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Time loop

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This article is about the fictional plot device. For the philosophical and physical concept, see Causal loop.

A time loop or temporal loop in fiction is a plot device whereby characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition.[1] The term "time loop" is sometimes used to refer to a causal loop;[1][2] however, causal loops are unchanging and self-originating, whereas time loops are constantly resetting: when a certain condition is met, such as a death of a character or a clock reaches a certain time, the loop starts again, with one or more characters retaining the memories from the previous loop.[3]

History

An early example of a time loop is used in the short story "Doubled and Redoubled" by Malcolm Jameson that appeared in the February 1941 Unknown. The story tells of a person accidentally cursed to repeat a "perfect" day, including a lucky bet, a promotion, a heroically foiled bank robbery, and a successful wedding proposal. Other early examples include the 1973 short story 12:01 PM and its 1990 film,[4] the Soviet film Mirror for a Hero (1988),[5] and the Hollywood film Groundhog Day (1993).[4] The use of the time loop plot device in Japanese fiction dates back to Yasutaka Tsutsui's science fiction novel, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (1965), which spawned many adaptations.[6]

Time loop as a puzzle

Stories with time loops commonly center on the character learning from each successive loop.[1] Jeremy Douglass, Janet Murray, Noah Falstein and others compare time loops with video games and other interactive media, where a character in a loop learns about their environment more and more with each passing loop, and the loop ends with complete mastery of the character's environment.[7] Shaila Garcia-Catalán et al. provide a similar analysis, saying that the usual way for the protagonist out of a time loop is acquiring knowledge, using retained memories to progress and eventually exit the loop. The time loop is then a problem-solving process, and the narrative becomes akin to an interactive puzzle.[8] The loop mechanic is explicitly referenced in some video games. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Minit, The Sexy Brutale, Outer Wilds, and 12 Minutes are designed to require several iterations though a loop before successfully completing the game.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Langford, David (June 13, 2017). "Themes: Time Loop". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Nicholls, Peter; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. London: Gollancz. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  2. ^ Klosterman, Chuck (2009). Eating the Dinosaur (1st ed.). New York: Scribner. p. 60. ISBN 9781439168486. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  3. ^ García-Catalán, Shaila; Navarro-Remesal, Victor (2015). "Try Again: The Time Loop as a Problem-Solving Process in Save the Date and Source Code". In Matthew Jones; Joan Ormrod (eds.). Time Travel in Popular Media: Essays on Film, Television, Literature and Video Games. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 207. ISBN 9781476620084. OCLC 908600039.
  4. ^ a b Stockwell, Peter (2000). The Poetics of Science Fiction (1st ed.). Harlow, England: Longman. pp. 131–133. ISBN 9780582369931.
  5. ^ Keller, Bill; Times, Special to the New York (23 April 1988). "A Movie Tribute for Stalin Generation". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  6. ^ Heinze, Ulrich (June 2012). "Time travel topoi in Japanese manga". Japan Forum. 24 (2): 163–184. doi:10.1080/09555803.2012.671844. Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1967 novel Toki o kakeru shōjo (The girl who leapt through time) represents the first fully formed version of time travel as exploration of self, using a radically different design for the time travel narrative, avoiding expedition to remote galaxies or eras and limiting the time jumps to the period of adolescence
  7. ^ Douglass, Jeremy (2007). Command Lines: Aesthetics and Technique in Interactive Fiction and New Media. Santa Barbara, Cal.: University of California, Santa Barbara. pp. 333–335, 358. ISBN 978-0549363354. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  8. ^ García-Catalán, Shaila; Navarro-Remesal, Victor (2015). "Try Again: The Time Loop as a Problem-Solving Process in Save the Date and Source Code". In Matthew Jones; Joan Ormrod (eds.). Time Travel in Popular Media: Essays on Film, Television, Literature and Video Games. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 206–209. ISBN 9781476620084. OCLC 908600039.
  9. ^ Batchelor, James (July 31, 2019). "Learn, reset, repeat: The intricacy of time loop games". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
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