MovieChat Forums > Back to the Future (1985) Discussion > Does the whole Libyan bomb thing seem pr...

Does the whole Libyan bomb thing seem pretty awkward now?

posted 9 years ago by Monk_Drunk
20 replies | jump to latest

I'm sure audiences didn't really blink at the time (I was very young when the movie came out and didn't see it in the cinema, and probably wouldn't have understood if there had been a controversy anyway), but the idea behind Libyan terrorists trying to get Doc to build a dirty bomb for them is pretty eyebrow-rising when you watch the film in this day and age, with the shadow of the War against Terror and memories of 9/11 looming over us like a pall, and especially when you consider that this is a family adventure-comedy film. I mean, it's basically a joke in the movie: "They wanted me to build them a bomb, so I took their plutonium and, in turn, gave them a shoddy bomb casing full of used pinball machine parts!"

This was just a few years before Lockerbie too, which was thought to be the work of Libyans. Yikes.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Monk_Drunk 9 years ago

Um, 9/11 doesn't "mess" with my enjoyment of the film (I'm not even American), and I'm not personally offended by it or anything. It just comes across as pretty weird and eye-catching given the current climate we live in. If anything it's almost quaint that there was a time they could joke about this stuff in a family movie of all things, whereas now it would be considered incredibly serious subject matter. Just an observation of how times have changed.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Stratego 9 years ago

You're an absolote moron. Did you even read the OP's post, or did you just assume what it was about based on the title? The OP said nothing that was PC, he just wonders if the mentioning of Libyan terrorism in a family film doesn't seem too dark and serious nowadays. He doesn't say it should be edited out of the movie, so fnck of with your "revisionist" crap.

[–] Pipeman_Toronto 9 years ago

The OP said nothing that was PC

Apparently YOU are the one who cannot read:

...pretty eyebrow-rising when you watch the film in this day and age, with the shadow of the War against Terror and memories of 9/11 looming over us like a pall...

Ass.

[–] Stratego 9 years ago

It's pretty sad that you claim I can't read and then prove yet again that you're the one who can't read. No, he didn't say anything that was PC. He said it was eyebrow-raising with all the crap that has happened since. Moron.

[–] Pipeman_Toronto 8 years ago

You have all the debating skills and finesse of a 7 year old.

Thanks for playing.

[–] Stratego 8 years ago

Says the person who can't read and calls people names. You have the maturity level and comprehension skills of an one year old. No wonder it took you three months to come up with a reply like that.

[–] Stratego 9 years ago

Yes, I have to admit that it's pretty awkward to me as well, even before 9/11, because of the whole Lockerbie thing. It seems weird that jokes about terrorism would be considered appropriate for, as you say, a family film. I would've expected it to have been eyebrow-raising even back then, when aircraft hijackings by muslim terorists were very common. What's even more weird is that Libyan "nationalists" would've been considered the good guys as they opposed Gaddafi (even weirder is the fact that these Libyans would apparently go to the US to steal plutonium and then stay there to ask an American to make them a nuclear bomb, but that's a different story.)

BTW, I don't get the reaction from those other posters. Nothing about your post was PC. It's not like you're complaining about the negative portrayal of Arabs or something.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] !!!deleted!!! (9347176) 9 years ago

which was thought to be the work of Libyans.

Gaddafi accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie attack and even remunerated the victims' families. There are conflicting stories that Iran had something to do with it but even Gaddafi's closest military advisers corroborated his claim that Libyan agents carried out the bombing. His son refutes the claim, placing the blame squarely on Iran and Syria but what is he supposed to say?

The Libyan Nationalists in BTTF wanting a dirty bomb for whatever reason is no more eyebrow raising than Iran or North Korea attempting to either acquire or enrich their own Uranium for bomb construction today. It has been going on since the US and Russia entered the Cold War over nukes. Everyone on the block wants it because they think it will get them a spot at the global economic big-boy table. Middle Eastern guerrilla warfare tactics and terrorism was also nothing new in '85 and its continued presence in that region today is no surprise.

What has changed is the "sensitivity" of some people's sensibilities when it comes to calling terrorism what it is. Personally , I could care less if someone today is "offended" by a Libyan bomb joke in a film made in 1985.

-Rod

[–] Kruleworld 9 years ago

This was just a few years before Lockerbie too, which was thought to be the work of Libyans. Yikes.

Are you saying they should have used their fictional time travel device to see the future?
The Libyans may not be active in the world at the moment, but give them a few years, they'll be back in the spotlight.

"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

[–] Crustacean_Predation 9 years ago

Terrorists have been around for decades so I don't view the scene any differently now than I did when I watched this in the 90s. It just shows it's a continuing problem and the fact it's only getting worse is a reflection of how poor the government's response to it has been. I don't think they were really joking about it in BttF at all since Doc did get shot and killed by them. It was pretty serious.

[–] mcp-69798 8 years ago

No, it doesn't seem awkward now and didn't seem awkward before. Terrorism existed way before the movie came out.

"You're not thinking 4th dimensionally!"