You could build a joke around the character using Starbucks’ ridiculous size names (tall, grande, venti) in another coffee house. It would be a weak joke, though, as people already do that at places other than Starbucks.
Listing someone who doesn’t know you as a reference is generally a bad idea, yeah. Interpreting someone saying that one particular joke doesn’t work and pointing out specific issues with the joke and it’s setup as if it was a judgement on you as a person or you as a ‘comedy writer’ instead of a comment on that specific joke is also not generally the best way to go, and seems to be what you’re doing here.
Original Back to the Future. Marty mentioned watching a rerun of a TV show and they asked what a rerun was. Today’s Back to the Future could have something with streaming, or binge watching.
I’m going to agree with you on that one, there are a lot of stumbling blocks for 2020 Marty to encounter. 1985 Marty going back to 1955 is used to using cash to buy things and is probably carrying enough money to sustain himself during the entire 1955 trip because of relative buying power differences. 2020 Marty going back to 1990 probably isn’t used to carrying cash and probably doesn’t have much on him, and will probably attempt to use a debit or credit card that isn’t valid when buying things. 1985 Marty is used to calling houses instead of people on his phone like they do in 1955, while 2020 Marty is used to phone numbers being personal rather than location-based unlike in 1990. 1985 Marty is used to making plans where people can’t text for last minute changes like in 1955, while 2020 Marty is used to being able to text to make last minute changes unlike 1990 people. 2020 Marty is used to being able to play music for friends on a whim through things like youtube, spotifty, and itunes, 1990 people can only do that with mix tapes they set up in advance. 2020 Marty is used to being able to watch shows on streaming or DVR in various ways, 1990s people have the occasional programmed VCR but still almost always schedule time to watch a show based on when it airs.
It also feels like a joke that someone would make in the late 90s to early 2000s, it doesn’t really feel contemporary to either 1990 or now. If you want a straight analogy with the original “Pepsi Free” joke, you could try something with “Coke Zero”, but it’s probably going to sound forced because people ask for things ‘free’ but not ‘zero’.
Doesn’t know me?? Man, you know I was 12 in 1990, and you know that I remember the water bottle revolution. We’re practically brothers!
You spelled judgment wrong. 
Except he’s carrying ‘fake’ money. You can tell because it’s dated from the future.
Maybe the joke can be that Marty walks into a coffee shop and orders some fancy-schmancy double pumpkin spice frappucinno with soy milk, to which the owner gives a WTF look.
This.
In terms of clothing and cultural things, the biggest difference is from the 1950s to the 1980s. Technology is more of a continuum - 1980s technology would be, to an extent, at least partially conceivable (even if a bit sci-fi) in the 1950s in much the same way as 2020s technology would be at least partially conceivable (even if a bit sci-fi) in the 1990s. On the other hand, take 2020s technology and plonk it down in the 1950s and it would be a radical shock.
But in terms of how day to day life works, the biggest difference is analog vs digital life. The entire 20th century was an analog world. Even 1990s life was still mostly analog as we transitioned into the digital world. But the way we live now has changed dramatically in the last 20 years as a result of technology. Send me (born in 1983) back to 1990 and I’d get along just fine because I’m still used to living analog. Send Today’s Marty (born in 2003) back there and he would have to re-learn how to do basic stuff in a way that anyone going from one 20th century decade to another 20th century decade wouldn’t have to.
He’s a kid used to doing basically everything via smartphone being set down in a world with no cell phone or internet (sure, they proto-existed in 1990 but were still unknown to the vast majority of people). Unless he happened to enjoy watching “old” movies or pre-googled analog stuff before leaving, such as how to operate a VCR and a tape deck, how to use a pay phone, how to use library index cards, etc., he’d be pretty lost until he learned to adapt. People who grew up digital are generally speaking completely baffled by how we used to do things - just watch the Kids React to Old Technology series of youtube videos, such as this one on Marty’s Walkman. That’s Today’s Marty’s generation. I’ve read that many kids entering high school today don’t even know how to operate a laptop keyboard because they’ve grown up swiping screens on tablets and whatnot.
Also, on the Evian = naive spelled backwards thing, that was noted in Reality Bites. No idea if that was before or after Miller or Carlin’s use of it.
The changes from 1985 to 1955 were CULTURAL, not technological. Sure, Marty knew about reruns and had a Walkman, but the funny parts of the film are the culture shocks. Marty, from 1985, expected people in 1955 to watch TV at home and movies out, because that’s what he did. And they did precisely that.
In terms of music, the major transition was in the 1960s and 1970s, so really, that was covered. The one huge revolution since has been rap, but a kid in 1990 would have known about rap. Half of them had Run-DMC albums, and Public Enemy was huge.
The changes from 1990 to 2020 are TECHNOLOGICAL. There are trivial matters in terms of culture, but I was a teenager in 1990 and I’m a parent now, and kids today don’t shock me; the transitional generation wasn’t even my generation, it was before me. Tech, however, is a big, big deal.
The biggest amazement to a 1990 kid, as has been said, would be the digital world. No one had the internet in their home in 1990 - hell, most people didn’t have computers yet. The Web hadn’t even been invented. We take it for granted now, but it would have seemed utterly miraculous to a person in 1990.
Note, as well, that technology has dramatically altered how we consume film and music. The idea that kids today don’t go to record stores would amaze people in 1955 or 1985.
The true impact the digital world and smartphones and all that have had on us can be seen in movies by simply watching films from 1985-1990 and noting how often the plots wouldn’t work in 2020. “Die Hard” (1988) makes no sense at all if everyone has a cell phone; you’d have to come up with some reason everyone’s phone doesn’t work.
It was based on a book from 1979. Even in '88 it already makes no sense that a bunch of yuppie types wouldn’t have some brick phones laying around.
I’m not going to go into the details of this post, but I’ll point out again that the movie mainly draws its humor from cultural changes, not political or technological changes. Mainly the wholesome 1950s vs. the depraved 1980s. (Both exaggerated for the movie.)
New Marty’s iPhone would certainly have shocked a 1990 person if he could have used it but he couldn’t. Without a network it’s just a shiny paperweight. He could play a tape on his Walkman in 1955, he couldn’t stream Spotify in 1990.
The biggest culture shock scene in BttF was the guitar solo. What could Marty do in 1990 that would be similar? If he could get his laptop to work maybe he could DJ an EDM set, but the kids would just have thought it sounded like Nitzer Ebb or some other industrial dance music.
People were already fighting for gay rights in the 90s. The first big controversy of the Clinton administration was his push to allow gays to serve in the military. There was plenty of right-wing populism pre-dating 1990, including racist violent movements. Look up The Order, or The Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord. On a more mainstream side there was the Moral Majority. The only thing new about the tea party was the name.
Also, to other posters, Evian water was introduced to the US market in 1978. It was popular with yuppies throughout the 80s.
You mean pop music in 2020 isn’t all Thermamins and electronic tonalities? Sci Fi lied to me!
I agree with this. The cultural differences are not much between 1990 and 2020. The biggest difference would be the acceptance of LGBTQ. Even the most progressive might be surprised about legal gay marriage and acceptance of transgender status, but I doubt anyone would be shocked. The acceptance of gay jokes might surprise our new Marty. You might get a mild chuckle when they ask him for his reusable grocery bag instead of plastic.
Adapting to old technology should be relatively easy and boring to show in a movie. Yeah, there might be some mild groaning when Marty tries to pay for a soda with a debit card or cannot use a pay phone.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is smoking. He would likely be surprised at the smoking that is everywhere in 1990. IIRC, that was around the time where smoking was banned in some small places, but there still would have been smoking in malls and restaurants. Maybe sees 1990s college students pop a “road beer” in the car and he responds with shock.
But the difference between 2020 and 1990 seems mild compared with 1985 v. 1955.
That would have been what most progressives had felt about gay rights in 1990. Bill Clinton gets a lot of flak for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but at the time it was a step forward for gay rights. The previous policy was that a person had to swear under oath that he was not a homosexual in order to be inducted into the armed forces. Clinton promised to end that ban. After backlash, it was a compromise that nobody would be asked about their sexual orientation and that a homosexual should not disclose it. It was an improvement over the prior policy from the perspective of a gay person.
With regards to DOMA, that was not an uncontroversial position. It got over 70 votes in the Senate. Even the dissenters didn’t (at least claim) that they voted against it because they actually wanted legal same sex marriage, but argued that it was unnecessary, that the GOP was using this as an elected year issue to bring up an issue that was not relevant as it was a silly idea that gay marriage was going to be legalized.
So, to the point of the thread, I think in 1990 you certainly had a debate about gay rights, and had a large segment, probably a majority of the population that did not approve of homosexuality. The moderate position was “what people do behind closed doors is none of my business but I don’t want to see it.” Even those on the left who were tolerant of gay rights stopped far short of advocating for gay marriage. So I think our new Marty would be shocked at the attitudes of 1990 WRT gays.
Transgender status? Nobody but the extreme minority on the left would believe anything other than that they needed locked up in a mental hospital or possibly shown sympathy for “having to act like that.”
However, the laugh in the original movie about “Yeah, a colored mayor. That’ll be the day” would not have worked in a new movie if it was “Yeah, two guys getting married. That’ll be the day.” The push leftward on the issue was apparent and if you told someone in 1990 that gay marriage would be legal in 2020, most people would have probably agreed that was very possible. I think that they would be surprised about transgender restroom access as that was nowhere on the horizon.
But I think that would likely be the only issue where social justice would be meaningfully different. Casual racism was more accepted then. “I have nothing against blacks, but…” I don’t want one dating my daughter, or living in the neighborhood, or “did you hear the one about…?” would have likely passed without comment or outrage in most polite society.
So, mildly different, but nothing that would make the movie powerful in the way that attending a lynching in 1920 would be.
I don’t think anyone is asking for a reboot. We do this thread every couple of years and the consensus would be that it would be a poor substitute for the original because the 30 year period between 1955 and 1985 was so vastly different than a 30 year period since. A side debate is whether we only feel that way because most of us here remember 30 years ago whereas when we watch the movie, most of us don’t remember 1955.
Did every service member really have to specifically swear an oath to that effect?
I’ve thought about this, and the best I could think of would be for 2020 Marty to bust out something by BTS or Blackpink in Korean. “That’s called K-Pop. You’re kids will love it.”
I have probably given this movie far too much thought, even once asking what song you would’ve played if you were Marty McFly about 5, 10 years ago… ahhhh, here.
I think a 2020 to 1990 BttF would work, but you couldn’t write it with the same air of patronizing dismissal that the original had to a pre-rock society - 1985 BttF had a sort of “you all will grow out of this awkward stage” attitude towards 1955, whereas I feel that 1990 BttF would have a “everything OK at home, Uncle Sam? You haven’t been, uh, drinking already, have you? Christ, Sam, it’s 10am!” attitude towards 2020 America. There is a sense of triumphalism which pervades BttF which would be hard to sell in a new 2020-to-1990 BttF, and keeping this new movie a light-hearted comedy like the original would be quite a task.
One aspect the original didn’t really explore is the difficulties Marty had adjusting to 1955 life… and, in many ways, it wasn’t really all that different, was it? The music was better, the country less overtly racist in 1985, but Marty lost, at most, the video store and 25 cable TV channels. The new BttF would be radically different as Marty2020 would be driven to distraction at the loss of data and communications which would radically hinder his ability to make his way through 1990.
(I mean, shit, I lived through 1990 as a 23yo and if 2020 me were BttF’d to 1990, I would know three things:
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Buy Microsoft stock until 1997, sell 80% of it by 2000.
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Buy Apple stock starting in 1997, invest MS profits in Apple.
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Finding out the simplest thing is just a fuckin’ chore.)
One of the ways you could build some jokes is by the changes in language brought about by technology: you can probably create a whole scene trying to explain the sentence “use the app, and your phone’s bluetooth, to connect your Amazon smart assistant to your home network - you have Prime, right?” to some 1990s tech geeks.
Anyway, I picture the new BttF to be kinda 12-Monkey ish, a group of people… say musicians… are sent to the past and not only do they have to get BttF, they’re imbued with a sense of purpose to rid future America of 9/11, the Great Recession, and Donald Trump. But first they have to convince people they are from the future, and they can only do this… similar to Marty… by playing 1 song from the future, a song so different sounding than what’s been played before the 1990 people are thereby convinced to help our intrepid heroes.
(Because the song is key. And we’re not going to imitate the original and do some dumb-assed shit like “invent” ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, a song which gets released in a year anyway.)
However, their biggest problem is their dependence on 2020 forms of communication and research - what I’m saying is, “can they efficiently use the phone book while navigating Los Angeles using a paper Thomas Guide” may be a key plot point, guys.
I first thought this could be played by the guys from The Chainsmokers, if for no other reason than I really do wonder what 1990 would think of the EDM-drenched, tech-heavy #Selfie, but I have zero idea if they can act (or, to be honest, what they look like), so I need a pro. I need a man who knows acting, comedy, and music.
I need Troy. I need Childish Gambino. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce Donald Glover as our new Marty Mcfly. He’s the only one who can pull this off. The only one.
Who wants to invest?
1985 Marty arriving in 1955 knows to try and find Doc by going to a phone booth and looking him up in the phone book. He then knows how to use a payphone. Would 2020 Marty be able to do the same in 1990?
I do agree with those who say the cultural jump from 2020 to 1990 is probably greater. I’m in my fifties, and I struggle to remember what life was like before we had the answer to everything at our fingertips. I can remember 1990 clearly - yet drop me back there today and so many things would amaze. To watch a movie you have to go to Blockbuster and rent a VHS? In standard definition and 4:3 aspect ratio? And you have to rewind the tape? To check the football scores or weather forecast you have to either be watching the news, or sit waiting for the Teletext pages to scroll round?
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is smoking. 2020 Marty would be shocked and appalled to find people sitting puffing away in the coffee shop. He might ask them if they’ve tried vaping.
Most of the jokes I remember from the movie are things that were part of pop culture that people in the 1950s would misinterpret in a humorous way. For example, Calvin Klein on underwer, the sailors jacket snd the use of the word heavy.
Similar things could be wearing something blue with “Pink” on it (for a female Marty), sagging pants or Marty using “literally” to mean figuratively. I’m not sure how someone from 1990 would take “OK Boomer”.
So the hypothetical remake would turn things around and imply the 1980s-1990s were (slightly) cooler than a 2020s dystopia in terms of music, culture, teenage shenanigans, etc? Slightly intriguing premise, at least.
What I’ve really been wondering all these years is how to get one of those 8’ speakers. How many (tens of thousands of) watts is that thing? Should be useful for some 1990 underground dance parties.
I mean, it’s gotta be kinda dystopic, right? After all, in this world… the reality in which we live… Biff Tannen actually became President.