In the brilliant sci-fi flick Looper, there is a memorable scene in a diner, where Bruce Willis' character explains (to his younger self, of course) the concept of time travel as something that is so confusing and baffling it will turn our brains to mush. This dialogue seemed to be the defining point in whether audiences loved or hated the film - many said it was a lazy way of not addressing any loose ends and time paradoxes, as it was saying 'erm, we don't know how time travel works, so we'll make it up as we go'.
Others said it was simply making a real and obvious fact - we don't know how time travel works, so it is a mysterious, intriguing force of change, which we may think we can control but actually we fail.
This is undeniable. We do not have the technological capacity to travel through time, and (some would disagree through their own 'experiences') surely this gives storytellers scope to write their own rules. I for one get fed up with people saying 'time travel doesn't work like that'. Please, show me how you do it. Sometimes films and novels show it in a way that doesn't make sense, and it can make the story a bit bewildering.
Here are some time travel examples in film. Possible spoilers alert.
1) Looper (2012)
As already mentioned, Looper simply acknowledges that time travel is difficult to understand. There is an issue of time paradoxes - Paul Dano looks at his hand seeing fingers disappear, followed by limbs, until his life is taken. This is because people have travelled to his past, essentially dismembering and killing his younger self. Why is he still alive to see his body change? Don't know. But it looks cool, and it is terrifying.
Notes appear on older Bruce Willis' arm because the younger self is writing them. Why are they suddenly appearing out of nowhere? Don't know. But it makes a good plot twist.
Time travel is used as a way of shaping and changing the plot rather than simply changing the scenery or characters.
2) The Time Machine (1960)
The granddaddy of time travel stories. Rod Taylor creates a machine to travel to the future and see what humanity makes of itself. Answer: not much.
As simple as you can get, because it only goes to the future, avoiding any paradoxes or timeline changes. It is also interesting that the far future is presented as a very simple, rural world rather than one like the world of Lang's Metropolis. The remake (2002) is okay but completely pointless.
3) Triangle (2009)
Here, time travel is so trippy and unpredictable, it isn't even referred to or seen - only its apparent effects. Melissa George is stuck on an empty cruise liner, apparently in the Bermuda Triangle, and is fighting future and past versions of herself and her friends.
The clever trick of Triangle is that over the course of the film, she starts to see realize she is becoming those future versions, and that she has been those past versions, and though she tries to change everything and stop the mysterious time loops, she ends up causing the very events she is expecting to happen. Absolutely confounding, with a fabulous twist ending (I will not reveal!)
4) Back To The Future Series (1985, 1989, 1990)
A good example when time travel is used for fun and excitement, rather than high-brow brain mush. Doc Brown's scene when he explains alternate time lines with a chalkboard is iconic. It deals with the Grandfather Effect (Mcfly may become his own ancestor...) and time paradoxes (Mcfly and his siblings are bizarrely fading like ghosts because the past is wiping them away!). Mcfly plays Chuck Berry on his guitar, influencing Chuck Berry himself to make the sound, which Mcfly will hear in the present day, and play in the past, and so on (a Grandfather effect for music).
Time travel is very confused in this trilogy, but it doesn't matter because it is played with tongues firmly in cheek by a brilliantly funny cast.
5) Primer (2004)
This film not only sparked debates about how time travel works, but more commonly, questions such as 'Does this film actually make any sense?' and 'what the hell is going on?'. While films like Donnie Darko and 2001 are made purposefully enigmatic to intrigue us into watching it more and more times, Primer seems to be just bad at storytelling, as so much of the dialogue and action is only character development, and important plot points are rushed over with the odd mumble of words.
But it does seem to show Time Travel technology in a realistic and fresh way - as something people invent and discover by accident and try to figure out how it works along the way. The acting makes this believable.
6) Donnie Darko (2001)
A brilliant example of a 'cult film'. The plot is mysterious and always intriguing, opening up so many plot lines, red herrings (or are they?), unexplained events and supernatural visitations. You are never quite sure if it is all a dream, inside Donnie's fragile mind or in a twisted reality.
Time travel seems to happen, but due to the film's nature we are not entire sure. However a friend of mine once described his view of the film's meaning, and though I didn't like it, it seemed to make the most sense. It is basically an 'emo' version of 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Instead of the angel, there is the rabbit. Instead of showing Donnie how much worse everything would be if he died, it shows the opposite - how worse everything would be if he stayed alive. With that knowledge, Donnie stays in his bed awaiting danger.
It's grim, but fresh.
More films to come soon...
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