What's the Connection?

Towards the beginning of the semester I started watching Heroes, arguably one of the greatest TV shows ever made.  Ever.  (According to me, but I think I’m a pretty credible source.)

Around the same time, I was reading Daytripper, a graphic novel by Gabriel Bà and Fàbio Moon.  Daytripper is about a man named Bràs, and his life.  Every chapter is a different version of his life where, at the end of the chapter, he dies.  Each chapter ends with his obituary, and new chapters begin with his life had he not died at the end of another chapter.  Trippy, right?

So, you’re probably thinking, why is she telling me this?  While I was watching Heroes one day, there was a scene where Hiro, a character who can time travel, goes back in time to change his past, and encounters a man, who is also from the future, whom he tells he can't change the past because of something called the Butterfly Effect. 

You can view the clip here

There's an infinite amount of changes happening right now

The Butterfly Effect is basically the theory that if one little thing changes in someone’s life, his or her whole life path could be dramatically altered.  Like, if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it could cause a tornado in Texas.

But how does that relate to Daytripper?

The Butterfly Effect is essentially what causes Bràs’ various deaths and rebirths.  If one little thing had happened differently in his life, he could have lived – which is shown in another chapter.  Whether the butterfly chooses to flap its wings or not will generate two alternate outcomes in the future, or in this case, could determine life or death.