Future Shock
Biff Tannen, the 45th President of the United States
How “Back to the Future’s” Biff Tannen is based on America’s Donald Trump
Back to the Future’s main antagonist, Biff Tannen, becomes a wealthy businessman, owns hotels, and marries beautiful women. Are these similarities with the President just mere coincidence or a statement on success in America? The director of the Back to the Future movies, Bob Gale, gives his own insight on his character. He said, in a 2015 interview, that Biff was based on a famous celebrity/politician. It can be reasonably inferred that this celebrity is Donald Trump. Both of these men made the majority of their money in business and own real estate.
Even without the similar journeys to wealth, the visual resemblance between these people is uncanny. Long and blonde combovers, artificial tans, and unapologetic attitudes. The movie also hints towards Biff being based on Trump when Biff poses heroically in front of a painting of himself, something that Trump has done many times. Bob Gale has this to say about the scene and it being related to Trump:
“You watch ‘Part II’ again and there’s a scene where Marty confronts Biff in his office and there’s a huge portrait of Biff on the wall behind Biff, and there’s one moment where Biff kind of stands up and he takes exactly the same pose as the portrait? Yeah.”
Bob Gale puts many more hints like this in the Back to the Future movies but most of them are in the second one where Biff is a real estate tycoon. One of these hints is how Biff and Trump are seen hanging around models, despite neither being conventionally attractive. They both use their money and power to find women.
Another big hint that the second movie offers is the similarities between Biff’s Pleasure Paradise and Trump Plaza. They are both hotel/casinos and are owned by Biff and Trump as the names suggest. Biff’s Pleasure Paradise is definitely based on Trump Plaza as they have similar structure and surroundings. This is definitely intentional as the building look nearly identical side by side.
The biggest similarity between Biff and Donald is both of the characters’ large ego. Donald Trump is notoriously criticized for his extremely large ego. Many would even call it narcissism, a trait that is obvious in Biff Tannen. Tannen, when receiving the sports betting book from the future, selfishly hides it from the world and exploits it for his own benefit. He finally has the power to do what he wants and decides to take his high school crush away from her husband by killing him and forcing her to marry him.
Biff demonstrates his narcissism by opening up a museum dedicated to himself where he proclaims that he is “an American Folk Hero.” This is not unlike Donald Trump referencing himself as “your favorite president” many times despite having a relatively low approval rate.
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Now that it is established that Biff Tannen is strongly based on Donald Trump, the question emerges: what statement on American politics and society does this have? The societal statement that Bob Gale gives in Back to the Future 2 is that many celebrities “do the ugliest things” in order to gain their power and to keep it.
It seem we livin’ the American Dream
But the people highest up got the lowest self-esteem
The prettiest people do the ugliest things
For the road to riches and diamond rings -Kanye West, All Falls Down
This statement can be seen in the scene where Biff admits to killing George McFly and then chases down Marty to kill him because Marty “knows too much” and can expose him. He knows that if Marty McFly tells the world the truth, he will lose his power. This is similar to non disclosure agreements that many famous politicians and celebrities have with women who have accused them of sexual harassment or assault. Whether or not the NDAs are used to hide the truth or to just make sure false stories don’t spread, they are used to prevent the celebrity to from being exposed.
Another statement that Back to the Future 2 has on society, is the power that corporations posses and the effect that they have on the world. They are cutthroat and use their power to succeed without taking anybody else into account. In Back to the Future 2, Biff succeeds in a lawless world where he owns the police and can do whatever he wants. The smog that fills the sky is not only a visualization of the dark times that Marty was caught in but also literally smog filled air in a world that does not care for the environment. This smog is all created by Biff himself. His company, Biff-Co can be seen pumping smoke into the air and destroying the Earth for his own personal gain.
Back to Future 2 also shows how some people come to power, through cheating. Biff Tannen uses a sports betting book from the future in order to “guess” every game right and become rich. He has an unfair advantage over everybody else, which is not unlike some people in real life. This leads to the Biffhorric world where Biff becomes one of the most powerful men in the world through cheating the system. The movie is demonstrating how many powerful people bend rules and play the system in order to gain power.
Many companies and corporations have been punished for their negative impact on the environment. Recently, Volkswagen was forced to recall nearly 10 million cars as a consequence for lying about their emissions (ironically during President Trump’s administration.) Companies like Biff-Co will do whatever they can in order to bend the rules and, without the rules, do whatever they want at the cost of everyone else. Bob Gale uses the comparison of Biff and Trump to make a testimony on the weaknesses in American society and to show the truth behind the companies that run the world.
