Portal to a Grid

"Kevin Flynn: The Grid. A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they moved through the computer. What did they look like? Ships, motorcycles? Were the circuits like freeways? I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see. And then, one day... 
7 Year Old Sam Flynn: You got in! 
Kevin Flynn: Heh heh. That's right, man... I got in!"


As this course continues we have been studying the concept of "the portal". The portal takes a character from an ordinary world into the extraordinary world. In this extraordinary world the character leans lessons and usually the meaning of home. In the end they return to their life forever changed from the lessons they learned from the extraordinary.

That being said, I was able to enjoy a second viewing of "Tron: Legacy" on Blu-Ray. This film was a 2010 release, directed by Joe Kosinski and stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, and Olivia Wilde. "Tron: Legacy" is the sequel to the original "Tron" from 1982. Both films were distributed by Walt Disney Studios, who seems the king of stories revolving around the portal concept. They have produced many animated films based off the novels we have been studying this semester ("Alice In Wonderland", "Peter Pan", and "Beauty and the Beast"). The difference between this film and the others is Tron does not have any literature to base a movie off of.

While still remaining true to the style of transportation to a mystical realm the film takes various liberties with the science fiction genre. For example, instead of being led to the grid by falling down a rabbit hole or a raging tornado, our hero Sam Flynn is transported by a laser. In "Alice in Wonderland" the Red Queen's minions are walking cards, and in Tron CLU's goons are reprogrammed citizens of the grid.

The idea in 2010 of being transported by computer is much more relevant by choosing science over fantasy. I would like to relate this back to the transition between Golden Age superheroes and Silver Age superheroes in comics. The Golden Age characters were built around mysticism and magic, powers given by wizards for example. As science started to explain the unexplainable our sense persuasion decreased. The comics industry were forced to create new characters under changing times. This holds very true with Tron and the digital age leaping forward. In this century with the digital generation starting it was imperative to tell a portal tale younger audiences could relate to today. "Tron: Legacy" includes the concepts of programs, users, and computer tech to give the audience a sense of familiarity with the changing times.

While the film differs from the classic portal, many of the elements included are the same. One example of this is the antagonists CLU who is very much like the villains we have studied thus far, most importantly, The Red Queen. Much like the Red Queen, CLU has his goons in the grid whom he orders around. These reprogramed civilians take any order without question and helps CLU carry out his mission.

As you can see the concept of the portal is alive in todays cinema. It is able to be reformatted and changed to fit into contemporary times. Tron: Legacy is a perfect example of this, and a great film as well.