Shot in the back over a matter of $80:: Part 3
A Deep Dive into Pop Culture Economics
Check out Part 1 & Part 2
The Social Reaction and Parallels
What is 1885 Hill Valley like?
God Bless Online Nerds for making “made-up” movie history so easy to find.
The town of Hill Valley is depicted as having been first settled in 1850 and incorporated in 1865. By the 1880s, it was connected by railroad to San Francisco.
The Back To The Future wiki is great because we can confidently use the history of the California Gold Rush as a proxy for Hill Valley’s origins up to 1885.
In real life,
the gold rush starting at Sutter’s Mill in 1847
A population and investment boom took off sometime in 1849
the boom was followed by a gold mining crash around 1855
Gold recovery operations continued after 1855 but at an extremely high cost and increasingly diminishing returns. “Peak Gold” in the Sierra Nevada.
The best technique for gold extraction in the final days of the gold rush was to setup your sifter rig way downhill of the primary excavation sites to recover loose and overlooked gold flakes that had slowly washed down into the flat river bottoms and sandbars of California's Central Valley
It was quite literally sloppy seconds.
This is how several areas in California such as Scott Valley in Siskiyou County got their start.
So, it’s fair to say Hill Valley sprung up from "late comer” gold speculators trying to bottom feed the remains of the gold rush on its last legs.
1885 Railroad Town
Even the last scraps of gold would be picked clean by 1885. It seems by this point, the town only survived because it was lucky enough to be on the most effective pathway for rail station on a Sierra Nevada line towards San Francisco. Oddly enough, the map Doc and Marty use essentially show this setup as part of the Central Pacific Railway.
Hill Valley Demographics
Now that we know the “Why” and “How” of Hill Valley, we can think about the “Who”.
A gold boom town would have a few quirks versus a more established town back East:
Many, many more men than women
Brothels were common
Immigrants, Blacks and Native Americans had some opportunity if they worked hard
Cross dressing, homosexuality and other behaviors like drinking and gambling were tolerated to various degrees
Pretty wild crew! In real life, these quirks are the roots for things like San Francisco’s LGBTQ community, Reno’s Brothels and Las Vegas’ casinos.
Trader Dad Hot Take:
Given the history of the locale, maybe a seemingly “confirmed bachelor” like Doc hanging out with a 17 year old boy to experiment with, doesn’t raise as many red flags as you’d think it would in 1985. I mean the Principal of the school knew underage Marty interacted with a weird loner guy and seemed to be fine with it as long as he wasn’t some slacker tardy for homeroom
Shamus and Maggie McFly
They were most likely NOT goldminers or looking to strike it rich. The McFlys are hinted to be of Scots-Irish descent but Shamus and Maggie point out William McFly is the first McFly born in America.
So, Shamus and Maggie came over from North Ireland and presumably went straight to California sometime after 1880.
This makes them too late to realistically think they can find gold. On the other hand, communication and information was much slower (or maybe they were just dumb) so they could have THOUGHT gold was still for the taking, but were disappointed to find out the mines dried up.
With no other valuable skills for the areas, all they could do was hunt & farm for a basic income outside of town. Something akin to lower middle class folks of the area.
A Side Note:
Marty gave Seamus his unused gun — "worth $12, never been used" — and Seamus says he’ll trade it for a new hat.
$12 in 1885 is worth $368.30 today
Even if hats were super important in 1885 and taking value based pricing into account, I can’t help but wonder how pissed off Maggie was when she found out her husband bought a $368 hat for himself but still has to shoot wild rabbits for their supper.
Who would actually care about a shooting in town?
We established in Part 2, Doc was shot and killed because of $2443.51 of property damage his “customer” incurred then blamed on Doc. That’s not a lot of money. But to most small business owners, it’s worth fighting for. Or more specifically, defending against. See all the “Convenience Store clerk fight back” YouTube videos as evidence of that.
Similar to the excitement and impact of a YouTube video on Inside Edition, the general towns people would likely have a day of gossip ahead of them at the Saloon once they learned of the shooting but are largely un phased by it or scared for their own lives.
When they know the coast is clear from Mad Dog, maybe they all do a shot in tribute to Doc. Then all immediately go back to their card games etc.
There are boobs in the video
What happens to Buford Tannen?
Buford Tannen was basically a local wise guy with a crew who everyone in town knew was trouble.
Whenever he’s eventually caught by the Marshall, the county judge has him hanged for sure. He might just end up shot and killed by someone who sees an opportunity to look like a hero. I wonder who would put up his tombstone because a far more interesting question is WHERE is his son?
1955 Biff Tannen’s Great Great Grandfather.
Think about it.
For the family name to have continued, Mad Dog would have needed to have a son and give him the ‘Tannen’ name. He would have to be a legitimate son. (Not like a “Jon Desert“ kind of name for his bastard kids)
Even the wiki doesn’t have answer for that! Somewhere between Buford “Mad Dog” and Biff Tannen is a “Missing Link” relative to complete the timeline!
What happens to Clara?
I considered an elaborate scenario where Clara becomes a Madam for young prostitutes and uses Doc’s blacksmith barn as her place of operation for Johns.
Then I figured out Woody Allen basically made that movie in 1982!! Wild.
Realistically, Clara just goes back East, heartbroken for a time, but moves on with life. She only knew Doc for a week after all.
Other Miscellaneous concerns of it all
In a town like 1885 Hill Valley, I don’t think anyone would question the idea of a man just showing up and setting up shop like Doc did. Clara was the new teacher for the new school house so vocational types were popping up all the time. I’m sure last month, the undertaker was new and the month before that, the bartender showed up. I would imagine the town would send word back east they were looking for a new Blacksmith and a new guy would show up to take Doc’s place within a few weeks.
CONCLUSION:
Based on everything about 1885 society and the value of a whisky and a horse, It feels like if Doc Brown were shot and killed by Mad Dog Tannen in 2022 we’d see it like this:
News @ 11PM:
Top Headline:
“Blizzard Watch 2022 - How much snow you can expect!”
2nd Headline:
“Disgruntled Customer kills local Moped repairman”
Summary Copy:
“A local mechanic, Emmett Brown, was shot and killed today outside his shop. Police are currently searching for suspect Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen in connection with the incident. Allegedly, Tannen came into the store, drunk, and proceeded to shoot and kill the shop owner after a dispute regarding a faulty repair. The faulty repair resulted in the destruction of a high end whisky causing the customer to return and confront the local businessman in a rage. Tannen remains at large”
3rd Headline:
“Is your cat trying to ruin your marriage?” We’ll have the answer after Weather and Traffic Sponsored By TD Bank
Commercial Break