Great Scott!! A time traveling oedipal complex masquerading as family entertainment?
This special patrons-only bonus episode of Deep Thoughts takes a closer look at the film that ensured the DeLorean’s ongoing cultural relevance: Back to the Future. From the erasure of Black culture and ambition to some truly weird sexual politics (Marty was gonna do what in that parked car? And Lorraine was happy for her would-be rapist to come to her home 30 years later?), Emily and Tracie talk about all the ways this weird, regressive, fun, and remarkably well-made movie reifies social hierarchies and celebrates bizarre friendships between high school kids and ageless mad scientists.
Listen as we take this baby to 88 MPH—and go back to the future.
CW: Discussion of on-screen sexual harassment and implied sexual assault.
Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
To listen to the complete episode, become a Patron! Patrons are members of the Guy Girls' family, with exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts.
Great Scott!! A time traveling oedipal complex masquerading as family entertainment?
This special patrons-only bonus episode of Deep Thoughts takes a closer look at the film that ensured the DeLorean’s ongoing cultural relevance: Back to the Future. From the erasure of Black culture and ambition to some truly weird sexual politics (Marty was gonna do what in that parked car? And Lorraine was happy for her would-be rapist to come to her home 30 years later?), Emily and Tracie talk about all the ways this weird, regressive, fun, and remarkably well-made movie reifies social hierarchies and celebrates bizarre friendships between high school kids and ageless mad scientists.
Listen as we take this baby to 88 MPH—and go back to the future.
CW: Discussion of on-screen sexual harassment and implied sexual assault.
Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
To listen to the complete episode, become a Patron! Patrons are members of the Guy Girls' family, with exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts.
Speaker 1:
Hi, I'm Emily Guy-Burkin and you're listening to Deep Thoughts about Stupid Shit, because pop culture is still culture, and shouldn't you know what's in your head? In today's special bonus episode, I will be discussing Back to the Future with my sister, tracy Guy-Dekker, and with you, let's dive in.
Speaker 2:
Have you ever had something you love dismissed because it's just pop culture, what others might deem stupid shit? You know matters, you know what's worth talking and thinking about, and so do we. So come over, think with us as we delve into our deep thoughts about stupid shit.
Speaker 1:
Okay, tracy, I know that Back to the Future is kind of a pillar of your childhood as well. I don't recall if we saw it in the theater. I remember seeing two and three in the theater with you, but you know we definitely was on regular rotation at like sleepovers and with our cousin and stuff like that. But tell me what you remember about the film.
Speaker 2:
You know it's funny because a lot of the movies that we have taken on so far have been ones that, like I, have strong associations with dad. About this one, I have a strong association with our stepfather.
Speaker 1:
Me too yeah.
Speaker 2:
So that's. It's interesting that that's coming in on this one, so you know what comes to my mind first. Besides, our stepfather is actually from the show Glow Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, the sitcom. Have you seen it?
Speaker 1:
I have not.
Speaker 2:
Okay, I recommend it. I recommend it. Okay. But there's a character who's like this kind of B movie director who thinks of himself as like very avant garde and like edgy, and he has this idea for this movie that he's super excited about. That's so dark and interesting, about this man who time travels back in time and has sex with his own mom. It's supposed to be like really like edgy and whatever, and he's talking about it at one point and a guy he doesn't really know, but just someone who's in the periphery, is like oh yeah, like back to the future man and like this, um, this like edgy tough guy is like so he feels so betrayed that this mainstream studio movie like stole his idea and like watching this show, this was like it's kind of an aside, it was not a main plot point of the show, but I was like, oh, that is kind of what, back to the future, yucky, I do, because I mean it's there, it's obviously there, but I like it's not the thing that I focus on.
Speaker 2:
Anyway, that's what comes to mind first and I'm sure we'll get into some of that. But, um, yeah, that's that's where I'm coming, that's where I'm coming from today, but why are we talking about it.
Speaker 1:
I will tell our listeners Tracy already knows this, I've told her this that I have not been looking forward to recording this episode and that's in part because back to the future was one of the films that I watched many, many times not like Princess Bride, not like Neverending Story, but it was on the rotation Um and I thought of it as fun family romp. Um in part because as a kid I didn't completely understand the subplot with uh, with Lorraine and Marty Um like I kind of got it, but it kind of went over my head and um and I just I I thought Michael J Fox was cute. I loved the fact that this is another movie that uh rewards repeat watching because you can see little details that have changed since he went back in time. Um all of that.
Speaker 1:
When I was in college I took a course and I cannot recall what the title of the course was, but it was. It was on race in American literature and my um, my professor, uh, ted Mason um from uh from Kenyon College, who was brilliant. Um was talking about the ways in which culture erases people of color, and uh pop culture specifically, and he gave two examples Um one was how Star Trek originally had um to boldly go where no man has gone before, and then the next generation made it to boldly go where no one has gone before. And Professor Mason, very I, pointed out, like that's saying that the aliens they meet are no one, and I was like, oh god, oh, that's terrible. Like they were trying to be more gender inclusive and they went straight to erasing the existence of non-humans, which, because it's kind of an adventure show like Old Westerns, it's erasing the existence and the humanity of non-white folks, so that. And then the other example he gave is Marty McFly inventing rock and roll instead of Chuck Berry. And I remember feeling betrayed by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg when Professor Mason pointed that out and it really colored the way that I, or it changed the way that I looked at this movie, because it made me realize how white-centric it is and in part because I remember how tickled our parents were by that joke and I'm not, like you know, our parents were in the same culture that we are in and so like it didn't occur to them, it didn't occur to us. It's okay that it didn't because, like that's the culture that we live in. But when you know better, you do better and we didn't know better. But that to me like that it completely erases this like seminal portion of black 20th century culture really had me nervous about rewatching it because I don't believe I've seen it since before Professor Mason blew my mind that way. So that's part of it.
Speaker 1:
That's part of what I want to talk about is, like how white-centric this film is. I want to talk about gender again because Lorraine gets she gets done dirty in this film and I kind of want to talk about this film's place in our culture and why it is so beloved. Because it is a weird little film. It's very well done and it is another one of those films where I am so impressed with the story construction, like everything that they do, from like the introduction of Marty and Doc Brown through to the like little you can't even call them Easter eggs but like the things that change because of his trip to back in time all of that is just masterfully done. It is a remarkably well written screenplay. So like I love that part of the reason why we love it is because of that. Like that is our culture, responding well to very well written story. But there's some, there's some not so great undercurrents, but it wasn't as awful as I was afraid it was going to be.
Speaker 2:
All right, well, I mean, okay, cool, I'm excited to hear you know where you landed. Sorry, listener. Our deep thoughts about Back to the Future are patron exclusive, but you can become a patron. It's easy. Head on over to our Patreon and find the tier that's right for you. Thanks for listening. Our theme music is Professor Umlaut by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetekcom. Find full music credits in the show notes. Until next time, remember, pop culture is still culture, and shouldn't you know what's in your head?