TRON

Tron was an interesting movie, because it is beginning to illuminate the eventual evolution of the representation of technology and computers in film. This film, created in the 80s, was the first movie we have watched which has integrated digital and live action together. This brings elements to the story, which would not have been possible before. The way in which the film was shot was revolutionary. The actors where shot on black and white film on blue screen. From that film many different layers were created in order to give the scenes their unique looks and feels. A majority of the scenery in the digital world was constructed inside of a computer, which, though know readily accepted, was revolutionary and origianl at the time.



Tron also addresses ideas seen in previous films, such as those of artificial intelligence. The Master Control Program, of MCP, was originally created to play chess and ended up growing smarter and more powerful than those who created. The MCP ends up being shut down in order to free the oppressed programs within the system. The MCP also attempts to blackmail Dillenger, the head of the company. This is similar to when HAL deceives the passengers on the ship. The idea of computers being able to outsmart their users is a theme, which seams to come to the forefront in a lot of movies, which are focused on computers and technology.



In Tron many of the real life programs have computer programs, which are their alter egos. The computer program alter egos refer to their real counterparts as “users.” The users provide the purpose for their programs and define their actions. The only character that is outside this system in Flynn. Flynn is digitized and sent directly into the computer program. After being digitized he is sent through a sequence, which serves to transition from the live action into the digital world. This serves to orient the viewer into the new world. Once inside he is set on the course to overthrow the MCP.
Many of the sets in this film are constructed using computers and special effects, this adds to the digital world in which the computer programs exist. The movie also utilizes light and color to add to the narrative. Many evil characters are denoted by red lights coming from their uniforms, while good characters normally are blue.

THX-1138

THX- 1138 was a film that went more deeply into the themes of privacy, personal choice, and the way in which technology can influence the evolution of our society. In the world of THS not only life, but death have been trivialized. A computer camly announced deaths in the hundreds, while others are told to stay calm and finish their work. The populatrion is kept docile and relatively devoid of emotion though drugs. The characters in this film all look the same, signaling the way in which the technology of the future could lead to the downfall of individuality and creative thought. Also their heads are shaved, this could be a commentary on the decline of sexuality and devision between the sexes.

An interesting element of the film was the use of religion to control the population. This was made apparent when THX went to the little prayer booth. In this booth the representation of Jesus only gave him standard generic advice without actually showing any real insight. This illuminates the way in which the population is being commoditized and streamlined in their thought to the point where most of their problems can be answered with a series of planned responses. Later when the control center for the religion is infiltrated, THX is told that he isn’t supposed to be there. The center for religion is, in effect, a set. Also when his confession is over, the deity in the booth to which he has been confessing, tells him that one way to happiness is to consume and buy things. In effect religion is being used to control the population and manipulate them.


The way in which Lucas utilizes existing structures illuminates the fact that, in a way, our society is already living in the future. Overall I liked the movie for the creative way in which it tried to make its statement. The only thing I would change is that the scenes, which were recently added, took away from the plot because they looked so different than the rest of the film. It looked like they cut in clips from star wars in the middle of the film.