Under the flash and bang of the
Back to the Future franchise was a theme of Suck. Try to save someone's life and you'll be erased from history. Try to improve your future and you'll ruin your present. Try to help a friend and you'll end up driving off a cliff.
Indeed, the conception of the future in the films was surprisingly depressing: Humanity had flying cars, fancy soft drink dispensers, clothes that could dry themselves and adjust to fit whoever was wearing them. It also had bullies, crime, decadence, corruption, greed, ignorance and in short, every problem of the present. The Future of the second film is one in which technology has advanced and humanity has stayed the exact same. That is one of the themes throughout the series; the present is no different from the past or future. We can't wait for a better day to come; we have to make our here and now better through better choices (like Marty did when he finally learned to swallow his pride).
Over time there have been five great conceptions of history. The first and oldest was that the past was meaningless; anything older than a few decades was quickly forgotten or recast as part of the present.
Then along came those pesky Greeks and the past was believed to be a circle, and endless cycle that would continuously repeat.
Rome came along and it eventually fell, at which point history became a geometric point; the past was respected and honored, but there was no fundamental distinction between a thousand years ago and a month ago; the world was exactly as it presently was.
Hah, but then the age of the Printing Press came and histories could be complied, records compared, and the past was recognized as the past. A new concept entered humanity; the idea that the future of humanity might be better than the present and not be doomed to a fall. History became a line, progressing ever upwards into heaven without a decline! Ah, the glories of Modernism!
It was not fated to be, however. We became too wise, to knowledgeable and it was realized that for all our good intentions, we could fail. And if we could fail, what meaning was there? If history started out as a circle, became a point, and in turn developed into a line slanted upwards, then the shape of history in the era of Post-modernism was that of a moose. What does that mean? Who cares, it is for you to decide. History had no meaning except that which the individual might find in the moment, and even that would pass based on the whim of the individual.
That movement was fairly short-lived, as all nihilistic movements must be. We are in a new age, wiser and more sensible. History is like the stock market; sometimes humanity improves in a steady line, sometimes there are sudden but temporary drops, and sometimes civilizations collapse, sending the world into turmoil. To say that the future will always be better than the past is akin to the web-investors of the 90's; it is only in retrospect that their hopes and dreams were afloat on a bubble ready to pop. Yet to say that the future will always be crap is akin to those living at the depths of the Great Depression; not matter how bad things are now, they can and will get better.
The future is ours to determine. We have the choice of making it better or worse through our actions, but it could go either way.
But it strikes me as the last decade with a real distinct flavour and identity to it. The 90s and especially 00s, I find don't have the same uniform vibe to them.
Wait. We are still in the 00's, the 90's are just beginning to have a hint of nostalgia. The past is a foreign country; the 80's are France, the 70's are Austria, but the 00's and 90's are Canada and Mexico (respectively). The more time that passes, the easier it will be to distinguish the traits of the era.
The 90's, for example, were a time of wide-eyed optimism over the coming of the Internets. Sure, it was around before hand, but this was the era in which it made its way into nigh every home. It was the era of homepages, those hideous things that facebook and myspace have formalized. It was an exciting time, like the centuries following the development of a printing press. People knew this new medium had its uses, but no one knew what those uses were.
As for the 00's, it was the Rise of the Web Art and the beginning of the downfall of newspapers. New mediums of expression have been created (Webcomics being just one example) and what individuals lack in knowledge can often be easily made up with a simple cellphone. Communications over distances has become easier while communicating in person has become harder.
It is hard to see the present because we live in the present; we are unable to see the forest because all the trees get in the way.
