Comparing Yesterday and the Future

Week 13

 “See You Yesterday” and "Back to the Future" are films that have similarities and connections but approach the genre of science fiction and time travel in completely different ways. In both films, the death of a character drives the motivation for time travel in order to save them. In “Back to the Future”, one of the main characters and creators of the time machine dies, forcing Marty McFly to change the past to save him. While Marty is transported to the past, he altars other aspects of the past in order to adjust and benefit his parent’s future life, risking his own existence in the process. In “See You Yesterday” the creator of the time machinery is a scientifically genius black young woman, who time travels to the past in order to save her friend from dying at the hands of a police officer. As she time travels, she realizes that someone has to die in order to save her friend, creating obstacles in her multiple travels back and forth through time. Both of these films create an eerie sense that the time traveler may not survive their quest. As an afrofuturist film, “See You Yesterday” discusses themes of advanced technology created by the black diaspora in order to benefit black lives, but the obstacles of the greater racist systemic problems within society continue to effect the outcomes of her travels. Both “See You Yesterday” and “Back to the Future” discuss race and society, with “Back to the Future” focusing on the negative outcomes that progress (having a black mayor and integration) has caused in the future by showcasing the “present” as less ideal with graffiti and empty storefronts while romanticizing the 1950’s; the film ignores deeply ingrained racism and segregation that characterized this era. “See You Yesterday” holds a mirror to current societal issues by attempting many times to change the outcome of a severe injustice that happens all too often in the United States today. This afrofuturist film, having more severe themes and discussions of injustice and fate, creates a much more serious tone than Back to the Future, leading the viewers to question fate, justice, and systemic racism in the present more than just the complications that time travel can potentially cause for the future.