Believe Care Invest Blockbuster Week: Back to the Future

Marty visits Doc Brown’s house, but he and his dog are missing. Marty speaks on the phone with Doc who says all the clocks are set ahead, so Marty realizes he’s late for school. He goes to school and meets his girlfriend who tries to help him avoid the principal, but they get caught. The principal tells him he’s a loser like his father. That afternoon, Marty tries out for the battle of the bands, but he’s told that he’s too loud. His girlfriend tries to reassure him. Marty comes home and finds out that his dad’s asshole boss has borrowed the family car and wrecked it, so now Marty can’t take his girlfriend on a trip.

Why Marty might be hard to identify with: Not much reason. He scopes out other girls while with girlfriend is talking to him.

Believe

• We see an elaborate ritual with Doc’s automated breakfast machinery.
• We hear a news report establishing this world.
• Marty has dreams: He sees a pick-up truck he’d like to buy and says, “Wouldn’t it be great?  Take that truck up to the lake?”
• Odd details: Dad eats bowl of peanut brittle as breakfast cereal at night.
• The detail that the time machine in a DeLorean is so weird.
• Friendship with a mad scientist is a unique relationship.

Care

• Strums a guitar, blows himself backward, knocks over a shelf on his head.
• Running late.
• Insulted by principal: “You’re too much like your father, no McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley.”
• Cut off in audition. “I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.”
• Worried what he’s becoming: “Jesus, I’m starting to sound like my old man.”
• Biff has wrecked the car he was going to take. “I can’t believe you loaned me your car without telling me it had a blind spot!”

Invest:

• We first meet him, not seeing his face, as he cranks up every dial to practice his rock guitar. At the battle of the bands, we can see he’s good even though the judges can’t.
• He lets a truck pull him along on his skateboard, which is pretty badass. Then he does it again with a police car!
• He’s got a great girlfriend who’s super into him. She writes “I love you” on the clocktower flyer.

Strength / Flaw: Talented / Disrespected (which isn’t really a flaw. They had to invent a flaw in the next two movies, where he overreacts to being called “chicken”) I guess you could say his flaw in this movie is low self-esteem, in that he’s very worried people are right when they say he’s a loser like his father.