Midterm

Women, minorities, and robots...last

I chose prompt two for my midterm however there were a few things in prompt one that I wanted to address. Because these two movies Back to the Future (1985), produced in the United States, and 2001: a space odyssey(1968), also produced in the United States, are so different in every way it was hard to find similarities between the two movies for prompt one, but there are some gender issues I discovered that I believe are worth time addressing.

In both movies, Back to the Future (1985) and 2001: a space odyssey (1968) there are gender restraints that are set by the society and in both movies these boarders are stepped over by the gender considered less important to society at the current time in both movies, the female. In Back to the Future (1985), Marty's mother steps over the line when she asks Marty if he would like to go to the dance with her. She even addresses how unusual it is to ask a guy out to a dance instead of the guy asking her, she expresses how it feels awkward to do so. In both movies women fall into stereotypical roles, in 2001: a space odyssey (1968) woman are no where to be seen in the board room meeting to discuss the strange find on the moon but the are more than prominent on board the space craft serving customers drinks and food. Women take backseat to men but they aren't the only ones, minorities and robots take backseat to men as well. In Back to the Future (1985), an African American man named Goldie Wilson says, "I'm gonna make something of myself. I'm going to Night School. And one day I'm gonna be somebody!", Marty replies, "That's right! He's gonna be mayor.", but to this the white man in charge of the diner says "A colored mayor, that'll be the day". Marty's dad, George McFly, even ignores Goldie as he tries to help him stand up to Biff's gang (pictured below). Not much is expected of woman or minorities during this time so why should anything be expected of robots such as HAL 9000 in 2001: a space odyssey (1968)?

Because HAL is a robot, he is expected to due certain tasks such as preserve the three men who are in hibernation, help Frank and Dave, and keep the ship running just as a servant would do. Because he was created by man he is considered less than equal to them and considered less intelligent. Interestingly enough there is a robot/computer program that identifies the man when he gets to the space station (before taking the journey to the moon) who is a woman. (pictured) The 1960s are full of suppression and having a woman as the computer program (no free will) doing man's bidding makes woman in this movie even more of outsiders. But just as Goldie Wilson does in Back to the Future II (1987) by becoming Mayor of Hill Valley, HAL over comes these unequal stereotypes and proves that he is capable of being smarter and better than the white man. HAL kills Dave and while Frank is out in space retrieving Dave's body, HAL kills the three men in hibernation because he feels they are a threat to the mission.

Many times through out the 2001: a space odyssey I felt different characters were subjected to outsiderism due to their ethnic differences, even though they may have been of the same race (HAL having a white man's voice). It was the difference between man and machine that made the outsiderism between characters this way. HAL is subjected to being an outsider when Frank and Dave talk about disconnecting Hal in the pod because he is having human-like emotions and predicting things that are not true just to get rid of Frank and Dave because he feels their actions are a threat to the mission (1:27:04) but his logic is flawed, without Frank, Dave, and the rest of the crew there is no mission. In Back to the Future (1985), Marty is the alien outsider who tries to fit in. There are multiple times in the movie where Marty is clearly not like anyone else

There is also a sense that Frank and Dave do not matter in the master plan of things because of their names, Frank and Dave are very common names for the 1960s; this film was released in 1968. There names mean "a free man" and "beloved" respectively, ironically Frank is not "a free man", he is under the perimeters of HAL who controls the whole ship just as a mother would control her household. He is not free until he kills / disconnects HAL in a small Oedipus Complex that Frank becomes "a free man", because HAL is a male voice but acts like a controlling mother it is not a complete Oedipus Complex. In someways HAL is the mother figure watching over the crew, it is not until HAL shows human-like emotions does this mother figure turn into a self-preserving body. He is also like a father figure because he seems to "know what's best" in certain situations such as the part that malfunctions even though he is wrong, he is not willing to listen to Frank and Dave. Notice I said human-like emotions because HAL is not capable of being human; he has no free will, he does not show the human emotion called love, and his actions show little concern for life.

The reason that women, minorities, and robots are put in the backseat and told they are not as good as the white men is because of the time these movies were based in (Back to the Future based in the 1950s) and filmed in (2001: a space odyssey film in 1960s). In 2001: a space odyssey the issues between man and alien (HAL) do not get resolved without consequence, when Frank unplugs HAL's memory a video plays on a screen in the memory chamber. After the video Frank seems to progress towards death rather quickly. In Back to the Future (1985) the relationship between Marty and his young parents is resolved because George ends up doing what Marty says and falls in love with Marty's mom. In both movies, it seems there is nothing the outsider can do to be accepted, it is all up to the society to change and adapt or grow a custom to the outsider. Some societies do not change such as in 2001: a space odyssey, a movie which came out in the 1960s during a time of equal rights movements, it predicted that the future would still be run by white men (there is not one black man in the movie) and Frank will not accept the newly changed HAL for what he is. Since Back to the Future (1985) came out after this progressive era the 1950s society portrayed in the movie is more willing to accept Marty for what he is, an alien.

Back to the Future. Dir. Robert Zemeckis, Perf. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson. 1985. DVD. Universal Pictures, 2002.

2001: a space odyssey. Dir. Stanley Kubrick, Perf. Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. 1968. DVD. Turner Entertainment Co. and Warner Home Video, 1999.