Back to the Future 1992

[amadeus]

I suppose you could tear up a picture of the Pope and spill the beans on Bill Cosby. Now there's your show-stopper.

 

[Traitorfish]

That's where I started from with this, could we find replacements for those things from the original movie? The radical social and cultural changes that happened between 1955 and 1985, like the end of segregation or portable video recorders, I don't see them as having really good enough equivalents in our own time to make a movie as interesting as Back to the Future was at the time it was released.

I think it's not even just the rapid cultural change between 1955 and 1985, but the fact that most of that change occurred in the first half of that span, so that to a teenager in the mid-1980s, the outcome appears obvious and unremarkable. Most of what Marty finds surprising about the 1950s would have been equally surprising if he had travelled from 1975 instead of 1985. Even if we did identify some comparably dramatic shift in social or cultural norms between the early '90s and today, we'd probably find that the change had been more incremental so that even a teenager would be more consciously aware that the change had occurred, so you'd struggle to create the sense of culture shock.

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

Meat Loaf: I'll do anything for love.

OK song but the video was what really made it memorable.

 

[MaryKB]

Marty would obviously introduce the world to dubstep.

 

[amadeus]

I think it's not even just the rapid cultural change between 1955 and 1985, but the fact that most of that change occurred in the first half of that span, so that to a teenager in the mid-1980s, the outcome appears obvious and unremarkable.

This is an excellent point.

The only way I think, and I don’t mean to make too much social commentary, you could make a movie like this now would be to make Marty a caricature of today’s youth: no music streaming? Maps on paper? Personal pronouns? “OMG!!!”

It would be pretty uninteresting, I suppose, because for so many of us that lived through these changes, I don’t think re-adjusting to them would be as insurmountable.

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

no music streaming? Maps on paper? Personal pronouns? “OMG!!!”

It would be pretty uninteresting, I suppose, because for so many of us that lived through these changes, I don’t think re-adjusting to them would be as insurmountable.

They had something like that in III. The gas line accidentally got cut and Marty was looking for a gas station. Doc told him gasoline won't be invented for another 7 years.

Wouldn't need to do a caricature. CDs and vinyl records are still in use and most people don't specify pronouns. But not having GPS and not being able to Google something would legitimately be a challenge for 2022 Marty going back to 1992.

 

[Hygro]

Donald Trump, dubstep, mumble rap, autotuned vocals, riding on the Segway version of “hoverboard” and his school dance would have a visualizer hooked up to the music projecting high res 3d fractal patterns in between moments of deepfakery and nature immersion.

 

[amadeus]

@Bestbank Tiger the point is it would only be a reaffirmation of our sense of superiority for having lived through those dark ages of using phone books and waiting for our camera film to get developed.

 

[Anysense]

Joe Biden doesn’t make the “Ronald Reagan? The actor?” scene seem as interesting.

May be, amend constitution and wait until 2024 for terminator to become president.

 

[amadeus]

Arnold winning would be less surprising to the 1992 people than the today people.

 

[caketastydelish]

It is the first 30 years of no Cold War. Surely that counts for something?

 

[mitsho]

Yeah, i feel this would work better in 2020, with "Trump - the guy with the golden everything?"

Just wanted to say, cool thread though. And man, I'm getting old.

 

[amadeus]

It is the first 30 years of no Cold War. Surely that counts for something?

Depending on the metrics, you could say that we won the war but lost the peace.

Anyway, it wouldn't be that surprising to the 1992 people because Russia was already in a mess then. Go back to 1982 or even during the first year of Gorby, then yes, you've got something.

 

[Hygro]

I think the phone with a high res camera and the ability to take infinity photos and videos and play them back would be the technology the 1992 people would want to interact with most.

 

[GinandTonic]

As @Misho nodded to -

1 - Trump/ Biff. Gotta be a weird parallel for a reboot.
2 - Email. Really 30 years ago not a thing outside of CERN and DARPA.
3 - Wikis Thirty years ago not a thing. Add to that Out World in Data etc.

A world both less able to communicate and far more united. Aint irony lov'ly,

 

[EnglishEdward]

The development of word processors means that documents are longer and less informative.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Siri and Alexa, for the tech. Just being able to yell a question at Computer was Star Trek level of sci-fi in 92; now it's commonplace.

K-pop, maybe, for music. Up to 92 we thought Anglosphere had a lock on pop.