Tuesday, January 06, 2015

2015 - year of the future

One of three 1985 Lorraines
If you are a fan of the Back to the Future trilogy, as I am, you don't need to be told that the year 2015 is very important in those movies' universe. So much so it has an entry in Futurepedia:
2015 is a year in the 21st century. 
By this time in history, technology had progressed as much during the 30 years since 1985 as it had during the previous 30 years from 1955 to 1985. Electronics were in virtually everything from clothing to garbage cans to make them move, talk and/or make electronic noises. 
Flying cars, once they were invented and perfected, had become so common that drivers no longer needed roads — except perhaps for short journeys. Skyways dominated the skies of central California and eventually the entire world. Cultural influences from other countries, particularly Japan, were more often seen in food and clothing. 
Life was lived at a quicker pace than before, in evidence by the speed that people walked down the street, the time it took to cook dinner, and the swiftness of court trials.
Although of course the Future won't actually arrive until October 21.

This French article, which I haven't run through Google translator, seems to be making an interesting point - that the actors who were aged 30 years with makeup for Back to the Future II actually look better in real life than they did in the movie. Although they kind of cheated for Lea Thompson, who actually had three different appearances in her character's future. In the movie her "real age" was set in 1955 and she was 30 years older in 1985 - first though she's the fatter Lorraine married to loser George McFly, but after Marty goes back to 1955 she's the trimmer, tennis-playing Lorraine married to successful sci-fi author George McFly, and then in BTTF II she's the glammed up cosmetic surgery-fied Lorraine married to Biff. The French article compares the real present-day Lea Thompson to the fatter Lorraine McFly.

And when I was doing the 4-mile run in Central Park on New Years Eve, I couldn't help thinking of this scene from BTTF III. It should be noted that it isn't clear exactly which "future" Doc is talking about - by this point in the trilogy his character, in this scene set in 1885 has already been to 1955, 1985 and 2015 - but presumably people are still running for fun in the BTTF 2015 as much as in 1985. He's obviously not talking about 1955 though - nobody ran for "fun" or even to keep in shape back then.