Movie Analysis: “Back to the Future” — Plot

Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of watching movies:

To be a good screenwriter, you need to have a broad exposure to the world of film. Every movie you see is a potential reference point for your writing, everything from story concepts you generate to characters you develop to scenes you construct. Moreover people who work in the movie business constantly reference existing movies when discussing stories you write; it’s a shorthand way of getting across what they mean or envision.

But most importantly, you need to watch movies in order to ‘get’ how movie stories work. If you immerse yourself in the world of film, it’s like a Gestalt experience where you begin to grasp intuitively scene composition, story structure, character functions, dialogue and subtext, transitions and pacing, and so on.

Let me add this: It’s important to see movies as they get released so that you stay on top of the business. Decisions get made in Hollywood in large part depending upon how movies perform, so watching movies as they come out puts you in the same head space as reps, producers, execs, and buyers.

This week’s movie: Back to the Future, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.

IMDb plot summary: A young man is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown, and must make sure his high-school-age parents unite in order to save his own existence.

Our schedule for discussion this week:

Monday: General Comments
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Takeaways

For those of you who have not seen the movie, do not click MORE as we will be trafficking in major spoilers. If you have seen BTTF, I invite you to join me in breaking down and analyzing the movie.

Check out my analysis of subplots in Back to the Future from January 22, 2010:

BACK TO THE FUTURE (written by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale) is a script which makes great use of subplots. The Plotline: Marty McFly (MICHAEL J. FOX) accidentally travels back in time, then desperately tries to get back home. The subplots include:

MARTY AND HIS MUSICAL ASPIRATIONS: Marty doesn’t have the courage to send off his rock band’s demo tape to the record company.

MARTY’S FATHER (GEORGE): Man with no backbone.

MARTY’S MOTHER (LORRAINE): Sexually repressed woman — supposedly.

GEORGE AND LORRAINE’S ROMANCE: How Marty’s parents hooked up.

MARTY’S FADING FAMILY: The fate of Marty and his siblings.

DR. BROWN AND THE LIBYAN TERRORISTS: The fate of Dr. Brown.

Let’s examine each of these subplots, looking for specific examples of the four-beat pattern. NOTE: The numbers refer to scenes in the script.

MARTY AND HIS MUSICAL ASPIRATIONS
Beginning #10: Marty confides he is reticent to send demo tape
to record company because of his fear (“What if
they hate it?”)
Middle I #78: Marty discovers his father writing a science
fiction story, but George never lets anybody
read them — “What if they didn’t like ‘em.”
Middle II #138: Marty gets to play rock and roll at the
dance with Chuck Berry’s cousin, Marvin
Ending #225: Marty retrieves the demo tape from the trash,
now having the courage to send it to the record
company

MARTY’S FATHER (GEORGE)
Beginning #14: George doesn’t stand up to his bullying brother,
BIFF, when Biff has wrecked George’s car (“Son,
I know it’s hard for you to understand, but the
fact is, I’m just not a fighter.”
Middle I #47: George bullied by Biff (in the past)
Middle II #91: When George tries to ask Lorraine out for a
date, Biff humiliates George by extorting money
from him
Ending #125: George saves Lorraine from Biff by knocking him
out

MARTY’S MOTHER (LORRAINE)
Beginning #15: Lorraine weighs in on contemporary social values
(“I think it’s terrible, girls chasing boys. I
never chased a boy when I was your age.”)
Middle I #54: Young Lorraine excited by Marty (“I’ve never
seen red underwear before.”)
Middle II #100: Lorraine asks Marty out to the “Enchantment
Under the Sea” dance
Ending #118: Smoking cigarettes and knocking back booze,
Lorraine puts the moves on Marty

THE ROMANCE OF GEORGE AND LORRAINE
Beginning #15: Lorraine tells the kids (for the millionth time)
how she and George met (he was struck by
Lorraine’s father’s car), and their ensuing
romance (“Your father kissed me for the very
first time on the dance floor… and that was
when I realized I was going to spend the rest
of my life with him.” — At the Enchantment Under
the Sea” school dance)
Middle I #53: Marty knocks George out of the way of Lorraine’s
father’s car, disrupting the past
Middle II #104: Marty agrees to be Lorraine’s date to the dance,
but only to set up a scenario in which George
will act like a hero and win Lorraine’s
affection
Ending #134: At the dance, George shoves a rival into the
punch bowl, grabs Lorraine, and kisses her

MARTY’S FADING FAMILY
Beginning #15: Marty’s siblings, Dave and Linda, introduced
Middle I #69: Dave’s photo fading, letting Marty and Brown
know that Marty’s siblings are being “erased
from existence” — if Marty can’t orchestrate
Lorraine and George together, his siblings and
Marty will never come to be
Middle II #102: Dave is gone from the photo, and now Linda’s
image starts to fade
Ending #134: Marty’s photo starts to fade as well, but when
George and Lorraine end up dancing together, his image, along with his brother’s and sister’s, returns to normal

DR. BROWN AND THE LIBYAN TERRORISTS
Beginning #23: As Brown is about to do his time travel test,
the Libyans appear and gun down the scientst
Middle I #84: Marty stops short telling Brown about how he
was killed by Libyan terrorists
Middle II #107: Marty writes a letter to Brown, letting him know
that he must take precautions to avoid getting
shot by the terrorists in the future
Ending #222: Although shot by the terrorists, it turns out
Brown read Marty’s letter and wore a bullet
proof vest to survive the attack

These subplots work.
Each of these subplots has at least three beats…
Each of them has a Beginning, Middle, and End…
Each of them intersects with the Plotline…
Each of the subplots tie into the Themeline.
In sum, they all serve and dimensionalize the story, making it more fun, dramatic, and full of action.

By the way, if you are wondering what the theme of the movie is, it comes to us courtesy of a side of Dr. Brown dialogue in scene #11: “That’s the point, Marty. Risk. Risk makes life worth living.” The Plotline and all the subplots explore the concept of risk and discovery.

SUB-SUBPLOTS: “BOBs”

If you go through the script more closely, you will discover a series of two-beat bits of business (what I call “BOBs”): Simply a set-up, followed by a comedic pay-off. A few of them include:

• In the Present, we see an election poster, “Re-Elect Mayor ‘Goldie’ Wilson (#10); in the Past, Marty ‘gives’ Goldie, a janitor at the diner, the idea to run for Mayor (#47: “That’s right — he’s gonna be Mayor someday.”)
• In the Present, Marty uses a skateboard (#6); in the Past, Marty gerryrigs a skateboard (#92), which gives the inspiration to some boys to invent “Roller Boards” (#95-B).
• The biggest two-part set-up and payoff is the transformation of Marty’s family life: In the Original Present, it is blue collar meets dysfunctional crossed with vodka; when Marty returns from the past to the New Present, everything is different — His parents look great, his brother and sister have fine jobs, the family will be moving into a huge house with a tennis court and swimming pool, all a result of George, inspired in the past by Marty, writing a science fiction book which ends up selling 2 million copies.

Interesting to note that Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote BACK TO THE FUTURE, revisited this same story conceit when he directed a little thing called FORREST GUMP. Remember how the Protagonist intersected with history, causing events to turn directly through his influence? Almost as if Zemeckis used FORREST GUMP to go BACK TO THE FUTURE.

While subplots may seem like a lot of work, they can enhance the quality of your story, as well as make your job easier. There is so much more to the process of creating and managing subplots, but this should give you a good foundation from which you can develop your subplot writing chops.

How about your thoughts on the plot in Back to the Future?

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