Warning: contains “Back to the Future” spoilers!

I don’t know about you, but I’m oddly perturbed by the amount of anti-bullying dogma that gets thrust in my face seemingly at every turn.

Some bullies are meant to be celebrated!  (Hint: fictional ones)

Don’t get me wrong, like any rational human I am against real bullying and believe that standing up to bullies is a best course of action.  The reality is that we will always have some level of bullying to deal with throughout life.

Effectively standing up to and dealing with bullies is like pulling the weeds and planting a garden.  It takes effort and commitment to maintain, is often a task we’d rather put off, but the results when we do it can be beautiful and productive.

If people truly abided the non-aggression principle, our society both locally and internationally would be a freer and more peaceful place to live.  I won’t get into that discussion much further, but for those interested in the philosophy of the “non-aggression principle” I feel this is a good starting point:

https://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Principle_of_non-aggression

Today I wanted to take a different look at things, to look to the alpha-bully of cinematic history for inspiration, the one and only Biff Tannen: the archetypal school bully from the “Back to the Future” trilogy.

I will detail some of Biff’s aggressive behavior from the first movie of the trilogy; perhaps you will see evidence of these types of behavior in others you know, or heaven forbid, in yourself.

Some may dismiss actor Thomas F. Wilson and writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s portrayal of Biff as simply a comic exaggeration of the jock-bully type; but the reality is that they embodied a bully of mythical proportions and brilliantly executed a character that we loved to hate.  Who else has done this as successfully?

In professional wrestling, wrestlers can only dream of creating a villainous “heel” character that is so roundly hated with gusto, as was Biff in “Back to the Future”.  Such a character fills arenas and sells pay-per-views, even more so if there is a countering “babyface” or good-guy to oppose them.

After all, the worst thing that can happen in movies or professional wrestling, or any form of entertainment (including politics), is for people to just not care for a given character.  Which characters rise to the top?  The most loved and hated.

And people LOVE to hate Biff Tannen.  Because of this intense disgust for Biff and everything he embodies, George McFly decking Biff is such a huge payoff later in the film.

And this is why Biff is so important to the movie.

Like any epic story, legitimate opposition needs to stand in the protagonist’s way.  There needs to be some opposable force that is generally believable, significant and/or ominous/evil, otherwise the ultimate victory or triumph rings hollow.

So, with no further ado, here are the 5 things that make Biff the king of schoolyard bullies:

1.  Gaslighting/not accepting responsibility/playing the victim:  In Biff’s opening scene in “Back to the Future” now middle-aged Biff shows up at the McFly household with a towed and seemingly totaled car.  Instead of accepting responsibility for wrecking George McFly’s car, Biff tells George “I can’t believe you’d loan me a car without telling me it has a blind spot!  I could’ve been killed!” Here Biff uses “gas-lighting” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting for further information) on George to insinuate he is to blame for the accident.  Later, George ask Biff to have his insurance pay for the car, but Biff rebuts this by saying “It’s your car, your insurance should pay for it.  I want to know who is going to pay for THIS (holding his blazer)?  I spilled beer all over it when the car smashed into me.  Who’s going to pay my cleaning bill?”  Here Biff epically pushes the blame further to George, and plays up his status as victim by asking George to pay to clean the blazer that he spilled beer (of all things) on, which we all know should not be ingested while operating a moving vehicle.
2. Forcing compliance, extortion:  In both the first and second scenes that Biff’s character appears in, Biff is insinuated to force George to either do his reports for work (first scene, as middle-aged men in 1985) or to do his homework (second scene, as high school students in 1955).  At no point do we hear that George will be compensated with anything for completing these tasks or that this is a voluntary help George is giving.  Implicit is the underling threat that if they aren’t completed something bad will happen to George, occasioned by Biff violently knocking his knuckles on the top of George’s head, saying “Hello McFly!” and then grabbing him by his shirt and forcibly inquiring of George that he wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to him (Biff) by not completing the forced tasks, Biff reiterates the point when sensing hesitation from George, until George relents under the apparent threat and states his compliance with Biff.  At another point, Biff tells George that his “going into the diner” is going to cost him and asks him how much money he has on him; this, simply an unveiled attempt at extorting George.
3. Repeated insults:  Biff has a number of go-to insults, perhaps his favorite is “Butthead!”.  While inane, it is particularly effective on some, especially when repeated ad nauseam; he simultaneously diminishes the target with an insult that strikes at both their mental capacity and physical appearance.  The repetition and forceful conviction of its use add to the impact.  Beyond the simple name calling, Biff also insults by questioning the character of individuals.  His favorite is “What are you, Chicken?!?”  This question insinuates the target is fearful, or worse, has no conviction to their purported beliefs.  Of course, we only see Biff level this accusation at those he doesn’t find threatening, and while surrounded by his friends.
4. Restricting both movement and free association:  Multiple times Biff states “I thought I told you to never come in here!” (typically to George).  Biff also tells Marty to “Make like a tree, and get out of here!”.  Biff also reiterates to Lorraine through both word and action that “you’re mine”, inferring she is somehow his property and his alone.  (See below “Violence” for further restriction of movement)
5. Violence:  Biff uses various degrees of violence or the threat of violence, some of which have already been mentioned.  At a minimal level, he uses what he pretends to be playful teasing by saying “Look, shoe’s untied!” and then slapping his victim when they look.  As mentioned before, Biff escalates with “Hello McFly!” accompanied by knuckle-knocking on the head and forcefully grabbing clothing.  Biff also forcibly grabs Lorraine by the arm in the cafeteria, followed by pushing and then grabbing Marty (who he prepares to punch) before Principle Strickland breaks it up; later his violent episodes escalate to attempting to ram Marty (on a skateboard) into a truck.  This culminates in Biff’s assault on Lorraine at the dance, which has a drunken Biff forcing himself on Lorraine while physically restraining her in the car (at minimum, some level of sexual/physical assault is implied) prior to George coming to her rescue (while almost getting his arm broken by the violent Biff), Biff then shoves Lorraine to the ground when she attempts to intervene, ending in George knocking Biff unconscious with a surprise left hook.

While seemingly one-dimensional, Thomas F. Wilson sells the character so well, from memorable facial expressions to unforgettable voice intonations, Wilson embodies a twisted, conniving, physically imposing and menacing threat throughout the film.

Initially, he is comic-like in his school yard villainy, and yet his bullying becomes very dark and sinister as the movie progresses.

At it’s core, what makes this movie memorable and relatable has nothing to do with traveling through time, its all about the need to confront and stand up to bullies, and how doing so can sometimes be terrifying and difficult, but ultimately rewarding.  It’s about facing opposition head on, and overcoming.

That’s what turns a good move into a great one, there needs to be believable, significant, even ominous and evil opposition, and that’s why we should celebrate the writers of “Back to the Future” and Thomas F. Wilson for their transcendent portrayal of Biff Tannen, bully par excellence!