mccarthyism — Floating World

I had the good fortune of watching TRON: Legacy this past weekend in IMAX 3D, which is probably the best way to watch any film that is otherwise being shown primarily in 3D (otherwise you can call yourself ripped off by what is otherwise a marketing gimmick). Just a year ago I saw some sneak peek clips and pictures of the film, and was blown away by the sheer design of the costumes and sets. At that point I hadn’t yet seen the original TRON (to date I have as of late) and knew little of the universe except that there were speed bikes (much in thanks to numerous Family Guy parodies); all I knew was that regardless of the story, TRON: Legacy would be astoundingly beautiful in its construct. And now, having seen the cult sequel in its IMAX 3D glory, I can say my original assessment is far from wrong.

What TRON: Legacy excels at in its technical and artistry it equallylacks in its screenwriting and cohesiveness. As Emanuel Levy commented about director Joseph Kosinski, who graduated from Columbia with a BA in architecture, he has an excellent sense of design but a poor instinct for story – all which makes TRON: Legacy easily one of the most beautiful and swindled movies in awhile.

The original TRON and its sociocultural significance

The original TRON and new TRON: Legacy posters side-by-side

When it first came out in 1982, the original TRON was breathtaking and momental because it effectively marked a emerging era of computer-generated special effects in cinema (ironically, it was no nominated for that year’s Academy Award for Special Effects because accordingly, the academy members felt it used too much computer effects). TRON became a cult classic because effectively, it really was the modern sci-fi movie was we know it today, and one that focused on an emerging computer science for the matter. At the time, TRON truly was a movie of the future, grounded in RAM and coding and programming and all.

TRON’s story wasn’t entirely spectacular, but it was nonetheless cohesive in distinguishing what represented what (programs, deletions, commands, etc) and how these bits of binary language corresponded and interacted with the physical world. The master command program (MCP) was prime administrative program of ENCOM, CLU was Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges) hacking program, and TRON was the security program of Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner). It was all very straightforward, and for the computer savvy a rather remarkable way to visually represent what goes on inside the circuitry of electrical engineering.

At its very core TRON heavily echoed of the McCarthyism sentiment pervasive in the American public during the Cold War. Visually, the authoritative, antagonistic program personas were highlighted in red to contrast against the non-authoritative, subservient programs. Rhetorically, the movie is as heavily anti-Communist regime as it can get: the sole antagonist, MCP, rules tyrannically in the virtual world of computer programs, destroying any of those below him who refuse to follow his direct orders. The recurring rhetoric of “master command program,” “the MCP” throughout the film becomes so heavily ingrained that its hard not to draw parallels to Soviet Russia’s “Big Brother” regime.

This very McCarthyistic sentiment is what helps tie together an otherwise conventional story in the original TRON, which is quite a feat considering the astounding special effects easily took away from the character development of the human characters. Still, considering the budgetary issues and technology at the time, I’d say TRON was truly a remarkable film of its time.

The stand alone sequel

Image from the original test footage of TRON: Legacy

With the success of the test footage shown at the 2008 Comic-Con, TRON: Legacy was greenlit by Disney for a full-feature production, heralded by commercial director Joseph Kosinski (his short feature for the make-believe product, iSpec, helped get him the spot as a excellent visual director). The new film would feature TRON veterans Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner as Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley, respectively, as well as new faces like Garett Hedlund as Flynn’s son Sam and Olivia Wilde as Quorra, a brave warrior program (much to the chagrin of many fans, the only veteran protagonist of the original TRON who did not make an appearance was Cindy Morgan, who played Dr. Lora Baines, whose program counterpart is YORI). You could easily get away with watching TRON: Legacy without having seen its predecessor TRON beforehand – just don’t complain if you end up not knowing what exactly the programs TRON and CLU really are by the end of the stand alone sequel.

TRON: Legacy began as an experiment to see if audiences would react warmly to a revamp of a classic 1980s cult movie icon, a tone which effectively set the mood for the rest of the film’s production. Many of the original pieces from the predecessor are present (light bikes, disc games, program removers, solar train, the physical-to-virtual-zapper-thing), but there have been a significant number of additions to the virtual world since its debut twenty-eight years ago: now there are light cars, light planes and jets, skyscrapers, music programs (Daft Punk makes a nice cameo), and an undeniably cruel follow-up antagonist, CLU 2.0.

The sequel film’s story revolves around Sam’s accidental appearance into the virtual world constructed by his father, primarily called “the grid,” and his attempts to get his father Kevin back to the physical world while fending off the sadistic reincarnation of Kevin’s program counterpart CLU. If you think I’ve spoiled everything well, I have news for you: I really haven’t, because the story isn’t what TRON: Legacy is holding on to for its core cohesiveness – it’s effectively a beautiful designer movie, with a bolts-and-locks story to tie together scenes into something theatrically presentable. You could say it suffers the same problem the film 9 or, for anime-savvy fans, Final Fantasy: Advent Children were riddled with throughout; luckily for Kosinski, though, is that his actors – particularly Bridges, Hedlund and Wilde – do their best with the script, and manage keep us tuned in while they’re at it.

There’s no denying that besides the visual and designing excellence of the TRON: Legacy universe, the soundtrack by Daft Punk (internationally known for their hit single “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”) is probably one of the best aspects of the entire film. With a strong electric aesthetic alongside the orchestral virtuosity of the London Symphony Orchestra, the TRON: Legacy soundtrack is a sure contestant for Grammy awards and very possibly Oscar nominations for Best Soundtrack. So strong is the auditory presence of Daft Punk that in some cases, the scenes on screen are effectively a music video complement of the electronic duo’s mastery (not that this is a bad thing either). In my mind, Daft Punk has effectively rivaled – if not overshadowed – Hans Zimmers heavily electronic work for Inception, which is quite remarkable since to date, I think Inception is one of Zimmers’ best works to date.

A potential squandered

An aged Kevin Flynn, reprised by Jeff Bridges

The most disappointing thing about TRON: Legacy is that it fell short of a potentially excellent story. While I have the fortune of being familiar with the original TRON, by the way Disney advertised for TRON: Legacy it seems that the company was aiming for a wider audience, one that wasn’t necessarily familiar with the films predecessor (I wouldn’t be surprised either if many audience members were unaware that TRON: Legacy was a sequel to begin with). Now, while this familiarity (or lack thereof) the original 1982 film won’t necessarily help your understanding of the newer reincarnation, being familiar with TRON does help you appreciate how much the newer film has accomplished technically.

That aside, the story of TRON: Legacy could have easily been one of the most interesting narratives for consideration had Kosinski and his production team done a better job at writing and piecing together all the scenes into one cohesive. For one thing, there’s a certain point where virtual entities no longer become clearly defined by their physical world counterpart like in the original TRON. For instance, what exactly does a club mixer and its host Zuse represent? Moreover if the isomorphs that Kevin Flynn so adamantly describes as the answer to all of man’s issues with religion, science, medicine – well to begin with what exactly are the purported isomorph’s real-life counterpart? (My guess would be somewhere along the lines of totipotent/stem cells, but that’s for another debate). What helped keep the first TRON together was that there were very set entities inside the virtual world, all of which were very well defined by their purpose and their actions and commands which could drawn to a physical world counterpart (control, alt, delete – repeat!) In TRON: Legacy, these distinctions and purposes are less well-defined, and effectively every thing you see is, well, a virtual reality that somehow represents the computer world – how it does I won’t endeavor for fear of a self-induced headache of a electronic existential conundrum. And even if for those familiar with the original TRON, it became confusing as to what the hacking program CLU and security system TRON had morphed (or not?) into this newer computer universe – what exactly was going on, virtual and real-world wise?

Ultimately, this lacking distinction and definition of the TRON: Legacy universe is what contributes to its vision over cohesion end product. Moreover the rather overdrawn mono–/dialogue scenes do little service to any character development (save the acting caliber of the cast members) and renders pretty much all the pro– and antagonists on screen into cliches, caricatures even. CLU (played by Jeff Bridges, whose younger appearance is achieved with CGI magic) is a cruel villain, but beyond that there is little else that defines him save ultimatums (“I’m going to build the perfect world!”); Kevin Flynn (also played by Bridges) is remorseful, thoughtful and talented, but besides the occasional bright spots of the beloved Bridges (“you’re messing up my zen, man!”) there seems to be a lost spark of energy that Bridges can so easily play; Wilde is, like Roger Ebert says, a beguiling Quorra, though it is unfortunate that the screenwriter Alan Sorkin allows her little else than wide-eyed curiosity and warrior ferocity; and Hedlund plays an appropriate Sam Flynn, though what else he could add to an otherwise rebellious-individual-covering-up-childhood-pain typecast in the spread-thin story is beyond me. What we end up is a beautiful film with a story too weak to uphold its visual grandeur – an unfortunate effect for what is otherwise one of the most anticipated science fiction films to date.

Comparing and contrasting the themes of TRON and TRON: Legacy

CLU and his henchmen

As I stated earlier the original TRON was defined heavily by its McCarthyistic sentiments prevalent during the time of its production. When I first heard about TRON: Legacy I wondered what would thematically tie it together, whether or not the writers would opt for the now archer anti-Soviet sentiment or indulge in typical action-over-substance mentality endemic to Hollywood these days. Instead, I was most surprised by the Greek mythology-inspired thematic that despite being poorly fleshed out, was a core component of the new TRON: Legacy (warning: spoilers begin here – skip forward to ‘end of spoilers’ if you haven’t seen the sequel):

Throughout TRON: Legacy, there are repeated references to the mythical presence of 'users’ (effective us humans who type away at our keyboards) in the virtual world of the Grid, a presence which is embodied by both Kevin and Sam Flynn when they both get stuck in computerized universe. CLU, who is derived from Kevin, serves as authoritarian ruler of the Grid after forcing Kevin to flee from the main cityscape of the Grid. With this in mind, we can equate 'users’ like Kevin and Sam Flynn to be like flawed Greek gods and CLU to be analogous to a Greek demigod; everyone else in the grid is effectively a mortal that the user Gods and the demigod CLU have authority over (to varying degrees, of course). Like the Wachowski’s Brothers Matrix trilogy, the TRON franchise emphasizes heavily the authoritarian nature of a centralized artificial intelligence and celebrates the human-centric resilience against something that is otherwise immortal, efficient, and inorganic. In lieu of Flynn’s comments at the climax, the driving philosophy of the TRON universe is that in the end, imperfection is the ultimate perfection because “true” perfection is unattainable. This is the definitive philosophical (and perhaps ethical) difference between the virtual gods (users) and the virtual demigod CLU.

CLU, feeling betrayed by Kevin Flynn after the ENCOM visionary decided to take in the isomorphs (which I still don’t’ really understand), tries to turn the world of the Grid against the virtual gods, the users if you will, and simultaneously tries to become a user by taking Flynn’s info disc and attempting to get to the virtual-to-physical portal. As a virtual demigod, CLU simultaneously despises and desires something of the virtual gods (the users) – all stemming from the fact that CLU was born from Kevin Flynn, and feels that Flynn is an imperfect component to his core objective of creating a perfect system – a virtual utopia, per se.

The ever beguiling Olivia Wilde, who portrays the brave and inquisitive Quorra

Quorra, on the other hand, dedicates her purpose to helping the users, effectively asserting her loyalty to what is otherwise a 'greater’ entity in the virtual world – the users, or the true gods of the Grid. In fact, at one point Quorra tells CLU that he does not belong with the users, for she has seen and understands full well that the world of the universe is beyond what CLU can even fathom. Her drive is not one of greed or ambition, but of curiosity and a desire to understand things outside her field of knowledge – she is, effectively, a virtuous, virtual mortal who is granted the gift of becoming a virtual god (a user) at the very end. The program TRON, too, utters the famous line “I serve the users” at the very end, thereby cementing the sort of higher being significance of user inside a virtual world. In short, there’s a rather distinct hierarchy of users (virtual gods), AI/master programs like CLU and TRON (virtual demigods) and branching programs/functions (virtual mortals) that is prevalent in the TRON: Legacy universe – all of which is unfortunately not fleshed out due to a severely lacking screenplay. Moreover, by ending the movie with Quorra now a real-life human after originating from the virtual Grid – well, that begs to question how exactly Kevin Flynn linked the physical and virtual world together, and what exactly Quorra’s presence in the physical world means for, well humanity – questions that are effectively left as open-ended and frustrating as those unresolved by The Matrix Revolutions (I also have issues with what happened to TRON in the same vein, but less so than the ending scenes with Quorra).

There is, however, an interesting contract between the first and second films of the TRON universe. The first film was defined heavily by its anti-communism, anti-authoritarian sentiment that, by extension, was largely a sentiment of a pro-capitalist and anti-socialist American public. In the second film, Sam Flynn annually hacks into the Encom company; this time, he distributes the company’s OS (Encom OS 12, previously known as Flynn OS) for free on the internet, his core beliefs (like his father’s and of Alan Bradley’s) being that software should be available to students and users alike. Perhaps it is a result of the democratizing force of the internet, but Sam’s actions are, at their core, inherently socialist: by freely distributing Encom OS 12 onto the net Sam effectively goes against the capitalist free market – a rather direct and indirect contrast to the attitude of the first TRON, where Kevin Flynn was trying to prove a copyright violation in order to get his share of the commercial success of his programming.

(end of spoilers)

Boiling it all down

TRON: Legacy is a beautiful film, plain and simple. The unfortunate thing, however, is that its story is simply too weak to adequately support the astounding visuals that flash across the screen.

Would I see it again? There’s a good chance yes; like Avatar, sometimes I can’t get enough of a film that aesthetically astounds me (and if there’s a second time, I’ll try and see it in traditional 2D to see how much brighter the colors are).

There are serious cutting and editing flaws that result in an oddly paced film (I wish there were more light bike scenes and that the film editor had a better sense to cut out the dialogue that felt too stiff pace-wise), and for those unfamiliar with computer science basics or even the predecessor film TRON: Legacy can be a maddening and annoying experience to endure.

The film is, nonetheless, breathtaking in its own right. I enjoyed it for what it did right, and guessed correctly where it would falter otherwise. For those who adhere strictly to Alfred Hitchcock’s film philosophy of “story, story, story,” stay away from Kosinski’s directorial debut; for those who enjoy a visual fest, love Daft Punk, like good science fiction or just something beautiful to see, by all means TRON: Legacy is a excellent candidate. Just don’t get me started on how it received PG rating despite the virtual violence, virtual drinking, virtual sex symbols and virtual deaths that occur throughout the entire film – all because there wasn’t any real blood, because it was all virtual.