes to the anxieties of human reproduction and destruction in and/or of the future. In The Terminator, deadly machines are commanded and built by the self-aware, artificial intelligence called Skynet; created by mankind to protect but nearly resulting in mankind’s total destruction as “the real surrenders priority to its simulations.” (1) Upon gaining self-awareness, Skynet takes control of the military and launches a nuclear war against humanity.


To Skynet, the humans are pests – an infestation – that need to be eradicated. The Terminators are a model of perfection, constructed identically by make and model. Perfection, however, comes at the cost of emotions, humanity, and – by design – the need for love and sexual reproduction. When John Connor leads a successful rebellion against the machines, the death of the Mother and, in essence, the suppression of birth becomes a measure of last resort on the part of Skynet. The T-101 is sent back in time with the sole mission to terminate, or in essence, prematurely abort the baby of its creator’s greatest threat by means of termination of the mother with “[n]othing less than the very fate of the human race… at stake.” (2) It is also interesting to note the irony in the necessity of living tissue for a machine to travel in time to prevent life along with the fact that John Connor, by sending his father back in time, effectively (and paradoxically) initiated his own birth while simultaneously sending his father to his death.


Where Kyle Reese was the savior and facilitator of human reproduction in The Terminator, Marty in Back to the Future plays the role of both the impediment of sexual reproduction and its savior. Shortly upon arriving in 1955, Marty alters history in a way that could prevent his birth and the births of his siblings. It therefore becomes his mission to right what he himself has wronged. In this way and for the fact that he is personally displaced out of his own society, Marty is posited as the “other” in 1955 – the one who threatens human and sexual normativity. The residents of Hill Valley in 1955 are therefore both a threat and detrimental to Marty for his continued and eventual existence. To elaborate, if Marty were to interfere with events in the past, as he did in the case of his parents, his future could be significantly altered or absent. Initially, non-interference would have been ideal, but when that option leads to annihilation, there isn’t any choice but to interfere. Marty’s actions in the past did inexorably change his environment in his present. In his past, his parent’s love was based on circumstance and, more-than-likely, pity. With his interference, however, his parents love sparked with a more passionate resolve which imbued his father with the confidence (and the material) to fulfill his dreams of becoming an author. This, therefore, changed the McFly family dynamic to which Marty re-enters again as the “other” on foreign territory, albeit in a more favorable setting than it was previously.


Another obstacle for human reproduction in both films is the persistence of time. I the case of Marty, he not only has a limited amount of time before the “Enchantment Under the Sea” dance where his parents were meant to have their first kiss but also for the limited amount of time coupled with the precision timing needed to return to his own time period successfully. In The Terminator, the T-101 is not encumbered by the human trappings of aging, pain or sleep and can therefore remain fully dedicated to the competition of his primary directive. As a result, Kyle and Sarah, with the inevitability of an encounter with the T-101, must struggle against their own human failings and, consequently, time itself in order to preserve their own futures. One could link this to the Cold-war tensions of the mid-1980s where there was always the possibly, inevitability and/or fear of a nuclear attack and, with that, the annihilation of the family.


While neither film directly makes reference to the sterilizing nature of radioactivity, the dangers are still present, nevertheless, and you could still find connections to those anxieties. In Back to the Future, a connection could be the use of nuclear material for Marty’s time travel that could have prevented his own birth along with preventing his ability to father children of his own. In The Terminator, Skynet’s use of nuclear weaponry to halt the continuation of mankind’s existence along with the difficulty of raising a child amidst nuclear fallout could be some possible connections, as well. In both films, however, the use of radioactive material is the cause to the effect of the destruction of the self or the destruction of human-kind and the “other” (or “others”) sent back in time, as a consequence of radioactivity, create the conflicts and anxieties towards human reproduction and ultimately have to protect or destroy those institutions for their continued existence.

Joseph Michals
Film 319


Endnotes:
(1) J P. Telotte. “Science Fiction’s Double Focus,” Replications: A Robotic History of the Science Fiction Film. (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1995) p. 111.

(2) Forest Pyle. “Making Humans, Making Cyborgs: of Terminators and Bladerunners,” Film Theory Goes to the Movies. (London: Routledge, 1992) p. 128.

Works Cited

Back to the Future. Dir. Robert Zemeckis, Perf. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson. 1985. DVD. Universal Pictures, 2002.

Pyle, Forest. Film Theory Goes to the Movies. London: Routledge, 1992.

Telotte, J P. Replications: A Robotic History of the Science Fiction Film. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1995.

Terminator, The. Dir. James Cameron, Perf. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton. 1984. Blu-ray. MGM, 2006.

Visual Essay #1

Back to the Future: An Explosion of History

The movie Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985, USA) focuses on the story of teen Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) accidental travel backwards in time and his subsequent interference with the course of history, threatening his very existence. While the temporal setting, so to speak, changes twice in the film, both time periods fall in between the Cold War era of tensions between The United States and the former Soviet Union. Within this context, the possible destruction of Marty’s existence parallels the imposing threat of nuclear annihilation.

This film, like many science fiction films, does not rest squarely in the genre of science fiction. Director Robert Zemeckis classified this movie as a “Comedy-Adventure-Science-Fiction- Time-Travel-Love-Story.” (1) The prominent aspect that leads this film into the science fiction category is the obvious use of time travel to facilitate the narrative. With most of the film set in 1955, taking place during the “period that is commonly referred to as the ‘golden age’ of the science fiction film” (2), there are other references to the genre throughout the movie. Besides Marty referencing Darth Vader and Vulcan from the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, respectively, the use of a DeLorean as the time machine was to make the vehicle’s appearance seem outer-worldly, as that of a space ship. (1)

In the film, when the Peabody family finds the DeLorean recently crashed into their barn, the father thinks the vehicle is an airplane without wings and the son, showing his father the comic book in his hand, convinces his father that it is a spaceship and that Marty is a space mutant having taken human form. By the end of the film, a portion of that child’s imagination comes to fruition as the DeLorean is outfitted with jets allowing it to soar through the air.

Zemeckis is no stranger to the use of special effects or, as J P. Telotte may describe it, the art of “trickery.” (3) Aside from the two Future sequels, Contact was his only notable sci-fi endeavor to date. Most of his films, however, have made extensive use of visual “trickery,” like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump, for example. Zemeckis’ use of special effects, much as is the nature of special effects in general, matured in scope and execution as his career progressed. When Back to the Future was made, computer generated effects were still in its infancy with movies like Tron (Steven Lisberger, 1982, USA). His last two films, however, have featured nothing but computer generated visuals (The Polar Express, Beowulf).

Being set in both 1985 and 1955, the audience is able to witness, in reverse, the transition from the pristine, bustling downtown of the fictional Hill Valley to a dirty, rundown city. This parallels many small towns during that time span with the transition from small, privately owned shops to malls and corporate conglomerates. The audience also witnesses the boom of the suburbs that took place during that period as well with the display of Marty’s yet-to-be-constructed subdivision.

Being set during the Cold War, it is ironic that the act of time travel (in the bulk of the film) relies on a heavily radioactive substance in order to succeed. Even more ironic is the fact that the original method in which Marty was to come home relied on a nuclear explosion. (1) Due to budgeting constraints, the filmmakers were forced to adjust that scene, but, in doing so, were able to take that destruction for time (nuclear explosion) and make it a destruction of time, for time (lightening striking the clock), thus adding another layer of metaphor to the film.

Endnotes:

(1) Back to the Future. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. Perf. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson. 1985. DVD. Universal Pictures, 2002.

(2) Christine Cornea. “Science Fiction Films in the 1950s,” Science Fiction Cinema : Between Fantasy and Reality. (New York: Rutgers UP, 2007) p. 30.

(3) J. P. Telotte. “Introduction: The World of the Science Fiction Film,” Science Fiction Film. (New York: Cambridge UP, 2001) p. 25.

Works Cited

Back to the Future. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. Perf. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson. 1985. DVD. Universal Pictures, 2002.

Cornea, Christine. Science Fiction Cinema : Between Fantasy and Reality. New York: Rutgers UP, 2007.

Telotte, J. P., and Barry Keith Grant. Science Fiction Film. New York: Cambridge UP, 2001.