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. The main reason for this is that Deathloop explicitly tells you that the loop is caused by a time machine device, where as Groundhog’s Day could be interpreted as Bill Murray having died and is now in Hell or Limbo.
The way you escape the loop in Deathloop is to get all the looping people to die and then destroy the machine. In Murray’s situation in Groundhog’s Day, the solution is to… Be a better person?
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.
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!<
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.
I’m not sure that it can be clearly delineated as a time loop or a causality loop, it’s honestly a mix of both - though you’d probably call it a causality loop, as each “instance of a person” only experiences the loop once.
predestination is a mix then? it’s a loop, but selected time periods.
what about time crimes?
Haven’t seen it, but sounds like it. Time travel can certainly be used to create loops.
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 others that don’t really loop that way. I suspect most fans are similar. It’s hard to imagine enjoying one premise but not the other.
Also: https://xkcd.com/657/
predestination
time crimes
triangle
caddo lake
add those to your list
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.
It’s essentially a single player shooter game from the perspective of the player character
It’s a pretty decent movie too.
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.
Okay, maybe sub-genre is the proper phrase I was thinking of. Thanks!
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I think we have to consider it different. In Back to the Future and Looper, one could travel to a past where another version of oneself exists. In Groundhog Day and edge of Tomorrow, the character travels back to become that version of his self again and again. The character can remember and learn, but isn’t cloning himself.
Here’s a list of films featuring time loops.
excellent list. Not on the list but really enjoyed was a movie with Kurt Russel “Touchback”. But more time travel vs time loop
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.
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.
Constellation
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 usually 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.
Netflix categorizes them that way…
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
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.
