Doc Brown Might Be a Hypocrite and a Bad Friend

Definition: Hypocrisy is the act of persistently pretending to hold beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings,qualities, or standards that one does not actually hold. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie

I was watching Back to the Future (Part I and II) last night and it dawned on me that Doctor Emmett Brown is a little bit of a (huge) hypocrite. The guy's morals are questionable...as in, he only seems to have them when it's convenient. And he's not a very good friend. Don't take this rant the wrong way; I love all of these movies, but when you watch them for the 18th time, you start to think about what's happening.

Right off the bat, he has stolen plutonium from the Lybians. Thief. Now, I know in 1985 the Lybians were bad people so I can probably forgive that one, but it was only fair to bring it up.

Let's talk about why he's a bad friend and in between I'll explain my hypocrite comment. The first friend he betrays is his trusting companion and man's best friend...he tests out his time travel experiment on his dog Einstein. Basically, he loves his pet, but he's willing to sacrifice him in the name of science. So, phew, Einie lives through the time travel experiment (don't worry, we'll put him in suspended animation in part II). And then there's his long-time friend, Marty McFly. How did they meet, this 60 year old man and this high school boy? Obviously, they met in 1955 when Marty tells Doc that he has invented a time machine and the two are life long friends after that. Has to be that, right? How else would they have become friends? So let's assume that they're friends and Doc invites Marty to see his time machine work for the first time. Doc is CLEARLY wearing a bullet-proof vest BEFORE Marty ever goes back in time because he doesn't bleed when the Lybians shoot him in the chest. But he doesn't tell Marty about this vest OR give his friend a bullet-proof vest of his own, because he NEEDS Marty to be scared and run from the Lybians, because he knows that is how Marty goes back in time to tell him that he creates a time machine. So despite his saying several times "I didn't create a time machine for personal gain," this action is totally for personal gain. So when Marty tries to tell Doc in 1955 about this shooting, Doc doesn't want to know about his own future. "Nobody should know too much about their own future...it could be disasterous. So he reads the letter anyway and wears a bullet-proof vest, which I still say he had on already anyway and Marty could have saved a trip by not being friends with this loser.

Skip ahead to the end of Part I (beginning of Part II). Doc crashes into Marty's trashcan and screams "You've got to come back with me. Back to the future!" "It's your kids Marty, something's got to be done about your kids!" Wait a minute Doc...what happened to not interfering with future events and not building a time machine for personal gain!!?? And it's because of this quest for personal gain, that the timeline gets all screwed up and they have to go back in time again to fix things. Which leads into Part III where Doc Brown is all about personal gain and ends up with a wife and kids from the old west (which I understand is the point of the movie in the end, but still an inconsistency).

There is a part IV now...a sanctioned part IV that tells the continuing story picking up 6 months after the events of Part III in videogame format. We'll see if this type of behavior continues since it appears that Doc never learns his lesson. I will continue to love this series and find new things with each new viewing. The next time you watch...you'll also be thinking differently, won't you?