Tron: Legacy is a copyright of Walt Disney
It took a long time for Disney to come out with a sequel for 1982's Tron, a film which drew modest receipts at the American box office at the time of its release, but which became an instant classic for millions of fans. Tron was a big investment for the studio, in part because of the labor and artistry required to create the unique image associated with the film, which many moviegoers may have taken for granted. Specifically, French artist Jean Giraud was hired to design the unique sets and imagery that is instantly identifiable today as Tron-esque and Syd Mead, an industrial designer who worked on Blade Runner, was brought on to work solely on the vehicle designs. Tron: Legacy, a sequel released almost thirty years after its predecessor, also represented a huge investment for Disney, as writers needed to create a film with a broad audience, and which was "cool" without being corny, which can be difficult to do with 80s source material.
Quorra is an "ISO"
The process of creating Tron: Legacy certainly was not as involved as it was in creating 1982's Tron, but with the enormous devotion of time and money to films in the 21st century, specifically the effort put into merchandising, releasing the film was no small feat. Disney spent a reported $170 million on Tron: Legacy, and creating an elaborate network of merchandise, from Adidas clothing to toys and video games, was an important part of marketing the film, especially keeping in mind that the original fans of the film were mostly in early middle age and now no longer members of the target demographic. But where Tron: Legacy succeeds is in presenting a duality in message that is characteristic of dedicated science fiction films and literature: the material is easy watching (or reading) and the viewer (or reader) can leave the performance satisfied, even if they perhaps did not really understand the essential message of the film. Tron: Legacy is a film that taps into themes of freedom, fascism, and rebellion. It is a characteristically American film in its message, with all of the hypocrisy that this statement suggests: freedom is easy, all one has to do is rebel against the archetypal fascist dictator and there you are. Tron: Legacy stars Garrett Hedlund, Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde, and Michael Sheen.
Tron: Legacy begins with the disappearance of Kevin Flynn (Bridges) the CEO of ENCOM and the inventor of a digital network called "the grid", which he hopes to use as a basis for the free exchange of information. More than twenty years later, Sam Flynn (Kevin's son) causes problems for the corporation when he releases a new ENCOM program for free, which the company had intended to sell. With the unexpected help of Alan Bradley, a former partner of his father, Sam enters the grid after he returns to his father's old arcade. The grid is a digital word of "programs" (semi-life forms that are computer programs with the appearance of human beings). Sam, however, is a "user" because he is a human being with a life within the computer, rather than merely a computer program. The world of the grid is ruled by a program called Clu, who was created by Kevin Flynn in his own image to help him build the perfect digital world. Sam finds himself thrown into competition with Clu in the arena, fighting for his life, but he is saved by Quorra, a unique program called an ISO (basically an intellectual program very similar in abilities to a human being). Quorra takes Sam to his father whom he has not seen in decades, but Kevin Flynn is opposed to Sam's plan of taking down Clu. After being betrayed by a devious program called Zuse, Sam and Kevin have to recover Kevin's identity disc (with this, Klu can invade the real world). There is the inevitable showdown with Clu, who manages to capture Kevin, but Sam and Quorra manage to get through the gate and back into Sam's world. Kevin Flynn merges with Clu, destroying them both, but allowing Sam and Quorra to escape.
The significance of Tron: Legacy in the canon of robots in film has to do with concepts of the liminality of life, specifically non-human manufactured life, such as robots and, in this case, computer programs. The film is fascinating to interpret, in part because of the convoluted presentation of the simple "programs" and the brief introduction to the ISOs (a higher-order computer lifeform), but also because of the clear distinction between the life forms presented in the film. The "programs" are similar to the simple automaton robots that are designed to complete specific functions, but which are incapable of originality and intellectually irrelevant to human beings; the ISOs are very different, as they are almost like Herbert's Thinking Machines or the higher functioning robots seen occasionally in the works of Isaac Asimov. In the film, Quorra (an ISO) is indistinguishable from a human being, and the ability for a man to create such a program in a computer, but which is capable of leaving the computer, is fascinating and not explored to the extent which it deserves. Essentially, Kevin Flynn was a god capable of creating human beings within a computer: life forms similar to robots, but different from them in that the programs' distinction from human beings was purely notional: they live in the computer and not on land. What's fascinating is that this God status seemed to alter the program Clu for the worse, but had no affect on the creator, Kevin Flynn, himself. Perhaps subsequent Tron films will explore the repercussions of being a god on the actual human beings in the series: the Flynn family.
