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Back to the Future: Impact on Pop Culture
"Pop culture is the vernacular (people's) culture that prevails in any given society. The content of popular culture is determined by the daily interactions, needs and desires, and cultural 'moments' that make up the everyday lives of the mainstream. It can include any number of practices, including… the many facets of entertainment” (Wikipedia, “Popular culture”). The Back to the Future trilogy has undeniably had a huge impact on pop culture. Multiple aspects of the trilogy – its use of catch phrases, similar events, parallel situations, running gags, and more (Wikipedia) – have contributed to its status as a pop culture icon. Examples are:
Catch phrases: “That’s heavy” spoken multiple times by Michael J. Fox, and “Great Scott!” exclaimed multiple times by Christopher Lloyd. Amusingly, after a paradox occurs in the third film, each character says the other’s catch phrase. Also, the phrase "back to the future" is used at least once in each of the three films.
Similar events and parallel situations: In each movie, Marty is knocked out and wakes up at the house of a female relative, all played by Lea Thompson. In Part I, it is his teenage mother in 1955 who is infatuated with him; in Part II it is his mother in 2015 who is now married to Biff Tannen; in Part III it is his great-great grandmother in 1885. Each time, Marty is waking up after having been asleep for several hours, thinking the previous events were just nightmares. Each time he is reassured that he is okay by Lea Thompson's character: in 1955 in his mother’s room, in a room in Biff Tannen’s giant hotel, and at the old McFly family farm, respectively. Every time he is woken, Marty is shocked into awareness (Wikipedia).
Running gags: In both Parts I and II, Biff crashes his car into a manure truck. In Part III Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen is knocked down into a manure cart. In all 3 situations, he exclaims, “I hate manure!”
Back to the Future has pervaded pop culture. There is a Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, Florida, and Japan: “Get ready for the greatest ride in history as Doc Brown sends you screaming through time! Climbing, diving, blasting you into the past for an Ice Age encounter with avalanches, dinosaurs and a molten volcano. Then rocketing you into Hill Valley 2015. It's a 21-million-jigowatt Sensurround adventure that brings the blockbuster movie to life - and makes other thrill rides seem tame!” (Trilogy3.com)
There were also two spin-offs of the trilogy: CBS aired an animated series, and Harvey Comics released several comic books with original stories. The trilogy makes references to many films, most notably The Time Machine, based on the novel by H.G. Wells (see Fun Facts page); many movies, in turn, make reference to the trilogy. A very amusing paraody is the “Viral Video” called “Brokeback to the Future”