Please remind me, those who've seen it, the plot of "Back to the Future"

[Deja Q]

I haven't seen it since 1985.

Dude goes back in time and almost makes it with his mom, which is the dream of every American male (as said by film critic Jay Sherman, but that's from a cancelled TV show...).

Anyway, in the process of saving the future from himself, he ends up going to the prom to get his dad and mom together.

At the prom, he of all people starts playing an unheard-of type of music because everybody's bored.

A black waiter goes to a phone and calls up his friend, saying that the dude's music is the next big thing and that he ought to listen to it.

Doesn't this make the movie both revisionist and racist? Looking throughout real history, it becomes apparent that whites stole the genre from blacks - easy to do in a society that was highly segregated at the time, where whites had the power.

Or is my mind playing tricks on me?

[unblock]

1. lighten up francis

[NicoleM]

2. Dude.

If the movie has a point, it's that you can't go back in time without screwing junk up. Everything that happens today is dependent on what happened yesterday. That's why Marty and his siblings start to disappear in that picture--because his mom isn't interested in his dad anymore. So calling it "revisionist" is a little bit silly--does anybody really believe that Marty McFly went back in time and taught Chuck Berry how to rock?

[DarkPhenyx]

4. I do!

It was in the movie. They'd bever put anything on the big screen, or the little one, that wasn't true would they?

[NicoleM]

5. You're right!

Same with the internet--I read it on the internet so it must be true.

[DarkPhenyx]

6. But it dosen't work with thing your Mom tells you.

We all know you can't always trust your Mother.

[DarkPhenyx]

3. THey make a car that can time travel...

...and, because they screwed up the time stream, the kid has to help his parents meet so he dosen't cease to exist.

Or, in a single word, Paradox.

[unblock]

7. revisionist and racist is what YOU'RE doing!

are you trying to imply the chuck berry actually came up with that stuff on his own? hah!

everybody knows that his cousin marvin introduced him to the time-travlling sounds of a very white marty mcfly. without that, chuck berry would have been just another wannabee.

jeez, read some history, dude. this is documented fact.

:evilgrin:

[James T. Kirk]

8. Chuck would still create the new sound.

I don't have the movie handy, but I think the dialog implies that Chuk Berry was already working on the "new sound" when Marty changed history. He just gave it a little push. He also gave Doc Brown a scientific push in his time travel work, without diminishing Doc's genius. Marty could only drive the time car, not create it; he could only mimic Chuck Berry's sound, but not create it on his own.

[muffin_man]

9. Really Marty still stole the sound.

Marty is in the 80s and the "sound" is old school then anyway and at the dance he is just doing a cover so Berry just gets to hear something HE is going to create anyway maybe just a little early due to Marty just like Docs time machine. Marty learns the "sound" from Berry.

[BigMcLargehuge]

10. they were a black band hired to play the dance, they weren't waiters

they just dressed like an old big band, you know.

[Salviati]

11. It's actually a bit more complicated than this...

"At the prom, he of all people starts playing an unheard-of type of music because everybody's bored.

A black waiter goes to a phone and calls up his friend, saying that the dude's music is the next big thing and that he ought to listen to it."

This is actually another type of paradox found in time travel, commonly refered to as "The man with no past" paradox. I found a brief summery of it here:

http://www.mkaku.org/articles/phys_time_travel.shtml
"There is also the paradox of the man with no past. For example, let's say that a young inventor is trying futilely to build a time machine in his garage. Suddenly, an elderly man appears from nowhere and gives the youth the secret of building a time machine. The young man then becomes enormously rich playing the stock market, race tracks, and sporting events because he knows the future. Then, as an old man, he decides to make his final trip back to the past and give the secret of time travel to his youthful self. Question: where did the idea of the time machine come from? "

In this case it's not the time machine that has no past, but rather rock & roll. Marty didn't invent it, he just copied it by listening to popular music and the oldies. Chuck Berry didn't invent it, he picked up on it by listening to Marty. Who invented it? Nobody! Weird...