Snow Day to the Future

Bill watched Back to the Future quite a lot last year.

Earlier this week, I was able to interview Bill Gray from Cinema 52. Last year, he watched Back to the Future 52 times (once per week) and wrote many, many articles about the film. In honor of the interview, which I will post on Thursday, I have written a Back to the Future article of my own. Also, feel free to read my previous article about Back to the Future Part II.

With the snow day on St. Patrick’s Day (I’m so mad about the weather), I worked from home, and as I worked I put on a Back to the Future marathon to keep myself company. I wasn’t really paying attention, it was just familiar background noise to work to. But there was one little thing that I noticed that I’d like to gripe about.

In the very beginning of the film, when Marty goes to Twin Pines Mall to meet up with Doc Brown, as Doc describes time travel. He tells Marty how the time machine works and shows him the input pad, where one would enter the time he or she would like to visit.

He says, “say you want to see the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” and inputs July 4, 1776. Then he follows that up with, “or witness the birth of Christ,” and types December 25, 0000.

These small little details have bugged me about Back to the Future since I was a kid.

First of all, if you wanted to witness the signing of the Declaration of Independence, you’d have entirely the wrong day. It was officially adopted and voted upon on July 2. That’s the day that the statesmen got together to vote on Thomas Jefferson’s original document. Then, they spent the next two days editing and debating the language to use in the final version, which was the version ratified on July 4. However, there was nothing actually signed on that day. It’s just the day that they voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence. Fun fact: the day they actually signed a legible copy was one month after the initial vote, on August 2, 1776.

I would imagine that if you went back in time to witness the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams would be sitting outside the Continental Congress in Philadelphia drinking tea and telling time travelers that they should get back into their time vehicles and instead show up on August 2, 1776. Then, after the time traveler leaves, John Adams curses Jefferson for making him be the one to talk to the time travelers. Yes, my imagination is ridiculous.

Why doesn’t Doc Brown know history? He’s smart enough to build a time machine, but he’s not smart enough to understand basic American history? I don’t know. Is the realization that the Declaration was not signed until August 2, 1776 a relatively recent one? It could be. It’s a very distinct possibility, but currently I’m leaning toward the Doc doesn’t know history theory.

Sources used for this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence#Signing

http://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-declaration-of-independence

The iconic image of Jesus Christ is also misleading. If he was born in Bethlehem, then he would look more Middle Eastern than white.

It’s not just a singular thing, either. He makes two mistakes right in a row. For the birth of Christ, he puts in December 25, 0000. This is a major historical problem. Scholars have no idea when Jesus Christ was born, if he was even born at all. Some evidence points to the fact that Jesus was never born at all, but a myth invented by early Christians. Most evidence indicates that December 25 was adopted from pagan holidays around that time to attempt to convert those pagans to Christianity earlier. “Christians had little success, however, refining the practices of Saturnalia.  As Stephen Nissenbaum, professor history at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, writes, ‘In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Savior’s birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it had always been,” says website SimpletoRemember.com. This has been accepted as fact. So, if Christ was actually born, when was he born? BiblicalArchaeology.org notes: “According to Clement of Alexandria, several different days had been proposed by various Christian groups. Surprising as it may seem, Clement doesn’t mention December 25 at all. Clement writes: ‘There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20 in our calendar] … And treating of His Passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the 16th year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth [March 21]; and others on the 25th of Pharmuthi [April 21] and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi [April 15] the Savior suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].’”

In any case, it’s fairly well known that there is really no consensus on the exact date and time that Jesus Christ was born. Wouldn’t Doc Brown be privy to that information? Why doesn’t he know? This is a small detail, but it generally affects the theory of time travel. If you don’t know an exact date, how can you witness that event?

And, does time even work like that? Humans are the ones who have ascribed a certain date and time to events. In the whole of the universe, time moves differently than we humans think that it does. Yes, there is a way to measure time, but what if you wanted to go visit the dinosaurs? Can you only travel somewhere with four or less digits? If time is only measured on a human-created scale, what does that mean for the rest of time? Doc Brown should have considered all of these factors before he engineered the time machine.

There are only four digits. That seems restrictive, Doc.

If you have any answers to any of these questions, please help me out and leave it in the comments section or answer our question of the day on the We Write Together Facebook Page. 

Photo Credits:

Bill Gray: http://yeartwo.cinema52.com/cinemanaut-bill/

Declaration of Independence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Us_declaration_independence.jpg

Jesus: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4547489/Jesus-Christ-was-married-says-ancient-script.html

About Katie

Hi, I'm Katie. I am a writer from Frederick, MD. My short story "Bringing Back the Boys" has been published in the East Coast Literary Review, and I have fiction forthcoming from Connotation Press and Blue Lyra Review. I'm working on writing a collection of short stories for publication. When I'm not writing, you can find me either watching Portlandia, Parks & Recreation, or Fringe on Netflix, drinking a Flying Dog beer, or cooking a delicious meal in the kitchen to share with Justin and my friends. Also, I really like to read and I try to read as often as possible. Clearly, I think I have a lot to say, but you can be the judge of that.

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