Chapter 254: BttF Nitpickers I: The ‘Karen’
As Alexander looked back on it... Theatrical June turned out to be quite the month.
Every other week is somewhat of a progression from the last.
A stellar debut in one... a Creed round-robin assimilation on the next... somehow rousing the White House on the third... and just budding-up car enthusiasm for a failed car and a failed car creator by the end...
With all that, there's a pretty high chance that such a progression will continue in the next months to come... and that would be a thing that the Creeds would be counting on.
They've already got the president of America to be somewhat taking focus on Back to the Future... so who knows what the rest of their first film project will hold for them?
Hopefully, it would be a progression of the good but there might be a chance that it would be the comeback of the bad.
Of course, as sunshine-y and all successful as it may have seemed... not everything that revolved around the film was all a bolster for its success and greatness.
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With the time travel flick's rise to prominence and dominance at the box office and all the positively enforcing events that surrounded it... there also happen to be events or accounts that are denouncing it as well!
One such example is from an interviewed mother that made her statement known to on-site reporters that just wanted to cover film-goers reactions.
What the woman in question said was a pretty stark contrast to all the other interviewees before her.
"I was horrified that a major plot point is that Marty's plan is to assault his young mother in the car to such a point that there is a struggle, at which George would come in and save the day. Weird and gross on multiple levels."
"Worse, when Marty (thankfully) doesn't go through with this plan, Biff and his goons get rid of Marty, and Biff gets in the car and does to proceed to sexually assault her, which we can tell by Biff stating what he's about to do, the shaking car and signs of Lorraine struggling."
"It's all fairly shocking, and it's presented so casually that the point has nothing to do with Lorraine, it's all about allowing George to prove his manliness."
"The fact that Lorraine is being held in a car and groped without her consent isn't even given a casual mention. Also requiring explanation is that George McFly is a "peeping Tom", which is gross and makes it hard to like him as a hero."
"Of course, there's Biff again... saying sexually threatening things to Lorraine in the cafeteria."
"I really regret showing this to my 11-year-old. It provided an opportunity to talk about sexual assault, but that really wasn't what I was going for when I said 'hey let's watch this fun movie with cool gadgets.'"
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With this person being a big contrast to the others, she naturally stood out!
And it led to articles and coverage that would focus on this aspect of the summer-dominating film.
What articles and denouncers are saying mostly boils down to this...
Parents need to know that Back to the Future is a 1980s time-travel favorite that includes scenes in which main character Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and his friends are in physical jeopardy:
A bully initiates a mostly off-camera assault on a high school girl, there's a violent attack in which a key character is thought to be killed, a van chases a teen on a skateboard, and more.
There are also several episodes of bullying. While the violence is exaggerated and closer in tone to cartoon jeopardy than real danger, some kids will no doubt find it tense.
Several scenes show Marty's discomfort when the girl who will eventually be his mother tries to kiss and embrace him.
Expect strong language, including a couple of memorable uses of "s--t," as well as "bastards," "damn," "a--hole," and a couple of inappropriate slurs in the 1950s-set scenes. It's worth noting that this is the movie that alerted the public to the concept of product placement, with controversy arising from the near-constant visuals of Pepsi products and other brands.
Are they trying to brainwash our children to like this brand because the popular Marty McFly seems to come across them a lot?
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Granted, parents and their aversion to "brainwashing advertisement" was growing pretty prominent this time around... so these insinuations should be quite effective...
Well... it might be... but it doesn't really stand out compared to the President 'liking' the film and reviving a dead car model.
These talks about slurs, bullying, and inappropriateness were pretty much considered as contradictory foils and stepping stones to Back to the Future's growing box office hauls!
They were pretty much buried and didn't amount to much effect though.
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That seems to have only spurred the singled-out mother to stand out more...
With her somewhat being a distinguished lady this time around...
It would seem that having your interview stand out and being asked to be interviewed again through a local state's radio station... can radically change a person!
A concerned mother-turned-distinguished lady that is against Back to the Future-haring says...
"Back to the Future is Sexist, Racist, and Inappropriate!
The plot goes with Marty accidentally going back in time and ending up going to high school with his mom and dad.
His mom instantly develops a crush on him for no apparent reason, and Marty realizes he will die if his mom and don't get married and have kids (in the future).
What follows is a horribly sexist series of plans to get his mom to hate him and fall in love with his dad instead.
This movie has so many issues, I don't even know where to start.
1. It's Sexist It's infuriatingly sexist. The female characters have no depth whatsoever. When Marty gets visits his "better life," his first comment on his "happier mom" is "Mom! You're so thin!" His "happier sister" is shown to have a "better life" through a conversation with her brother, where her brother reports that three boys called the house that day to talk to her. The phrase, "son of a b**ch" is used soooooooo many times. Marty's plan to make sure his mom and dad end up marrying each other... is basically a series of mean and inappropriate attacks on the teenage version of his mom.
2. It's Inappropriate... Along with numerous other offenses, Marty's dad sits in a tree all day with binoculars, watching girls fully undress through their bedroom windows.
There are multiple instances where Biff grabs at Marty's mom, eventually attacking her in a parked car and flipping her upside-down.
3. Swearing hell sh*t (about a million times) d*mn f**k son of a b**ch (too many times to count) Keep in mind that none of this is censored.
4. It's Racist. Those poor LIBYANS! At the very beginning of the movie, the unstable genius scientist who invented the time machine borrows some plutonium from LIBYAN TERRORISTS!
He promises to make them a bomb, and when he doesn't deliver it, the Libyans roll up in a tiny sky-blue trailer and shoot everyone with a machine gun. They're supposed to be speaking "Arabic," but it's clear that they're just yelling gibberish.
I mean, there's not much left to say here. If you don't find this ridiculously stereotypical and racist, don't bother listening to the true words that I'm about to say.
The whole thing is just way too racist for kids. It's just too racist to even be worth watching.
5. When Marty gets back to the future, he finds that his life has changed "for the better."
Every person in his family has significantly changed, since his family is now rich, and Marty is completely fine with this.
It sends the message that you're happier when you're rich, you're happier when you're thin, and you're happier when you have multiple boyfriends/girlfriends. Really?
6. Oh, and, if you care about this, there's a LOT of consumerism. It didn't really bother me, but they advertise JCPenney, Calvin Klein, Pepsi, and Goodyear, to name a few.
DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. IT IS A WASTE OF TIME AND YOU WILL END UP FRUSTRATED AND DISAPPOINTED. THIS MOVIE IS SEXIST, INAPPROPRIATE, RACIST, SENDS TERRIBLE MESSAGES, AND HAS WAY TOO MUCH OFFENSIVE SWEARING.
I mean, WHY would you watch this movie? It's just a waste of time! Watch anything else that's more enriching! PLEASE!"
Before her broadcasted outburst could hurt much of her "distinguished" credit though... she turned it around with a re-wording of what was said...
"Of course, I was also shocked by all the swearing, but that is not my main problem with this movie.
The movie includes repeated instances of teenage girls and women being sexually assaulted (groped, nearly raped, pinched) and also reinforces negative gender role stereotypes.
The film tells children that success looks different for girls than for boys.
To be successful, a man needs to be able to punch someone out and make a lot of money, whereas to be successful, a woman needs to be thin to attract a lot of boyfriends.
The only positive messages are gaining confidence and following your passions... but the film seems to imply that this only applies to boys and men only, not to women.
This would be a very bad movie to show any child who does not already have a very firm grasp of what's wrong with that type of message."
When this was shown on television... the concerned mother gained notoriety for herself... and things grew from there!
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Like how the other BttF-revolving events seem to escalate... this escalated at about the same pace as well... though its effects were not at the same magnitude.
It would seem that Alexander's earlier jest about presidents seems to ring true as well...
It was no President of a major country or president of a bankrupt car company this time around...
This time... it was the president of Karens that seems to have taken the lead. Granted, there were the other BttF articles that pop up in other publications... but they seem bland compared to a Karen that is misplaced in time.
If anything... the distinguished lady seems to be the one that is really in need of going Back to the Future.
She's even showing Libyans in a positive light during this terrorist-disliking decade. It's not that her point about Libyans being a victim of stereotyping and racism is wrong... it's just very out of time.
Talk about showing very un-American support while on public radio.
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Alexander found it best to not keep those to mind though...
The BttF-nitpicking was basically harmless and overshadowed by all the things that make Back to the Future great.
When it escalates further is when it becomes a cause for concern but he didn't really see the need for it.... for now...