More than 40 years after its debut, TRON is still gorgeous and more timely than ever
Walt Disney’s TRON and Ridley Scott’s original Blade Runner film both debuted in 1982. TRON is a movie aimed at adolescents, trading on the first wave of the arcade video games craze of the 1980s. Blade Runner is a neo-noir procedural about a former police officer hunting rogue androids, based on a 1968 Philip K. Dick novel. At first blush the films have little in common, but together they represent some of the earliest expressions of cyberpunk, hitting the theaters two years before William Gibson’s Neuromancer novel helped to cement the “lowlife/high tech” aesthetics of the genre. There’s not a mention of TRON in the Wikipedia entry detailing the history of cyberpunk. But the movie includes numerous elements that later become the bedrock of the genre: a realistic, high tech future; corrupt mega-corporations; human-computer interfacing; personified machines, and threatening AIs.
Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) operates a video game arcade, but he’s also a talented computer engineer who was once part of a renowned software company, ENCOM. Flynn was double-crossed by his colleague, Ed Dillinger (David Warner) who got Flynn terminated while also taking credit for the video games Flynn created. Flynn attempts to find evidence of Dillinger’s duplicity by hacking into ENCOM’s mainframe before he’s transported into the digital realm. Inside the Grid, Flynn meets personified software programs living under the oppressive rule of the Master Control Program (MCP) — a power-mad AI developed by Dillinger. Flynn, Tron (a security program) and Yori (a digital simulations program) embark on a mission to overthrow the MCP and restore freedom to the Grid.
TRON director, Steve Lisberger was a traditional animator who was inspired to create the persona of an “electronic warrior” when he watched a sample reel from a computer firm called MAGI, and saw their Pong video game for the very first time. Lisberger intuitively understood how video game animation might be used in film, and TRON developed, in fits and starts, from short experiments with traditional animation to a feature length script combining live action sequences along with backlit cel animation and some of the earliest uses of CGI in film. French comic book artist Moebius designed the sets and costumes for the film. Industrial designer Syd Mead created most of the vehicles — including the iconic light cycles — and commercial artist Peter Lloyd created the environment of TRON’s digital world. The movie’s groundbreaking visuals are brought to life by Wendy Carlos’s electronic music score which will sound familiar to fans who’ve heard Carlos’s compositions in Stanley Kubrick films like A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. TRON ultimately required the work of nearly 600 technicians to complete post production.
Nashvillians who like art galleries as much as movie theaters might remember Watch Me Move: The Animation Show at the Frist Art Museum, way back in 2014. That broad and deep exploration of the history of animated imagery included a room that was dedicated to a video installation celebrating the groundbreaking visuals of TRON. Not every film can be boiled-down into a stand-alone installation, and TRON’s iconic style and visionary storytelling have only gained gravitas as its man-and-machine themes seem less fantastical with each Zoom meet-up, each ChatGPT prompt. I don’t expect to be wandering around inside my laptop anytime soon, but as the boundaries between the real and the digital continue to blur and dissolve, TRON reminds us that our machines are only as good — or as bad — as ourselves.
TRON is the Midnight Movie at the Belcourt Theatre on Friday, June 23. Go to www.belcourt.org for tickets.
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.