Roads?… Where we’re going, we don’t need, roads.
Doc Brown and Marty McFly had a strange relationship, which has long since been established and debated. But the trilogy is such a classic, a solid good time from the first time Power of Love was played, to when the DeLorean was obliterated on the train tracks. Huey Lewis and Flea had great cameos, the call backs and easter eggs throughout the trilogy paired with the different Biffs was such a wonderful combination that kept us all hooked. But just like the Goonies these movies were so much more than a good time to me as I watched them over and over as a kid.
They were totally a form of escapism. Even though all I was trying to “escape” was boring life in a place with a small town mentality. I was born and raised in a place that wasn’t big but also wasn’t a small town. It had natural beauty and the people had a strong work ethic and close knit families. It shaped my views for worse or for better. My grandmother was known for saying that our town was the center of the universe. I was proud of where I was from but also daydreamed of life elsewhere. I loved my parents, my sisters, my friends and my grandmother but also took weekends alone on the Appalachian Trail because I needed a space that allowed me to explore life, even if just mentally, away from my hometown.
I was conflicted when presented with opportunities to leave. This is what I always wanted right?… Right?…
It was and it wasn’t. What if I had a time machine and was able to look at my life away from where I was raised? Now that was an intriguing thought! I could always come back to where I started, it was solace and security at the same time. Marty did it several times, not for the sole purpose of trying to scope out his future but to save his existence.
Side point. I know that trying to see different life paths isn’t how time travel works generally. Unless, you go back in time, convince yourself to do something, then jump in time to see the results. Then have to go back to the original date and talk yourself out of it and repeat that cycle to see the different outcomes. But that could potentially create too many past selves leading to a glitch in the space time continuum and violating the rule of not interacting with your past or future selves. But I digress.
The thought of being able to intentionally, or accidentally, impact the future or the past was fascinating to me. So I watched the Back to the Future trilogy on the regular to escape the inner conflict I had about setting down true roots where I was or spread my wings elsewhere. The older I got I started to learn very important lessons from my favorite wild eyed scientist and his high school companion.
I started to think about the very first movie. The plot was saving Marty’s parents love story because he accidentally interfered with past events. Once he saved their relationship and his future self, he had to ensure Doc’s safety by giving him a letter telling him about his future. Doc was furious, you can’t go back in time to try and change the future! He ripped up the letter. But once he gets back to 1985 he see’s Doc gunned down. That was what he was trying to prevent in the past. He runs over to mourn his death and finds him alive! He had pieced the ripped up letter together and read Marty’s warning. It saved his life. I know you can’t go back in time, what people tell you in the past can make you angry at the time, but the more you think about it the more you realize they were right. Marty gave his past father some good advice and once he got back to 1985 his family lived in the same house but appeared more successful and Biff wasn’t his fathers bully anymore. So that’s lesson 1, don’t live in the past but take advice and let it shape your future.
Then Part 2 took us to 2015 (where are our flying cars?!?!) then to an alternate 1985 and ultimately back to 1955 to set the continuum straight. What we find is an attempt to fix the future it impacted the current reality because of something that changed in the past. Money and power were the motivating factor. The sports almanac was the cheat code for 1955 Biff to become the cartoonish thug Marty found in the alternate 1985. Once Doc and Marty prevented 2015 Biff from getting the almanac to 1955 Biff the 1985 Marty went back to life as he remembered, for the most part. Biff used money and power to get what he wanted but Marty’s mom never loved him and once the money was removed Biff was exposed for his true self. So what appears to be an unfair advantage to others in your life doesn’t change who they actually are. You see it once the privilege they have is removed somehow and see that material possessions are often a mask. The lesson is not, wealth is evil or always make people act in bad faith, but it will bring out your true colors. If you don’t care about people and the only thing that matters is you, then wealth and power will bring that to the fore. Don’t be a Biff (butthead)!
The 3rd movie is usually regarded as the worst of the trilogy. But I think its the perfect ending to this amazing journey. It all comes about when 1985 Doc gets zapped to the past from 1955 and has to then seek out 1955 Doc for help! The letter 1985 Doc sends to Marty from 1885 tells him not to try and save him, but no one listens in these movies. 1955 Doc and 1985 Marty find the old DeLorean in a cave and work some mechanical magic and get it to flux Marty to the old west. Marty runs in to his ancestors which help him and he eventually finds Doc. Doc is in trouble with who else but Biff Mad Dog Tannen. Apparently people in Hill Valley never left generation after generation. Doc falls in love but changes the future because Clara was supposed to die. That one action changes Docs life forever. Although before Marty got there his life was supposed to be forever different living in the old West past. They eventually concoct a plan to have a train push the DeLorean to 88 miles an hour. In their train robbing attempt they effectively get the train burning hot enough to accomplish their goal. As they are trying to shimmy across the train car to get into the DeLorean Clara, Docs love, rides up and tries to join them. He has to save her life again! This time he misses his chance to go back to 1985 for good. The DeLorean is then destroyed by an incoming train because the tracks they were on had been completed by 1985. The time machine is done for, the end. But wait, Doc shoots in on a time traveling flying train (this was a bit much, but it's the end so whatever) with Clara and two children. Marty back with Jennifer, Doc happily living life with Clara, time continuum saved. So what's this lesson?
The whole trilogy essentially ends how it begins. Marty is a high school kid in love with Jennifer and Doc is inventing things but has another purpose in life with his family. It's so simple. No matter where you live, what you've accomplished or want to accomplish, you always need people you care about around you. There's contentment in the mundane sometimes, but there's also room in life for adventure. A day cleaning windows or pressure washing sweating profusely and coming home tired is worth it when I hear “Daddy's home!” I feel the embrace of my wife and tell her I love her. This transcends location or circumstance. Even with a time machine, life is what you make it. If you're unhappy now a trip to the past or the future won't fix that. Doc and Marty were never trying to change anything, they were trying to preserve what they already had. So, find peace in cleaning windows or whatever it is you're doing. Because if you have real relationships in your life you can share adventures with them and not be defined by what you don't like about life but rather how you live the rest of your life.
