Put Your Mind to Your Best Future

Art by Trevor Pacelli

​By Trevor Pacelli
​What do you want to put your mind to? What do you want to accomplish? Those deep questions can be answered by analyzing Back to the Future, which repeatedly says, “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” These words were originally told to Marty McFly by Doc Brown, and used again when Marty goes back in time to 1955 when his parents were supposed to meet, sharing the phrase with his father, George. Gaining something to put his mind to—a girl to protect, helps George accomplish the impossible, like taking down the guy who would bully him for the rest of his life. Because of George’s crucial decision from Marty’s interference, George is rewarded for his courage by growing up into a better version of himself rather than the pathetic loser he was in the original 1985. You too can learn quite a bit from this famous movie that’s now celebrating its 40th anniversary.

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George’s character development is emphasized in my book, What Movies Can Teach Us About Bullying: “George's story proves that anybody who lets others control them is building up habits that lead to minimal personal growth thirty years later, and still being bullied by the same people.” (p.69) You see this in the scene George and Biff are introduced, when Biff makes George do his work reports for him. Then when these two are first seen back in 1955, they share a word-for-word identical exchange, except this time about George doing Biff’s homework. Since George never put his mind to anything in life, he never accomplished anything, dooming him to remain the same loser he was back in high school, right down to getting pushed around by the same bully.
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Like Biff, the school principal Mr. Strickland is a bully to George as well as Marty, calling them both slackers. Mr. Strickland doubles down though on the bullying he did to George thirty years earlier by telling Marty, “No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley.” Strickland’s harsh words seem to be successful, as Marty now carries his father’s deep fear of rejection. George was afraid of rejection over his sci-fi stories, and Marty fears rejection over his music tape. Yet gladly, Marty’s venture to 1955 helps him and his father learn how to eat that fear of rejection for breakfast while saving themselves from future irrelevancy.

Although George isn’t the only one who changes for the better because of his future son going back in time; Lorraine does too. As my book describes: “…when Lorraine takes Marty’s word and stops drinking, she becomes so much happier, and even fully supports Marty’s relationship with Jennifer! So, it’s not just George who learns how to stand up to bullies and take control over his life, Lorraine also makes better choices to stop herself from becoming a bully over her kids.” (p.73)

Aside from the primary characters, other extraordinarily subtle details throughout the movie support the theme of putting your mind to the right choices in your present to accomplish a better future. The opening titles sequence visualizes the entirety of Doc Brown’s backstory, and the newspaper clipping about his mansion getting burnt down raises questions as to what sort of insane scandals he went through before inventing his time machine. Immediately after the opening titles, Marty passes by a photo of Mayor Goldie Wilson, and that same Goldie Wilson back in 1955 is sweeping floors at a diner, being told a “colored” person like him could never be mayor. Outside Marty’s school and neighborhood, graffiti is plastered on the walls and on the “Lyon Estates” statues, but in 1955, since those things are brand new, there’s no graffiti. Between the mansion, the mayor, and the graffiti, it’s like America, over thirty years, grew more violent in efforts to grow more progressive.

Though the film really grinds its message into gear in the third act, as the immense level of stress felt at every turn subconsciously makes you more aware of how every second in your day makes all the difference in your future. George at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance rescues Lorraine from Biff’s grip but is still hesitant to kiss her on the dance floor. Once some boy jumps in to steal Lorraine away from him, it’s made to look at first that George is choosing to give up and walk away, all while Marty is slowly disappearing from existence. However, George chooses to push that jerk down after all, to take Lorraine back, solidifying their kiss and saving Marty’s life. Even better, George’s prowess against bullies proves to not be just a one-time miracle against Biff, but gives him the strength and confidence to stand up to bullies well into adulthood!

One little act can mean the difference between life and death in the future, and that point is only proven more in the next sequence when Marty must get back to 1985. Marty and Doc Brown race against the clock (literally) before lightning strikes the clock tower, but everything goes wrong as they try to execute their plan. The climax is so stressful to watch because every second is critical, just like the decisions you make every minute of every day. It’s almost poetic that Marty had to battle the sensitive nature of time immediately after he had to teach his own father that lesson.

Likewise, think about every decision you ever made that led you to where you are now. Even something as minor as driving just an inch further from the car in the lane next to you, as any closer would’ve led to an accident, and a plethora of financial problems that would’ve changed your current living situation. Marty failed to understand this at first when he pushed George away from the moving car, disrupting the chain of events that led to his parents’ marriage. But he in turn helped George understand the big impact of little decisions, such as choosing to confront Biff to save Lorraine instead of just walking away. George’s arc really is a massive reason why this now forty-year-old movie continues to be so successful in challenging how people think, as few movies can prove so expertly why failing to consider long-term consequences dooms the next generation.

So again, what do you want to put your mind to? What do you want to accomplish?

Trevor Pacelli is a young adult on the autism spectrum as well as the author of What Movies Can Teach Us About Disabilities, What Movies Can Teach Us About Bullying, Summer of the Fruit Virus and the illustrator of The Kindergarten Adventures of Amazing Grace: What in the World is Autism?, and the author/illustrator of Amazing Grace Goes to the Zoo