(ethical in the sense of being true to science)

I ask this because... i've read a lot of reviews where it's praised highly for an excellent depiction of time travel.

Where, to me it used kind of a Back to the Future sense of time travel in that when a traveler from the future goes into the past... Things that happen to his body in the new past timeline slightly affect himself or what is on his person. For example... Back to the Future... Marty constantly looks at his family photo as certain family members fade away. Or in Looper, Joe's friend Seth's(as an older man) fingers start to fade off his hand.. his nose disappears off his face and messages are being scarred onto his body.

None of this seams realistic at all to me for two reasons.

• First of all in both cases... even IF things which happened in one timeline still affected what happened in the new one. It wouldn't work like that. Random family members wouldn't fade out of the picture. The picture would more likely disappear entirely. The clothing the character was wearing would change. His hairstyle would change. TOO MUCH would change.. the character might entirely disappear for any number of reasons.

• Second, I just can't see time travel working this way. If you were sent back in time. You are sent back in time. And that's it. Nothing that you do in the new past timeline will affect the version of you in this new timeline.

I suppose that's the question. Is traveling into the past creating a new timeline? Or are you somehow still connected to the future you left? Somehow it seems natural to me that in escaping the future you are safe from any changes you make in your new past. I can't entirely explain why but somehow it just doesn't seem natural to me. Any other opinions on the matter?