# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/41 "2013-08-18T23:32:02Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > 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. The thing is, George was a peeping tom, so Biff had to be shown as worse than him, so George can appear like a hero. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/42 "2013-08-18T23:49:25Z")
> [@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. Or Revenge of the Nerds where one of the heroes of the film has sex with a girl by pretending to be her boyfriend (which would constitute rape in many jurisdictions). ---
**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, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/43 "2013-08-18T23:55:03Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > Or Revenge of the Nerds where one of the heroes of the film has sex with a girl by pretending to be her boyfriend (which would constitute rape in many jurisdictions). And, of course, _Overboard_, with its unapologetic rape by deception. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/44 "2013-08-19T00:18:29Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > 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. Yes those were the Pi’s. That’s why the Alpha Beta says, “That’s my Pi(e).” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/45 "2013-08-19T00:48:51Z")
Although it’s IMHO not a great movie, I wanted to mention Spike Lee’s _School Daze_ (1988) as a sort-of teen comedy of the era in which a “cool” guy hands his girlfriend over to a dorky guy…and this is presented as being sleazy and humiliating for the girl. I’ll quote from [Roger Ebert’s review](http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/school-daze-1988): > [@Roger Ebert](#): > > In one of the movie’s most uncompromising sequences, a black fraternity pledge master expresses concern that Half-Pint is still a virgin (none of the brothers in this house should be virgins), and he supplies his own girlfriend (Tisha Campbell) to initiate the freshman. She actually goes through with it, tearfully, and although the scene was so painful it was difficult to watch, I later reflected that Lee played it for the pain, not for the kind of smutty comedy we might expect in a movie about undergraduates. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/46 "2013-08-19T01:30:24Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The thing is, George was a peeping tom, so Biff had to be shown as worse than him, so George can appear like a hero. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/47 "2013-08-19T02:02:11Z")
> [@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. That’s correct. Remember, Biff had matchbooks made up. Marty grabbed a matchbook from Biff’s casino in the “bad” 1985. When he retrieved the sports almanac in 1955 and burned it, the matchbook turned into one for Biff’s Auto Detailing. He wouldn’t have had matchbooks made if he were employed by the McFlys, only if he had his own business. (I find it amusing that a guy who had shit dumped in his car would go into business detailing cars himself. Maybe he was inspired by what it cost to have his own car cleaned out. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/48 "2013-08-19T03:33:19Z")
Since it’s a fifties movie I just assumed Biff was a bit over eager to get to 2nd base. Nothing more. It’s a light-hearted comedy made twenty-five years ago. They’d have to be more politically correct if it were made today. ---
**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 19, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/49 "2013-08-19T03:38:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Since it’s a fifties movie I just assumed Biff was a bit over eager to get to 2nd base. Nothing more. > > It’s a light-hearted comedy made twenty-five years ago. They’d have to be more politically correct if it were made today. That scene was set in the 50s, but the movie was made in the 80s. And rape is rape. Biff wasn’t overeager. He was clearly ignoring her “No”. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/50 "2013-08-19T03:49:56Z")
Well, they’d have to rewrite Peeping George too in any remake. Everything has to PC these days. Practically none of the classic 80’s comedies would get remade today without major rewrites. Imagine Porkys, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Weird Science, Revenge of the Nerds none of those are PC enough for todays crowd. ---
**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 19, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/51 "2013-08-19T04:04:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Practically none of the classic 80’s comedies would get remade today without major rewrites. Imagine Porkys, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Weird Science, Revenge of the Nerds none of those are PC enough for todays crowd. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. Though on that list I only see Revenge of the Nerds containing anything rapey, but perhaps I’m forgetting some scenes in the others. Is it really a bad thing to consider rape (forced or otherwise) a bad thing, **aceplace57**? Animal House flirted with this issue when the girl was passed out on the bed and that boy at the frat house heard his shoulder angel/demons admonishing him to fuck/not fuck her, and he decided not to. No rewrite needed, even in the 80s. Would it be funnier if he fucked her while unconscious, **aceplace**? Have you railed against the makers of Animal House for being too PC that he didn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/52 "2013-08-19T04:10:35Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Though on that list I only see Revenge of the Nerds containing anything rapey, but perhaps I’m forgetting some scenes in the others. Porky’s had spying on girls in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/53 "2013-08-19T04:12:32Z")
I never had a problem separating real life from the movies. I watched a lot of horror films and what Freddie Krueger and Jason did weren’t acceptable outside a movie either. I grew up with the raunchy 70’s and 80’s comedies. I never took anything in them seriously or compared them to real life. I wouldn’t do any of that terrible stuff they show in the movies in real life. ---
**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 19, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/54 "2013-08-19T04:16:53Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Porky’s had spying on girls in the shower. Which is not rape, nor even close. Though sticking his schwanz through the glory hole was pushing it. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/55 "2013-08-19T04:25:39Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Well, they’d have to rewrite Peeping George too in any remake. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Porky’s had spying on girls in the shower. Invading someone’s privacy by peeping when they should reasonably expect not to be on display is on my list of “Things One Ought NOT To Do”, but peeping driven by the surging hormones of coming-of-age isn’t really as creepy as the middle aged guy with binoculars. George was a naive highschool misfit, I don’t remember if _Porky’s_ was high school or college. I don’t want to really go down the “boys will be boys” route- many decent young gentlemen come of age without violating anyone’s privacy- but they didn’t have any internet back then and they _really_ wanted to see boobies. Anyway, I think a current day movie could totally have a peeper, so long as it was portrayed as awkward adolescent desperation. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/56 "2013-08-19T04:35:35Z")
The answer is “No” because it had a PG rating. Parents were more concerned for the shooting scene than anything else. ---
**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 19, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/57 "2013-08-19T05:33:38Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I never had a problem separating real life from the movies. I watched a lot of horror films and what Freddie Krueger and Jason did weren’t acceptable outside a movie either. But did you consider them _funny_ ? Also, please answer my earlier question: are you upset that the kid in Animal House didn’t fuck his unconscious girlfriend? ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/58 "2013-08-19T11:35:07Z")
It’s been a long long time since I saw 16 Candles, but I always assumed that the deed wasn’t done For the Revenge of the Nerds thing - I always thought they were poking fun at the certain materialistic attitudes as much as anything else…so I was (and am) relatively on board with that ---
**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 19, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/59 "2013-08-19T14:07:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Well, they’d have to rewrite Peeping George too in any remake. Everything has to PC these days. Yes. You could never have, for example, a main character in a major TV series who was an unabashed and unrepentant consumer of illegal drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521/60 "2013-08-19T14:10:14Z")
Nobody has mentioned Back to the Future’s earlier cafeteria scene where Biff has pinned Lorraine to his lap and is telling her “you know you like it” while she is trying to get away. A roomful of people are ignoring this scene until Marty (and his 1980’s morals) speaks up. Yeah, in the 1950’s, “no” meant “yes” and “boys will be boys” was justification. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-future-is-biff-an-attempted-rapist/666521.md?page=4)