The Butterfly Effect, and A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

1125 Words3 Pages

Many science fiction shows, films, and novels today have been influenced by science fiction novels from the past. A few examples are Frequency,The Butterfly Effect, and A Sound of Thunder relating to A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury. These films all express Bradbury’s idea of the butterfly effect and that time traveling can change the past, therefore changing the future. Although they share the same idea, they each have different outcomes.
A Sound of Thunder was written in 1952 by Ray Bradbury. It was set in the year of 2055 during a presidential election. In the story, Eckels and a group of rich men travel back in time to kill a dinosaur. However, after seeing the dinosaur, Eckels cowardly strays off of the important floating path. When the group returns to Time Safari Incorporated, they realize that Eckels has made the terrible mistake of stepping on a prehistoric butterfly. This tiny change to the past not only modifies their present language, but also causes the unwanted candidate, Duetscher, to win the election. (“A Sound of Thunder”, 2005.) This made Travis, the guide, angry because earlier on in the story he warned Eckels that by stepping on one mouse from the past it could possibly lead to the Unites States never even existing in this excerpt:
"All right," Travis continued, "say we accidentally kill one mouse here. That means all the future families of this one particular mouse are destroyed, right?"
"Right"
"And all the families of the families of the families of that one mouse! With a stamp of your foot, you annihilate first one, then a dozen, then a thousand, a million, a billion possible mice!"
"So they're dead," said Eckels. "So what?"
"So what?" Travis snorted quietly. "Well, what about the foxes that'll need tho...

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...ration, 11 Sept. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. .
Kehr, Dave. "Movie Review - The Butterfly Effect - FILM REVIEW; A Man With a Past Best Forgotten Goes to All Lengths to Remember - NYTimes.com." Movie Reviews, Showtimes and Trailers - Movies - New York Times - The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 23 Jan. 2004. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. .
O'Connel, David. "Frequency Film Review." Screen Fanatic. On Topic Media PTY LTD, 21 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.
Taylor, Andy. "Andy's Anachronisms -- A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury." Andy's Anachronisms -- Time Travel Reviews. A. Taylor, 18 Aug. 2005. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. .

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