HON 255: TRON Legacy Final Project

Olivia, Naomi, and myself decided to do our final project on TRON: Legacy, an action, adventure, sci-fi movie released in 2010. It features Oliva Wilde, Jeff bridges, Garrett Henlund etc. It portrays the story a young man named Sam, whose father (Kevin Flynn) was a famous video game designer and creator of a a massive cyber world referred to as "The Grid" and went missing 20 years prior. Throughout the movie Sam discovers and enters his fathers cyber world and goes on a quest to find his father in an advanced high-tech virtual reality world. 

I enjoyed this movie. It was very much so a gotta-get-home adventure film. It reminded me of the movie we watched Ready Player One, in terms of the technologically advanced virtual reality world that the players enter. Although I've never seen the original 1982 TRON movie, I know when that movie was released it was almost revolutionary, there wasn't many movies like it that incorporated a digital world with so many special effects etc. I liked how TRON: Legacy was consumed was action-oriented and state-of-the-art technology. I enjoyed the colorful visuals and the animation that looked so realistic, but I do think that it wasn't any better than movies of similar genre that we've seen in the past few decades. However, I admired the aspect of incorporating the same actor in the sequel that was in the original. The sequel was made 28 years after the first movie, but it was true to the original which I think is something that can be appreciated by viewers who have seen both films. 

For our project, we decided to take a futuristic approach to our poster board. We incorporated the core aspects from the movie including the motor bikes and the virtual world that was seen throughout the film. Virtual reality and cyber worlds have the potential to make for an even more advanced and futuristic society than we see in the real world today. TRON: Legacy incorporates ISOs, which in the film are closer to humans than to programs, ISOs bring to light the true potential and power cyber worlds and digital characters can have. With the creation of massive multi-player online digital worlds and social networking services seen in the real world today, it may only be a matter of time before digital actors and virtual worlds used as an escape from reality become to powerful and in turn are effectively dangerous to society. 

Abstract:

Tron: Legacy, a Sci-Fi film released in 2010, portrays the story of Sam, the son of the infamous video game designer Kevin Flynn, who has spent his entire life consumed with the disappearance of his father. A strange calling (message from an old pager)  leads Sam to his father’s old arcade where he uncovers the cyberworld his father created. Sam is pulled into “The Grid” through TRON, where his father has been trapped for the past 20 years. Alongside Quorra, the last known IOS alive, Flynn and Sam work together to escape a universe far more advanced and dangerous than ever imaginable. 

Cyberworlds are informational spaces in social online settings that immensely change the way people communicate and access information globally. Tron: Legacy dives further into the exploration of the features of cyberspace serving its purpose as a repository for what is considered the “mythical unconscious” and its effect on sparking the imagination while experiencing a boundless universe (Efthimiou iv). This boundless “world behind a world” (2) is an experience where “fantasy is reality will establish the imagination as a vehicle for the creation of all life – both biological and artificial and the Tron Digital World, as with cyberspace at large, a space of ‘infinite possibilities’ and a reflection of the quest for the redefinition of humanity itself” (Efthimiou 2).

 This can also be said about aspects of the father-son relationship between Flynn and Sam and the TRON universe which also create a personal reevaluation of how important relationships and the individual human are in humanity can be especially in an ever evolving and advancing society. The cyberspace portrayed throughout the film can be viewed as a digitally regenerated version of a much more advanced technological universe than that of the one humans live in today.

Dreaming the posthuman in cyberspace: war of the worlds and the return of the un/real in Tron: Legacy:

Within the chosen text, Olivia Efhimiou establishes the ways in which the digital narrative portrayed within Tron: Legacy, displays the ways society could change through the exploration of cyber space. She states that, “both film and cyberspace open us up to worlds past, present and future, internal and external, imbuing us with their magic as well as their terror; danger becomes integral to the establishment of digital space as ‘sublime dreaming space’, as we witness the breakdown of dualities and the unearthing of a pervasive schizophrenia” (Efthimiou 4). This connection and analysis of the human world and its relation to technology allows readers to gain a better understanding of how Tron: Legacy’s main themes display the ways in which the human body is reimagined within an undiscovered digital age. 

One can specifically identify this idea within the film, through Kevin Flynn’s pursuit to create “a Digital Frontier to reshape the human condition”( Efthimiou 1). Within the “real world” within the film, Tron appears to be an outdated videogame without any real substance and impact on humans and their society (Efthimiou 3). When Sam discovers that is father’s creation of Tron actually was a cyberworld where is father has been located for the last 20 years, viewers can establish the real impact this has on Sam and his connection to the virtual world. By making a fantasy/imaginary world into a feasible creation , Kevin Flynn  enables the idea of “the embedding of the fantastic in the everyday” (Efthimiou 67).

While looking at today’s  advances in genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and cybernetics, Tron: Legacy’s advancements work to “herald the advent of a new mindset that embraces an integrated complexity, in stark contrast to the modern concept of individuality and the disconnectedness it fosters” (Efthimiou 67).

Connection to other films and Presentation:

Within Professor Echeverry’s course, the various sci-fi films allowed our class to gain a better scope of what encompasses this genre and how it impacts our day to day lives. Specifically, when analyzing Tron: Legacy and the music, imagery, effects, etc., I found that it connected to various aspects of the other films we watched. 

Through the 1999 film, The Matrix, viewers can connect Tron: Legacy’s overall them of another world “unknown to man” and the color connection of the red pill and blue pill to the two colors focused on within the Grid. While the pills’ representations differ from the meaning of the colors on the Grid. One can find that the two colors often appear together within an array of sci-fi films and works.

Additionally, the second film one can identify in relation to Tron: Legacy is Ready Player One. While the Oasis and Tron are both videogames, they do differ within the space they create for the humans and programs of the two individual worlds. Furthermore, One can identify that while the Oasis was more a form of virtual reality, Tron started as a videogame and eventually developed into it’s own cyberworld outside that of which was known by humanity. 

At Age 50:

Emma: Cyberworlds have the potential to be critical to our future, but also effectively dangerous. Cyberworlds have a significant impact on our lives and the daily development of the global economy. This is already being seen through social network services, shared 3 dimensional communities and massive multiplayer online role-playing games. Similar to virtual reality, cyberworlds have started to virtualize our society. The use of VR technology has allowed people to work from wherever they want free of geographical ties and has started to allow for a borderless world. Personally, I am studying to become an elementary school teacher and plan on also becoming a certified special education teacher. Creating virtual worlds for my future students with developmental disabilities can allow them to practice skills they will use in the real world in a safe and controlled environment. VR has been shown to help increase motivation in the classroom for students, as well as making the lessons more enjoyable and improving communication skills for students who potentially have a harder time communicating how they feel. VR can assist students in overcoming physical limitations, it provides more personalized learning, eliminates distraction in the classroom, and overall is a resource that can support my students. It is something I hope and plan to incorporate in the curriculum I teach. 

Naomi: Virtual reality has and will continue to advance in our future. Marketing relies on the advancements of the immersive media. Immersive media allows a bigger audience for events such as concerts, speeches, and even business meetings. Virtual reality can allow people to view things without actually being present at the time and place. People can attend conferences in the comfort of their own homes. This can give marketing a whole new perspective by allowing us to pitch ideas to a larger crowd, and even help us reach our target audiences. Without so much travel the whole business field can be more successful and advanced. Time is money, and without time waisted the economy and businesses will continue to grow. 

 

 

Olivia: As the world continues to rely more and more on technology and the ways in which it can better our lives, I believe that when I reach 50 years old, I will be a part of a whole new digital age that allows individuals to access cyberworlds and the advancements they bring to our society. Due to my continued pursuit of Advertising and Public Relations, I believe that my career path would be vastly different through the inclusion of new technology to display advertisements and representations within the media. Some possibilities could include holograms, cyberworld programs, a larger broadcast application, etc. Even without these advancements I feel that the current advancements of virtual reality and the internet allow individuals to communicate and access information faster than ever before. While it is my hope that this remains a positive thing, my only concern lies in the idea seen within Tron: Legacy, that where good lies evil follows. 

Conclusion:

To conclude, when examining both Tron: Legacy and it’s supporting text, one can establish the ways in which it connects and points to the technological advancements of humanity within the modern world. Through the analysis of this exploration one can identify the ways in which it could potentially impact their own hobbies and passions. Will our society advance towards the Grid? If we are able to access a cyber world, is this a good thing?