Tron’s director, Steven Lisberger, is known for his science fiction films. Though he is not the most prolific director (IMDB lists only five films (1), four of his five films are science fiction. Tron especially fits the mold of a science fiction film. Though the setting is in the present time (the 1980s, when the film was released) rather than the future, the film takes place primarily in another dimension. The story presents the classic battle between good and evil in a new and bizarre setting: the inner workings of a massive computer. One can be sure Tron is science fiction because it is a fantasy about technology, and fits neatly into Isaac Asimov's definition of science fiction as "a branch of literature that deals with human responses to changes in the level of science and technology.(2)" Certainly the main conflict in Tron's storyline about a man (Flynn) being sucked into a computer so that the computer may teach him a lesson in humility and then destroy him, could be interpreted as a commentary on the quickly developing personal computer technologies that most consumers did not fully understand.
Tron's narrative balances neatly between both the "marvelous and the uncanny. (3)" Inside the computer, the character Flynn uses his mind as a human user, rather than a digitized program, to make seemingly magical things happen. He is able to regenterate broken objects and save himself from deletion. This is certainly uncanny. An example of the marvelous in the film is the entity of the Master Control Program controlling not only the computer, but the people outside of it as well.
It is difficult to discern what most influenced the director in the creation of this film. Perhaps it was the new developments in personal computer technology and video/computer games. Maybe it was simply the perfect opportunity to experiment with the new CGI technology. It has even been suggested that it was psychedelic, and influenced by the hallucinogenic drugs the director might have experimented with in his youth. Historically speaking, all of these three influences make sense.
The first personal computer, the MITS Altair 8800, was put on the market in 1975 (4). By 1980, a competitive market for personal computers had developed. Microsoft and Apple split the market 50/50, and the race to create more powerful, smaller, and affordable computers was on (5). The ongoing battle in the film between the user and computer can be interpreted as worst-case scenario on the fast growing computer technology. A particularly telling scene in the film is when the Master Control Program threatens to blackmail its own creator unless Dillinger allows it to pursue its own will.
Video games too were becoming hugely popular in the early 1980s. Pac-man was introduced in 1980, followed by Donkey Kong, Centipede, and Tempest in 1981 (6). Tron capitalized on these arcade games. In this screen capture, our hero, Flynn, plays a computer game against another program.
Though this scene appears almost like a comic book with its bright neon lights, the scene is actually presenting a fight to the death.
The film graphics in Tron were revolutionary for the times. Tron was the first film to combine CGI and live action (7). It has famously been noted that some Disney animators refused to work on this movie because of fears that computers would put them out of business (8). Nevertheless, funding for the film continued, and Disney released the film as a major motion picture. Lisberger explains that “the film was so revolutionary, that the Motion Picture Academy refused to nominate Tron for special effects because they said we 'cheated' when we used computers which, in the light of what happened since, is just mind-boggling.(9)” In the figure below, see the neon lines decorating the characters.
These lines, along with the background, were added onto black and white filmed live action shots (10).
John Lilly, the famed “psychonaut” who experimented with LSD and Ketamine in isolation tanks, is quoted calling Tron “the most spiritual movie ever made.(11)” Flynn’s entrance into the computer is very reminiscent of the color organs or visualizers popular during the time.
Perhaps some of the visuals are influenced by drug use – director Steven Lisberger has admitted to experimenting with hallucinogenics: when asked “did you come out of the drug culture?” Lisberger answered, “I came out of the 60s, and I had experiences, shall we say. I turned on and tuned in. (12)” Other science fiction films of the early 1980s were surely influenced by drug culture. Certainly Altered States (Ken Russell, 25 December 1980, USA) and Scanners (David Cronenberg, 14 January 1981, Canada) dealt with the mind and body altering effects of drugs.
The 1980s can be defined by new personal computer and video game technology, developments in animation and CGI in popular movies, and the drug culture of the decade. Tron incorporates all of these factors to be first-rate and engaging science fiction film.
Notes:
(1) IMDB, Steven Lisberger. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0513974/
(2) Christine Cornea, Science Fiction Cinema (New York: Rutgers University Press, 2007), 2.
(3) Telotte, "Introduction: The World of Science Fiction Film," 11.
(4) Robert X. Cringley, “A History of the Computer – Micro,” Triumph of the Nerds, 1996. http://www.pbs.org/nerds/
(5) Ibid.
(6) Petri Kuittinen, “History of Arcade Games,” 1997. http://users.tkk.fi/eye/videogames/arcade.html
(7) Dominic Von Riedemann, “Benchmarks in CGI History,” 2007. http://animatedfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/20_benchmarks_in_cgi_part_1
(8) IMDB. Tron. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/
(9) Riedemann.
(10) IMDB. Tron.
(11)Daniel Robert Epstein, “Steve Lisberger – Exclusive Tron (Disney) Interview.” http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/features/tron/interview.asp
(12) Ibid.
Works Cited:
Cornea, Christine. Science Fiction Cinema. New York: Rutgers University Press, 2007.
Cringley, Robert X. A History of the Computer – Micro. Triumph of the Nerds, 1996.
http://www.pbs.org/nerds/
Epstein, Daniel Robert. Steve Lisberger – Exclusive Tron (Disney) Interview.
http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/features/tron/interview.asp
IMDB. Steven Lisberger. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0513974/
IMDB. Tron. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/
Kuittinen, Petri. History of Arcade Games. 1997.
http://users.tkk.fi/eye/videogames/arcade.html
Riedemann, Dominic Von. Benchmarks in CGI History. 2007.
http://animatedfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/20_benchmarks_in_cgi_part_1
Telotte. Introduction: The World of Science Fiction Film.
