Doc, Marty and the Age Gap
*Preface: Iâm tagging this mammet but it has more to do with the non-romantic angle of their relationship*
So hereâs part of what kills me about the BttF comics. Doc is Martyâs best friend. Everyone around Marty knows this but still act like Marty should move on in some way because Doc is living âhis own lifeâ with his kids and Clara and that their relationship âneedsâ to change to accomodate this fact.
But what they donât understand is that despite their age difference, Doc never once spoke down to Marty or treated him like a child. He couldnât really afford to isolate the one person who stumbled into his life and became the most solid foundation heâd ever had, period. So between them, there is no intellectual or emotional age gap. They are equals, and canon supports this by showing them grow together not apart. Even the introduction of Clara doesnât really change things once Marty gets used to the idea of Doc being in love. After all, Martyâs a sucker for love. He loves his family and when the chance pops up to make his parentâs lives better, he takes it. When he realizes that Doc really is in love, his first instinct is to say to hell with the fabric of spacetime, letâs take Clara with us. He only argues against the idea when Doc also seems against it.
Point being, everyone around Marty is telling him that thereâs no way he and Doc can possibly continue to have the type of relationship they had before because what they had was an anathema. Society as a whole is programed (not entirely unjustly) to see any kind of relationship with that big an age gap as a power imbalance; that Marty isnât mature enough to really âunderstandâ what his relationship with Doc is or means.
What they fail to realize is that⊠well the same should apply for Doc. Emmett is rather immature, for all the wisdom he spouts about being your own person in spite of literally anything else. Anyone remotely familiar with developmental psychology can pinpoint an extremely juvenille sense of iconoclasm in how desperately Doc clings to that ideal. Itâs one of the more understated reasons he intially rejects the idea of a relationship with Clara in the first place. Being in a romantic relationship, as far as convential society tells us, required ceeding part of yourself to another person, and thatâs an idea he canât really wrap his head around until he realizes heâs already done it with Marty.
Physical age is no indication of mental maturity and while Doc is wise in some ways, itâs a very singular wisdom, that when distilled, has a pretty shitty aftertaste. The Telltale game really highlights that when seventeen year old Emmett tells Marty that science and law have nothing to do with each other, that while equally important they are at their heart inconsequential to the otherâs existence. Young (and old) Emmett as of the first movie have really hella sketchy ethics, and thatâs not the hallmark of someone with a mature mindset.
Marty teaches Doc when ethics are important and when they can go hang. And in return, Doc helps Marty unlearn a lot of really horrendously toxic shit. Thatâs a relationship of intellectual and emotional equals. Itâs a relationship that finally hits itâs best stride when Doc meets Clara and falls in love and thatâs the exact moment everyone in Martyâs life says âwell, thatâs it kid, time to move on.â
What everyone around Marty completely fails to understand (though Jennifer is trying her best, bless her heart) is that thereâs really no reason Martyâs relationship with Doc has to change. Itâs just that society and convention dictate that certain ages and life milestones dictate certain types of relationships. And none of those types of relationships fit where Marty and Doc are with each otherâ which isnât neccesarily a bad thing.
