: Study Questions: Week Nine

America is Back

Back to the Future (1985)

In the Line of Fire (1993).

Rescuing the Dream in the 1980s

By the mid-1980s, there was a desire to return to a period when achieving the American Dream seemed possible, if not inevitable. Some of the most popular films of the Reagan era sought to fulfill the desire to go "back to the future," to recapture a time before the political, social, and cultural upheavals of the 1960s seem to have shattered the American Dream. The films of Bob Zemeckis and Clint Eastwood celebrate the possibility of reclaiming a happier past. In Back to the Future (1985) and Forrest Gump (1994), Zemeckis envisions the possibility of transcending the turmoil of the 1960s by returning to the past or by focusing on a hero who manages to pass through those years without sacrificing the innocence of the earlier era. Eastwood both locates America's decline in the events of the 1960s (the counter culture, the death of Kennedy, the decline of institutional authority) in a variety of films. Dirty Harry (1972) and its sequels deplore the moral and political decline of the nation, while other films offer the possibility of redemption. Pale Rider, 1985 (a variation of Shane, 1953) and Heartbreak Ridge, 1986 (a variation of The Sands of Iwo Jima, 1949) recuperate the myths of the 1950s which were exemplified in Shane and The Sands of Iwo Jima. In the Line of Fire (1991) identifies America's decline with the death of John F. Kennedy, who Eastwood presents as the symbol of a better time. This week we will look at a pair of Hollywood films which rescue the American Dream for a new generation. The question is whether these films are as confident and optimistic as those of the first part of the course such as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) or The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) or simply exercises in nostalgia.

1. What do the contrasting scenes of the town square in Back to the Future reveal about the social changes which have taken place between the mid-1950s and the 1980s? How do the contrasting settings point up a central theme of the film?

2. In what ways are the problems plaguing the McFly family the opposite of those facing the family in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. In what ways are the McFly's problems comic versions of those facing families in The Last Picture Show and The Deer Hunter?

3. Most mythic journeys undertaken by young heroes and heroines follow a familiar pattern: a separation from family and friends, a series of struggles with unknown forces that help to define his or her identity and mission in life, and, after emerging victorious from these struggles, returning to these origins as an effective, independent adult. In what ways does Marty's journey reflect this pattern, and in what ways do they reverse it? Does Marty become an adult or remain a child with ideal parents?

4. What attitudes toward politics and public life are reflected in the campaigns for mayor taking place in both 1985 and 1955?

5. Explain the ways in which Marty's trip to the past is both an escape from contemporary problems and as the key to solving those problems. Do you see any inconsistencies or paradoxes here?

6. Previous films (i.e. The Best Years of Our Lives, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Rebel Without a Cause) suggest that a better future demands a liberation from the past. Back to the Future encourages exactly the opposite. Despite its happy ending, could you argue that Zemeckis' film as not as confident about facing an unknown future as the earlier films?

7. Finally, how does use of fantastic machines and improbable coincidence to win Marty his share of the American Dream suggest that it can be achieved only on an imaginary world rather than in real life?

8. How does the basic plot of In the Line of Fire – Frank Horrigan's attempt to redeem a personal failure – reflect the film's central political theme – the contrast between the America of the early 1960s and the America of the early 1990s?

9. When Frank Horrigan refers to Lily Raines as a new secretary, does he insult her or demean himself or both? How does the event tend to reveal his underlying insecurities and disappointments? Consider the entire scene, especially his relationship to the new generation of superiors he must deal with. In what ways are Frank and Lily embodiments of two opposing generations?

10.How do the repeated phone calls from Mitch tend to turn them into mirror images of one another? Why does the assassin, Mitch Leary, keep calling Horrigan? What is the significance of describing himself as "Booth" and "Oswald"? What are the political implications of his claim that "the world can be a cruel place to an honest man"? In what ways are they, as the killer says, "honest and capable men who were betrayed by the people we trusted?" How was Horrigan exploited? What did he do to protect a Kennedy secret? What does it mean to be betrayed? Does the comment imply that after Kennedy's death the entire system betrayed its loyal idealists?

11. In what ways might you argue that the film treats the death of President Kennedy as the end of a better America, a place that had room for "honest men"? Is it just the President's death that has been responsible, or is it symbolic of many other social and political forces?

12. What is the symbolic significance of the view of twilight view Washington Frank and Lily see as they eat ice cream on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial? How is this reference to Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington related to the themes of Eastwood's film?

13. How do the images of Horrigan sick with the flu and crying as he recounts the fateful day in Dallas call into question the familiar Eastwood hero and suggest the need for a new form of American heroism. How does his realization that he needs the help of Lily and others further emphasize the same theme?

14. In what ways are the President and the new generation of Secret Service agents examples of a diminished federal government and a diminished America (compared, that is, to the Camelot era)?

15. How would you interpret the final scene at the Lincoln Memorial? Does he have a future with Lily? In what ways does their possible marriage symbolize a reconciliation of the generations they represent? Is the final scene, which is so lush and romantic, to be taken as a mark of redemption or as merely the fantasy of an aging man? Why, in your estimation, did Eastwood leave the meaning in question?