The title of the film I am going to analyse is Back to the
Future and it was released on the 3rd July 1985. This film was
directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg. The genre of Back
to the Future is science-fiction and the sub-genre is comedy.
Below is the link for the trailer:
Todorov’s equilibrium model can be used to apply to the
narrative in Back to the Future. The film’s equilibrium is during the beginning of the film as it shows a young
man’s ordinary day where he late for school, hanging about his with girlfriend and
having dinner with his family This shows that this is a normal routine for the
protagonist, Marty. At dinner, his mother, Lorraine talks about how she and
Marty’s father, George first fell in love when her father knocked him over with
his car.
The disruption
follows when Marty goes out late at night to meet his friend, Doc who is a
scientist. Doc presents a DeLorean transformed into a time machine powered by
plutonium, which supplies 1.21 gigawatts of power. He plans his first trip, but
is prevented when the Libyans arrive in a van and shoot him. Marty escapes
using the DeLorean and accidentally activates the time machine.
The recognition
in the film occurs when Marty picks up a newspaper and realises that he is in 1955.
Marty meets his father, George but as a teenager who is bullied by Biff. George
is about to be hit by Lorraine's father's car when Marty pushes him out of the way
and is knocked over instead. As a result, Lorraine falls for Marty instead of
George. Marty goes to find Doc telling him he is from the future and needs help
returning to 1985.
The
repair takes place when Marty plans
to have George "rescue" Lorraine however this plan fails when Biff
shows up. George arrives to rescue her from Marty but finds Biff and yet stands
up to him for the first time and knocks him out. Lorraine follows George back
to the dance where they kiss assuring Marty’s existence. Marty arrives at the
clock tower for his return back to the future. This brings on a chain of events
before the new equilibrium is reached.
The
new equilibrium of the film is when
Marty wakes up the next morning to find that his family has completely changed.
He reunites with his girlfriend Jennifer when Doc arrives insisting they come
with him to the future to sort out a problem with their future children. Marty
and Jennifer enter the DeLorean with Doc and depart for the future. This makes the film open because even though the film is
eventually brought to a conclusion, Doc, Marty and Jennifer going to the future
shows there is more events that will take place.
Back to the Future is a film that is in a non-chronological order, so the events
in the film are not necessarily in the right order e.g. Marty’s parents are
shown as adults then teenagers, then adults again. This is mainly because of
the time travelling that takes place in the film. Also, Back to the Future has
a restricted narrative because we
see the film through Marty’s point of view.
Levi Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions can also be
applied to the narrative structure of this Back to the Future. One example in
this film is between the strange things that are in the film like the excessive
amount of clocks in one room at the beginning of the film compared to the near end
where there is only one clock which is normal.
The character, Marty is typical of the science-fiction genre
because he is a protagonist that lives his life as a normal teenager and
suddenly put back in time to change his and his parents’ present day by
overcoming the antagonist, Biff. Also Marty’s girlfriend, Jennifer is typical
of the science-fiction genre because she is a character that is unaware of the
time-travelling until the end of the film when Doc tells them to come with him
back to the future.
Doc
is typical of the science fiction genre as he is a scientist. This character is hegemonic representation
of a scientist and is typical through his costume, hair and make-up. Doc is
wearing a white lab coat which is heavily associated with scientists and the
science-fiction genre. Also his hair is white and reminiscent to Albert
Einstein who was a very well-known scientist as well. In terms of behaviour,
Doc is quite wacky and that is typical to the sub-genre of this film which is
comedy.
The facial expressions and body language of the characters
in Back to the Future is representative of this genre because they symbolise
the shock and disbelief shown by the characters that are not used to the
conventions of the science-fiction genre like time-travel and technology.
In
the beginning of the film, there is a medium shot of a clock and as the camera
zooms out and pans and you can see more different clocks. This prop is typical
of the science fiction genre as it shows that time is an important feature in
this film.
The storyline is very typical of the science-fiction genre
because the characters are often placed accidently in the past or future to
change something that affects the present day, most of the time for the better.
In this case, Marty goes back in time by 30 years and changes it so that his
parents are better off than they were before. Also themes in science fiction
films like the advancement in technology from the past to the future is typical
of the genre such as the video camera. The story also explores time travel
which is very typical of the science fiction genre.
There is an extract in the film when a chase takes place between Marty
and Biff with his friends.
At the start of this extract, George is talking to Lorraine and there’s a
medium shot when Biff enters the parlour with his gang. When this happens it
cuts to a medium close up of Marty. His facial expression suggests that he is
angry at his presence and confirms it by swearing (‘shit’). This is a
stereotypical representation of age because his use of language shows that he
is rebellious and this is the way most teenagers are portrayed as in the media.
When Biff walks towards Ma
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