The original Back to the Future is an undeniable masterpiece of cinema, whether you’re a devout fan or merely a casual viewer. Unlike other ’80s movies, the sci-fi adventure has stood the test of time, with the performances from Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, as well as the direction from Robert Zemeckis and script from Bob Gale, being just as delightful 40 years later as when the movie was released. Not everything necessarily ages perfectly, however, and things that have been previously overlooked have become the focal points of many contemporary discussions.
While some audiences might try to nitpick supposed “plot holes,” such as why George (Crispin Glover) and Lorraine McFly (Lea Thompson) don’t recognize that their teenage son looks like a kid who was at their school for a few days, there are other criticisms that are a bit more valid. For example, the fact that Lorraine develops a crush on her son when he travels back to the ’50s. From a narrative standpoint, it’s easy to overlook the ick factor, but conceptually, it’s a harder detail to overlook.
During a conversation with MovieWeb about Back to the Future: The Musical and the documentary A Future on Stage: The Making of a Broadway Musical, Gale explained the delicate approach to crafting that on-screen dynamic and how the chemistry between the two characters transcends an overtly romantic connection:
“The reason that it works so well is that Lorraine has no idea that Marty is her son, she just thinks this is a really cool, good-looking kid, and she’s attracted to him. But she’s attracted to him because he is her son … the maternal instinct crosses the space-time continuum there and that’s her draw.
“And, in terms of when we were struggling writing the movie, the hardest thing that we had to figure out was the scene in the car with Marty and his mom. What has to happen? We knew Lorraine had to be the one to say, ‘This is wrong,’ because if Marty left her, she would be there with a broken heart and she might be carrying a torch for this guy and still not marry George McFly. So we had to make her initiate the end to marry George McFly. We had to make her initiate the end of the relationship, and figuring that out, it kept us up. It kept us up for several nights. Suddenly, we realized, ‘Well, she just pulls away and says, “This is wrong. It feels like I’m kissing my brother.”‘ Of course, what in the hell was Lorraine doing with her brother that she would know that? That’s the creepier question that nobody ever asked.”
With Back to the Future being a part of pop culture for the better part of 40 years, those with a more general connection to the narrative remember the story in broad strokes. Lorraine might undeniably be drawn to Marty, but the exact moment she crossed a line to express her romantic feelings, everything felt wrong.
Gale continued:
“The audience doesn’t want anything to happen. So when she pulls away and says, ‘This is wrong, it feels like I’m kissing my brother,’ the audience is relieved. That’s what they want, and they will take any reason to accept that so that this doesn’t go any further.”
A Future on Stage: The Making of a Broadway Musical is now available to rent on Prime Video. A North American tour of Back to the Future: The Musical is currently underway.
