Back to the Future 2: 2015 Predictions That Came True

[We posted this article earlier this summer, but to celebrate "Back to the Future Day", we decided to share it with you today.]

No, Marty McFly did not travel to the year 2014. Nor did he go to 2013, or 2012, or any other year in which you’ve seen the false Back to the Future meme flying around. October 21, 2015 is the actual date on which Marty, Doc, and a recast Jennifer went to the future in order to prevent a catastrophic series of events, during which time they accidentally cause a new catastrophic series of events themselves.

While the brilliance of Back to the Future was a near impossible act to follow, with Back to the Future Part II, director Robert Zemeckis embraced the idea of time travel wholeheartedly, taking audiences to three very different time periods/timelines throughout the course of the film. It’s a severely underrated movie, but its most striking element is the film’s vision of the year 2015, for which Zemeckis and Co. took the atypical route of striving for fun over accuracy. The film doesn’t attempt to predict what the world will really look like in the future, but instead takes the opportunity to offer a somewhat satirical and ultimately delightful take on 2015 with plenty of in-jokes for the folks living in 1989.

But even though Back to the Future Part II doesn’t attempt to craft a realistic future, the movie actually gets quite a few things right about the year 2015. Obviously power laces never came to fruition (on a wide scale, at least) and no one is purposefully wearing their pockets inside out, but Zemeckis came pretty darn close to predicting a few other larger norms that have taken hold in our present.

Sequel Mania

back-to-the-future-2-jaws — Image via Universal Pictures

The Jaws 19 joke in Back to the Future Part II was Zemeckis’ way of ribbing friend and executive producer Steven Spielberg, but intentionally or not he hit the nail on the head when it comes to the 2015 movie marketplace. Of the Top 5 highest grossing films of 2015 thus far, four of them are sequels, and one of them is the seventh movie in a franchise. Jaws 19 is clearly a joke, but it’s not exactly implausible to think that the Fast and Furious franchise could one day get to its own 19th installment. And not only are sequels fueling the box office, but 3D is also back (not exactly “hologram cinema,” but close enough). This is one piece of Back to the Future future that we could’ve done without.

Nostalgia for the 80s

back-to-the-future-2-cafe-80s — Image via Universal Pictures

Every generation has nostalgia for the decade in which they grew up, but 1980s fawning transcends beyond those that were alive during the time. Ironically, a great deal of that nostalgia is tied into popular films from the period like Ghostbusters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and yes, Back to the Future. While it’s not quite as intense as it is in BTTF II (the “Café 80s” hasn’t exactly caught on yet and 90s nostalgia is heating up fast), there’s plenty of love for the 1980s still thriving nearly three decades later.

Instant Gratification

back-to-the-future-2-jacket — Image via Universal Pictures

Okay so we don’t have self-drying jackets just yet, but the culture of 2015 is obsessed with instant gratification. The rise of the Internet revolutionized the way we shop, and now we can essentially buy anything we want from the comfort of our own home. Want to know how to cut an avocado? Type “how do I cut an avocado?” into your phone, and you’ll have an answer (and even an instructional video) in front of you in seconds. We’re not even content to wait for a red light anymore, as we instinctually reach for our phone to find something to do for the 45-second traffic stop. How will these needs affect the way we live in another 15 years’ time? Scratch that—maybe we don’t want to know.

More TV Than Is Humanly Possible to Watch

back-to-the-future-2-tv — Image via Universal Pictures

It’s no secret that some of the best storytelling today is happening on the small screen, and indeed in Back to the Future Part II’s depiction of the year 2015, folks apparently make a habit of watching multiple channels at once. Granted, Zemeckis missed the rise of digital screens, and it’s probably not the best idea to watch Veep, Mad Men, and The Bachelor simultaneously, but BTTF’s joke still holds up regardless.

Distracted By/Obsessed With Technology

back-to-the-future-2-dinner — Image via Universal Pictures

We’ve become so enamored of our phones that “text neck” is now a thing, and Back to the Future Part II rightly predicted a distraction-filled dinner table. The telephone/TV eyeglasses in BTTF II come uncannily close to the impact social media has had on social gatherings in general in which we’re more interested in the digital social circle than the physical one staring us in the face.

Facebook Stalking

back-to-the-future-2-needles — Image via Universal Pictures

A curious piece of tech in Back to the Future Part II actually feels like a precursor to Facebook. While old Marty is on the videophone with Needles and his boss (side note: what was it with the videophone obsession in 1980s sci-fi movies?), a slew of facts scroll across the screen, seemingly hidden from the person on the other line. A list of hobbies, likes/dislikes, and basic bio information acts as a sort of “cheat sheet” while in conversation, and it’s basically the beginnings of Facebook. “Stalking” someone on Facebook has become a common way to learn more about a person without actually having to talk to them (yay society!), and it appears that Zemeckis may have beaten Zuckerberg (or the Winklevi) to the punch.