Time Travel has become such a huge part of modern American pop culture I think its only fair to talk about a little more in depth. I was recently asked: "If you could time travel into the past, where would you go?". It only took a few seconds to figure out my answer: 1969.
Why? Its obvious to me, first, I'd hit Woodstock, see all the musicians at THE original music festival. I'd see everyone. Over the next few years I'd catch the guys I missed, Dylan, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, all those guys. Essentially knock out my Classic rock favorites... everything I can only listen to on CD nowadays.
Plus, I'd be around for the merging of computers and American culture. Shoot, I might even throw out a few ideas of my own. Plus I know what to invest in. (time travel just ain't right without a little sports gambling and stock market knowledge... more on that later). So if I ever hook myself up to a flux capacitor, crawl into a time travel box, or ride a time travel sled, I'm gonna aim for 1969. With a little detour to Columbia, SC on Jan. 10, 2002 at 3:04 AM... I got a few things to say to myself. What could go wrong?Back to the Future, H.G. Welles, Primer. Movie, Author/Prophet, Movie. 3 extremely different pop culture views of the mysteries and conundrum that is time travel. Welles did it first, in the 1800s, and for the most part, he had the grandest ideas out of the 3. If you haven't read "The Time Machine", I recommend it. Its been made into a movie 2 times. The first from 1960 is awesome. The 2nd, in the last 3 or so years, is standard mid 2000s over the top special effects with no substance. I recommend the book and the first movie.
In The Time Machine, an inventor at the turn of the century (remember when this used to mean 1900? well that's what it means in this sentence) builds a time travel sled and shows it off to his English aristocrat friends. They "my heavens" and "jolly good show" it up a little, then go home, drink tea, eat crumpets and stroke their mustaches. Meanwhile our inventor hero takes the sled forward to 802,701 AD. WOW, talk about scope. Back to the future pulled the 2015 gag in 1989, just to stay more relatable. Not Welles, he blew it out, sending the protagonist to a completely different human society 801,000 years in the future. Needless to say, things got weird. It becomes a great satire of modern class systems, technology, and pop cultures ignorance to the true suffering of humanity. Bloody hell its crazy. Read it, watch the original movie (its on instant netflix).
Unless you've lived in a Morlock cave since the 80s, you probably know about Back to the Future, so I'm just gonna reiterate that it is epic. Not only does the original movie still stand up against any modern film in terms of story, performance, and special effects, but the 2 follow ups are pretty good too. Back to the Future 2 is great, and although less loved, I can't deny Back to the Future 3. (I'm still waiting to buy a hoverboard Robert Zemeckis!)But that brings me to my sleeper pick for awesome Time Travel Movie. PRIMER. Written, Directed, Produced and Starred in by Shane Carruth in 2004, it explores the geeky side of time travel on a small scale. I'm talking "hey, lets time travel back to this morning" small scale stuff. But it gets crazy. In it, 2 scientist guys accidentally invent a time machine. From that point on they start trying to use it to their benefit, playing the markets, making small changes to benefit themselves. It begins to destroy their trust in one another, and eventually, to destroy their essence as humans.
Primer is the type of movie that is very cerebral. It took me 3 views to really "get it", and I've since forgotten how it works. Its like Memento in the sense that its demanding for the viewer to be completely on top of it, and to some extent that can be frustrating if you are just looking for a casual film to watch. But its rewarding in a way, that I as a film maker and enthusiast appreciates to all hell.
Heres a little about Primer from Wikipedia for you to chew on:
Primer is a 2004 American science fiction film about the accidental discovery of a means of time travel. The film was written, directed, and produced by Shane Carruth, a mathematician and a former engineer, and was completed on a budget of $7,000.Primer is of note for its extremely low budget, experimental plot structure, philosophical implications, and complex technical dialogue, which Carruth chose not to simplify for the sake of his audience. One reviewer said that "anybody who claims [to] fully understand what's going on in Primer after seeing it just once is either a savant or a liar." The film collected the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004 before securing a limited release in US cinemas, and has since gained a cult following.
Music to Time Travel To:
Blur - Blur (1997)
1. "Beetlebum" – 5:04
2. "Song 2" – 2:02
3. "Country Sad Ballad Man" – 4:50
4. "M.O.R." – 3:27 (Albarn/David Bowie/Coxon/Brian Eno/James/Rowntree)
5. "On Your Own" – 4:26
6. "Theme from Retro" – 3:37
7. "You're So Great" – 3:35 (Coxon)
8. "Death of a Party" – 4:33
9. "Chinese Bombs" – 1:24
10. "I'm Just a Killer for Your Love" – 4:11
11. "Look Inside America" – 3:50
12. "Strange News from Another Star" – 4:02
13. "Movin' On" – 3:44
14. "Essex Dogs" / "DanceHall" / "Interlude" (hidden track) – 11:24
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