# Back to the Future - is Biff an attempted rapist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521 "2013-08-17T23:48:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/21 "2013-08-18T13:52:58Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Because that’s what every Fantasy-Comedy really needs, a frank discussion of Rape. > > They should have also discussed how Doc Brown probably murdered the Alternate Marty from the “fixed” 1985 by programming the Time Machine to go back to before the Earth had oxygen in order to protect the Timeline and tie up all the loose ends. And thus begins the long, dark teatime of my soul… In the original movie, Biff and Lorraine would not have been in the car with George having to rescue her, because Marty wasn’t wasn’t there to set up that whole scene. That’s why Marty’s personal future changed, too, imho. Once he went back and pushed George out of the way, everything (from Marty’s original perspective) changed. As for attempted rape, in the scene we saw, it seems clear what Biff’s intent was. The result would’ve been rape if George had not intervened. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/22 "2013-08-18T13:59:02Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > In Revenge of the Nerds, Louis and Betty do not engage in Clintonian sex. It is implied that all he does is eat her hair pi. > > I agree with you that the morning after scene in Sixteen Candles is a little ambiguous since for some reason they both don’t remember what happened, so how does that translate into Farmer Ted raped Caroline? Isn’t it just as possible that Caroline raped Farmer Ted? There was definitely penetration in revenge of the nerds. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/23 "2013-08-18T14:26:08Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > As discussed by Cracked in [reasons why Back to the Future is secretly horrifying](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-NEZC2uH-Q&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dz-NEZC2uH-Q), Biff Tannen goes from being a bullying supervisor in the original timeline to a kind of butler to the McFly family in the 1985 caused by Marty altering the timeline. I don’t think Biff is actually employed by the McFly family. It was my impression that he had some sort of job working on cars and that the McFlys had hired him to do that. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biff_Tannen) describes him as owning his own auto-detailing business. If I were Lorraine I probably wouldn’t want anything to do with Biff after high school, but there’s a big difference between hiring the guy to wash your car and hiring him as your personal manservant. > [@grude](#): > > You all haven’t even covered the MOST disturbing part of this, which is that another character gives away the passed out girl to Ted like an object or something. > > :eek: Yeah, not only does Jake (Caroline’s boyfriend and our romantic hero) act like he’s doing Ted a favor by handing the mostly unconscious Caroline over to him, but IIRC this comes shortly after Jake points out that Caroline is in no state to refuse anyone and that he (Jake) could be having sex with her if he wanted to but he’s not interested anymore. The movie makes it pretty clear that Caroline’s consent doesn’t matter. In _Back to the Future_ it’s at least obvious that Lorraine does not like what Biff is doing and it’s presented as admirable for George to intervene. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/24 "2013-08-18T14:32:26Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > In Revenge of the Nerds, Louis and Betty do not engage in Clintonian sex. It is implied that all he does is eat her hair pi. There was penetration, but it seems you’re saying it’s okay if “all” he did was perform cunnilingus on her? We could get into a discussion over whether that kind of sexual assault constitutes “rape” in the jurisdiction in which Revenge of the Nerds took place (if we even know), but the point still stands that sexual assault was passed of as no problem in this movie. Even worse, the girl was shown as being happy about it having happened. > [@grude](#): > > You all haven’t even covered the MOST disturbing part of this, which is that another character gives away the passed out girl to Ted like an object or something. I forgot about that part and that she said she enjoyed it. I haven’t seen the movie in years, largely because of the rape scene. The portrayal of Long Duk Dong is awful as well. I’m sure there’s more, but I’ve blocked it out. > [@Quimby](#): > > Because that’s what every Fantasy-Comedy really needs, a frank discussion of Rape. Do you mean in the movie itself? A frank discussion of rape would have been out of place in the movie, but the movie shouldn’t have treated rape in the way that it did. And clearly, a frank discussion of rape was needed in the wake of movies like these three. Sometime over the past 28 years we’ve gotten to the place where we see those scenes as abhorrent, not funny. We’ve made progress. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/25 "2013-08-18T15:06:24Z")
Is it rape-movie month already? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/26 "2013-08-18T15:34:08Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I don’t think Biff is actually employed by the McFly family. It was my impression that he had some sort of job working on cars and that the McFlys had hired him to do that. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biff_Tannen) describes him as owning his own auto-detailing business. If I were Lorraine I probably wouldn’t want anything to do with Biff after high school, but there’s a big difference between hiring the guy to wash your car and hiring him as your personal manservant. If George’s brakes fail one day, I know who I’m suspecting… ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/27 "2013-08-18T15:52:42Z")
Another case is that of Ben Sisko sleeping with Mirror Universe Jadzia, who thought him to be his Mirror Universe counterpart. The whole SF genre is rife with opportunities for such “by deception” cases. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/28 "2013-08-18T16:05:20Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Is it rape-movie month already? No. We all know that February is Rape Month. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/29 "2013-08-18T16:46:28Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I think this is a valid critique of sexual assault not being taken seriously enough in the '80s, never mind the '50s. Outstanding thought. I don’t think Biff needed to be raping her to set up the hero-rescue. It could have been presented as a much milder “kiss me and like it” aggression, but that the makers put in such a dark element says much about their collective attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/30 "2013-08-18T16:58:52Z")
NM. Wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/31 "2013-08-18T18:12:03Z")
I think 50s society wouldn’t have had much to charge Biff with, primarily because George intervened. If Lorraine did want to make more of a case of it, then Biff would have George charged with assault and at least that is unequivocal (there are witnesses) as opposed to Biff’s rape attempt, which would be reduced to a He Said-She Said (but nothing “really happened”) scenario. Yeah, and I assumed that Biff isn’t really a big part of the McFly’s lives in the alterna-verse; he’s just happening to be working on the car that day. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/32 "2013-08-18T18:18:39Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Nah, in the original timeline Lorraine fell for George after her dad ran him over (Marty saves George from this and is the target of Lorraine’s affection in the new timeline). In the original timeline Biff nor Lorraine had no reason to be in the car - it’s only because of Marty’s plan for George to save Lorraine from him that either end up there. I think it is sort of implied that something bad happened to Lorraine in the original timeline. Biff, after stiffing George over the car he had wrecked, turns to Marty: > [@Biff](#): > > What are you looking at, butthead? **Say hi to your mom for me**." \ Why was that line in there, and why the smirk? Did Biff once get the better of Lorraine like he just now did to George? Probably not, but it begs the question. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/33 "2013-08-18T18:26:57Z")
“Say hi to your mom for me” is actually a pretty well-worn insult, implying that the speaker has had sex with the target’s mom, or that the target’s mom is a woman of loose morals. Biff tries, very hard, to throw out cool lines, whether they are appropriate or not. I don’t think that Biff had actually had sex with Lorraine. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/34 "2013-08-18T19:48:55Z")
I always thought Biff’s sarcasm and smirk during that line was an insult about how bad Lorraine turned out as far as Biff was concerned. She was overweight and a drunk and Biff didn’t want her anymore. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/35 "2013-08-18T21:15:17Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > As discussed by Cracked in [reasons why Back to the Future is secretly horrifying](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-NEZC2uH-Q&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dz-NEZC2uH-Q) O.K., why the _hell_ did I have to sign in to view that video? “Parents Strongly Cautioned” about _what_??? ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/36 "2013-08-18T21:23:34Z")
At the risk of furthering the hijack…Weird Science was a bit disturbing too. The popular jerks basically sell their girlfriends to the heroes for Kelly LeBrock. It was a rather disturbing era for cinema. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/37 "2013-08-18T21:47:39Z")
> [@Musky\_Moon](#): > > At the risk of furthering the hijack…Weird Science was a bit disturbing too. The popular jerks basically sell their girlfriends to the heroes for Kelly LeBrock. It was a rather disturbing era for cinema. It came right on the heels of the early-mid '70s movies where young teens and children were given unabashedly adult roles, lines and sexual situations, as well as portraying some of the biggest jerks ever to speak a line. (I know that in many cases, such as the body doubling in _Exorcist_, the young actors were shielded from the actual portrayal, but I’m speaking of how the characters looked, acted and behaved.) Many of these movies are unbearable to watch as a result. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/38 "2013-08-18T22:54:18Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > There was penetration, but it seems you’re saying it’s okay if “all” he did was perform cunnilingus on her? > > We could get into a discussion over whether that kind of sexual assault constitutes “rape” in the jurisdiction in which Revenge of the Nerds took place (if we even know), but the point still stands that sexual assault was passed of as no problem in this movie. Even worse, the girl was shown as being happy about it having happened. You’re interpreting “all” wrong. “All” in the sense that oral sex was the sum total of their sexual encounter. Maybe we’re talking past each other here, but when you say they “had sex,” I recognize that as the colloquial interpretation that there was copulation involving both characters genitals. It is implied in the film that this did not happen. So my response was factual in the context of the film. Nowhere did I imply that limiting their encounter to “just” oral sex makes it ok. But since you want to go in that direction… when you say “even worse,” is it the film in general you have a problem with (that is to say from an external sense), or is it the internal characterizations within the film that you don’t like? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/39 "2013-08-18T23:15:07Z")
D’oh, I have really fond memories of _Sixteen Candles_ as basically my favourite '80s movie (though that is different from “favourite movie released in the 1980s”, which would be _Brazil_–if that makes sense). Now I will have to reevaluate, ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/40 "2013-08-18T23:20:41Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > While the popular girls snubbed and pranked the nerds, the nerds’ idea of getting back at the girls was spying on them, distributing suggestive pics of them (the pie eating booth) Wait, those photos were supposed to be them? I thought they were random centerfolds. From my vague memories, the photos certainly look too posed to be candid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521.md?page=3)