Back to the Future Scene Analysis of Film: An American Cultural Context

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When a technological divergent can teleport an individual into the past and reconstruct the previous time settings, a historical relation is explored as an American cultural context through the classical creation of the cinema. As a non-traditional presentation of a significant text, the film’s viewpoint is studied over the discourse of beauty, travelling through time in a motion picture captured on film. The science fiction comedy film released in 1985, “Back to the Future”, produced by Robert Zemeckis, tells the story of a teenage boy named Marty, who is navigated across space-time to the year 1955, where he encounters his future parents and unexpectedly, his mother becomes romantically interested in him. By the creation of the obstacle, he must determine a solution to get his parents to fall in love. When the past history is fixed with the help of a scientist Dr. Emmett, he assists Marty in finding his way back to the future of 1985.

In Relation to “Classical Hollywood Cinema: Narrational Principles and procedures”, David Bordwell presents the analysis of the how the cultural text can be of significance for formalism in controlling the film. He states, “the classical film respects the canonic pattern of establishing an initial state of affairs which gets violated and which must then be set right.” (Bordwell. 1986, p. 19.) Using Bordwell’s approach, for this paper I will be focusing on a clip from “Back to the Future” to determine the implications presented in creating that scene in relation to the American culture context. The topics that will be discussed throughout the essay are the studies of the narrative, Apparatus, and ideology as depicted in the context of American culture portrayed through the film use.
The s...

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...American cultural context, of what individuals like to interpret through the cinematic presentation of “Back to the Future.” By strong connectivity between Bordwell’s text, and the portrayal of the American cultural context, the scene demonstrates these interpretations.

References

David Bordwell, “Classical Hollywood Cinema: Narrational Principles and
Procedures,” in Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology, ed. Philip Rosen (New York; Columbia University Press, 1986), 17-34.

Sutherland Meghan, “Ideology & Formalism in Classical Hollywood Style,” (PDF document). Retrieved Lecture Notes Online Web site: https://portal.utoronto.ca/bbcswebdav/pid-3760169-dt-content-rid-20682759_2/xid-20682759_2

Zemeckis Robert, (Director). 1985. “Back to the Future,” (Motion picture). USA:
Universal. 4/10 (movie clip). Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95_DB6GgLQs

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