The premise of time travel movies is a person being able to be present at a different time to their original timeline. So I guess you could say a Groundhog Day type of movie is a subgenre of the time travel genre.
Are movies where the time loops over and over considered time travel movies?
Submitted 5 months ago by lobut@lemmy.ca to [deleted]
Comments
pagenotfound@lemmy.world 5 months ago
lobut@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Okay, maybe sub-genre is the proper phrase I was thinking of. Thanks!
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 5 months ago
I think it depends on the method for the loop, and how time itself plays into the plot.
Like, I wouldn’t say Groundhog’s Day is a time travel story. But Deathloop (the game) is a time travel story.
nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 5 months ago
Here’s a list of films featuring time loops.
Mickey7@lemmy.world 5 months ago
excellent list. Not on the list but really enjoyed was a movie with Kurt Russel “Touchback”. But more time travel vs time loop
Steve@communick.news 5 months ago
I say no.
Time travel stories are about going to a different time.
Time loop stories are repeating the same time.
It’s really that simple.Time loops are anti-time travel really, as there’s no movement in time at all.
thermal_shock@lemmy.world 5 months ago
predestination is a mix then? it’s a loop, but selected time periods.
Steve@communick.news 5 months ago
Haven’t seen it, but sounds like it. Time travel can certainly be used to create loops.
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 5 months ago
What about stories about time travel that ultimately form a closed loop? There’s one that has people moving forwards and backwards through time, yet forms a closed loop at the end: >!Dark!<
Steve@communick.news 5 months ago
If they’re using time travel to create a causality loop, that’s different than a time loop.
Time loops usually reset causality, accept for those actually experiencing the loop iterations.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 5 months ago
A clue closed loop creates consistency.
Groundhog loops are different each loop
Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 5 months ago
I say yes. It’s one of my favorite genres (if you can call it one) and definitely includes loop-based plots like Groundhog Day and Primer. But I also enjoy the Terminator Series and Back to the Future and Army of Darkness. I imagine most fans are similar.
thermal_shock@lemmy.world 5 months ago
predestination
time crimes
triangle
caddo lake
add those to your list
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Looper
Donnie darko
Source code
Next
Bill and Ted
sircac@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Well, when the loop takes place there is a travel in time taking place… but not as in the standard time travel films.
I think is important to point out that in the Groundhog time loops the travel is only of the memories or the information, there is no energy-mass traveling (though information is a kind of energy, let me skip physics here), and the traveler at the beginning of the loop has not carried anything from the future but the memories of the previous loop, did not age or suffered physical modifications (there may be exceptions, sure).
So I think that is a kind of time travel, but a sub-genre where the travel is less material than in the typical time travels.
cajunflavoredbob@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Infinite Isekai
adespoton@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Here’s one: where do you put things like The Long Earth where it’s not time you step through per-se, but all the possible futures starting from the beginning of the universe?
I really want to see someone make that series into a movie.
lunarul@lemmy.world 5 months ago
That’s a parallel worlds story. There are many movies and shows about travel through parallel worlds. Sliders is the first that comes to mind.
clockwork_octopus@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Constellation
GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
I mean, time-travel stories typically involve traveling by way of some mechanism be it a spell, wormhole, tear in spacetime and etc. The end goal is usually traveling from one point to another with a purpose. Characters can travel back and forth. Everyone remembers each encounter.
Time-loops, like in Groundhog’s Day or Edge of Tomorrow, usually cause people to get “stuck.” Some plot device is then introduced to eventually “unstick” them. Only the people stuck in the loop are usually aware that anything is happening.
marcos@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Netflix categorizes them that way…
nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 5 months ago
Naked (2017)
Plot - Rob is caught in a time loop as he keeps waking up naked in a hotel elevator on the day of his wedding. This is a remake of the 2000 Swedish film Naken.
Not a great film, though.
actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
The question is whether a time loop is a form of time travel.
Are they actually going back in time? Or is time itself looping back on itself? These aren’t the same cause, though the effects can look the same
So I suppose, conventionally, it can be thought of as a subform of time travel. But from a technical perspective, it may or may not be
nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 5 months ago
Edge of Tomorrow.
Plot - Earth is invaded by aliens. Tom Cruise gets a power where if he dies, the day starts over. So, he keeps pushing forward in the warzone, and if he dies, he knows how he’ll get attacked and adapts to it.
the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
It’s essentially a single player shooter game from the perspective of the player character
db2@lemmy.world 5 months ago
It’s a pretty decent movie too.
stringere@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
My wife relented on her “no Tom Cruise movies” stance because he dies 200+ times in it.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Yes. Except for the last 1/4.
SolOrion@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
I’m confused, do you think this is a request for time loop movies?
nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 5 months ago
Yes?