“I’ve been duped! … it was an elaborate hoax by some nerd at TotalFilm magazine! Don’t they think about the innocents when they mess with the future!” Annabel Cove, Travel Genius, Wifey of Britain’s Best Chef and General Cool Person.
If a hoax is so good it dupes Annabel Cove… then it’s a VERY good hoax. The jury isn’t in yet as to whether or not it was deliberate but I think photoshopping the flux capacitor to show July 2010 kind of colours the verdict. And I’m afraid we can’t blame the Yanks for this one… this was a very British hoax.
What happened apparently was that somebody at the TotalFilm tweeted on the Monday night of July 5 2010. The nameless person stated that the date July 6 2010, was the date input by Doc Brown in "Back to the Future II" for heading into the future, making Tuesday "Future Day." That tweet worked its way around the Web before the truth could turn its flux capacitor on.
So needless to say the nation was plunged into a “MY! Doesn’t time fly” wallow in nostalgia as everyone tried to figure how life has changed since 1985. Always the head of the pack when it comes to cool observations, I received an email from Annabel complete with a picture of the flux capacitor showing the date. Always one to follow cool peoples lead, I facebooked the cool observation to my friends.
My friends who by and large are not a cool as Ms Cove when it comes to observations and ALWAYS take things personally, launched into a catalogue of complaints…
“Where is my hover board?!”
“I was never given a self drying jacket!”
“Looking out the window… no cars flying! Why NOT!!!”
“I’m complaining to LoveFilm – I asked for the whole Jaws series and they’ve missed the last 16!”
I had to explain that Back to the Future was a film and not a fanciful inventions delivery service. But the general consensus was one of disgruntled dissatisfaction at the advances in technology since the film came out in 1985.
Newspapers, Television, and Radio were happier to join the nostalgia fest. Grateful for an easy out (it is the silly season here, there is no real news in summer in the
The truth is, of course, that in the original film, Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) travels from October 26, 1985, back to the same date in 1955. In the sequel he DOES travel into the future from 1985 -- but it's still OUR future too… October 21, 2015. In the third and final film, he travels back to 1885. July 2010 does not figure anywhere in the trilogy.
Not that it stopped the
When the error finally came to light, TotalFilm apologised -- sort of - admitting they got the date wrong, but claimed innocence on Photoshopped image (which curiously started on THEIR website before it made its way around the Web). The nostalgia for 1985 faded as soon as it started and it retook its place in history as a year where not much happened and everyone sighed with relief that we have 5 more years before we have to dodge kids whizzing about on hover boards.
But to me the whole thing was a very 2010 event. It really did highlight how much HAS changed . One thing that has certainly changed since 1985 is information technology. In 1985 if you wanted to start a rumour you had to do an awful lot of whispering in ears and general leg work. However one text message of less than 140 characters… and 100 million people are in the loop. Add to that one image posted on a website and 49,000 people with a shared interest (oh what the hell… NERDS) have all the evidence they need. Add to that the furious amount of retweeting and forwarding via email and social networks and you can pretty much have the planet thinking what you thought at breakfast…by teatime.
It’s so strange how technology is now so benign that it exists as a social tool. In 1985 our attitude to technology was so different, technology been just revealed to have destroyed the basic ecological foundation of human life. The discovery in 1985 of a hole in the Earth's protective ozone layer, a hole allegedly caused by chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants, made us all believe our fridges were evil (our hairdryers too) and that technology was killing us. (It took us a while to figure out we could blame our cars instead and go back to having chilled food and manageable hair). Technology was scary in 1985, people were just starting to make people in test tubes – everyone worried about genetic modification of people… and didn’t notice that our tomatoes were suddenly the size of a persons head. (It took us a while to realise IVF=Good, GMF=Bad).
The only real technology in 1985 that felt comfortable was the 4 year old International Business Machines (IBM) personal computer. It was a misnomer calling it personal as since its intro in 1981, it was really just an office tool – but before then computers were floor to ceiling affairs that certainly could not fit on one person’s desk. It took us no time at all to realise that the IBM computers were dramatically improving business practices, and showing signs that they may affect communications technology (Telex anyone?)
The thing that REALLY restored the faith of many in the potential of technology was the movies. Back to Future II, showed us a vision of the future that wasn’t too far away, where life was comfortingly familiar but the improvements were beyond our 1985 capabilities. It didn’t seem too far fetched to any of us that skate boards would hover, jackets would self dry, cars would fly and Jaws would carry on with sequels till the end of time.
Funny enough – there is little mention in the film of information technology advances – Marty McFly doesn’t use much social networking, can’t recall him chatting on his mobile phone either! In 1985 technological advancement just didn’t take communications technology into account.
Which makes it all the more droll that Marty was brought back to the future of 2010, by exactly that!
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