The film that Proves that Teens never Change

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2002)

One thing about teenagers----they can't EVER imagine their own parents were teenagers. Children maybey, but not teenagers. Hell they usually forget their older brothers and cousins were teenagers too. One of the universal truths about being a teenager is that you always think you and people close to your age where the first teens to EVER exist on planet Earth. Teens always believe that what they are going through is so different from anything anyone else ever went through. The reality is that 98% of what teens go through, EVERYONE before them went through as well. Remember the 16, 17 year olds complaining and moaning about how they are different and misunderstood during the Columbine shootings in 1999? Well they're 20 years old now in 2002, or will be 20 later this year. So they can't complain about anything anymore. So why did they complain about being misunderstood? Perhaps now they're adults that are misunderstood? j/king ;)

In "Back to the Future", a typical 17 year old from 1985 is just, well a teenager. Marty McFly is always late for class, he likes to hang out with his girlfriend at the mall, he's absorbed into his heavy metal music and he doesn't really know too much about what happened in the world more then 4 or 5 years ago. Marty is self absorbed, but very hip and resourceful. He's also confident and street smart. On the other hand, his father George McFly is a complete loser. George is 47 years old and constantly being bullied by his mean boss Biff Tannen. Marty's mother Lorraine is an overweight alcoholic, and his two older siblings are 20 something losers like their parents.
In BTTF, through a series of strange events, Marty accidently travels back to 1955 and meets his own parents as----gasp---teenagers!!! And while they may not have the technology, fashion and music that Marty has in 1985, they are teenagers just like him. They are going through the same trials and tribulations of being a teen that Marty is in 1985. And like typical teens, they think they are the coolest teens to ever exist on planet Earth. At the end of the film, Marty says it's been "educational" and has been for the audience as well.
By the way I'm not that "old" myself, I'm only 26, but I get sick of teenagers always acting like they are so different and cooler because of the superior technology they have grown up with. But that's part of being a teen. I have to remind myself that back in the early and mid '90s we teenagers acted and complained about nearly all the same stupid stuff the teens today complain about. I thought and acted exactly like they did until about 1995 or 1996.....something strange happened to me then, I entered my 20s and became an adult, and I had no more excuses to complain about being "misunderstood". :)