ENG Task Two

• Zemeckis' Back to The Future

  Questions the yearning for a return to the 1950s and the Reaganite values of large economy, small government by juxtaposing the two time periods to prompt a reevaluation of the 1950s sentiment and the ignorance of social progress that becomes regressive
• Wells underscores that society seeks stability and comfort at the cost of intellectual growth and innovation in “Intellect [...] is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble”, wherein the triplet of negatives “change, danger, and trouble” ironically aligns “change” with the threat of “danger”
• Additionally, the imagery in “I grieved to think… [how] the human intellect… had committed suicide” reflects the Victorian Era’s tension between faith in progress and anxiety over its consequences, because the melancholic tone of “grieved” adds to the imagery of the metaphorical comparison between Victorian “progress” and suicidal “intellect”.
• Furthermore, through the enumeration in “[An] abominable desolation [with a] Dead Sea [,] foul… monsters… [and] poisonous-looking… plants”, Wells ultimately critiques Victorian complacency with current innovation as the negative imagery of “abominable desolation”, which is emphasised by the accumulation of negative adjectives like “foul, poisonous, dead” and asyndetic structure, crafts a dystopic future where humans are extinct and the world has deteriorated into a wasteland.
• Moreover, the allusion towards history and science in “A museum… thick with dust… a huge skeleton… some extinct creature” satirises the founding of museums in the Victorian Era because the imagery of “thick with dust” and irony of “extinct creature” accentuates the devolution of humans caused by the lack of further innovation and the loss of human intelligence.
• In the 1950s diner scene, the salience of a confident Goldy looking down on his boss in the midshot as they bicker over the potential for a coloured mayor reaffirms the normality of racism in the 1950s and that by yearning for a return to the time, society is actively regressing. The dialogue of “a coloured mayor, that’ll be the day” accentuates the belief that people of colour were inferior and the boss’ quick dismissal of the idea, despite Goldy’s confidence, underscores his firm values and lack of adaptability.
• Zemeckis critiques the values of Reagan’s passive government and the regressive ignorance of social progress in the homeless man scene where the salience of the man in the midshot is a vector towards the ironic signage of “California Rais[ed]”, wherein the salience of the man accentuates Reagan’s failing social and economic policies and the ironic “California Rais[ed]” questions if a return to the 1950s is where society’s focus should be.
• political campaign scene, the salience of the symbolic patriotic colours in the close-up of the posters advertising the mayoral candidate alongside the megaphone ironically advertising “progress” critiques the social regression of the 1980s as values have not progressed since the identical slogan to the 1950s contrasts the promise of progress.
• The recurrence of segregation perpetuated by the human desire to feel powerful in texts emphasises the consistent concerns for the loss of human compassion within society. 
• Wells’ ‘The Time Machine’ responds to a time where society is divided by class under the monarchical state by satirising the prominent division.
• Wells reinforces the proletariat fight for survival whilst the bourgeoisie lived in luxury in “Upon my left arm, I carried my little one, in my right hand… my iron bar”, because the contrast in “left… my little one… right… my iron bar” alongside the symbolic “iron bar” representing the Industrial Revolution accentuates the two distinct features of Victorian life.
• “Must have the Haves… and… the Have-nots… continually adapted to…their labour” satirises the increasing class gap between the bourgeoisie and proletarians in reflection of Marxist exploitation of labour, wherein the contrasting metaphors of “Haves” and “Have-nots” hyperbolise the disparity of “conditions” whereby the passive syntax of “continually adapted to… their labour” specifies the forced environmental impact of labourers.
• In contrast, Zemeckis’ Back to The Future responds to America’s democratic system where power resides in the people and society has ultimately been separated by race, gender, class, and ethics.
• calling them “spooks” and “reefer addicts” underscoring the casual racism present within 1950s American society, whereby the casual tone and use of the derogatory epithets emphasises that racism was prevelant and commonly accepted within society as a way to differentiate the population.
• While H.G. Wells’ ‘The Time Machine’ (1895) responds to a period of rapid industrialisation by criticising Victorian society’s apathetic attitudes towards further progress, Robert Zemeckis’ Back to The Future (1985) challenges Ronald Reagan’s response to the Cold War by questioning his nostalgia for past cultural values of the 1950s.