TRON:LEGACY and the Good Father

There are two fathers in Tron: Legacy: the Zen and kindly father as played by an appropriately aged Jeff Bridges and the scarily young and aggressive one played by a digitally altered version of the same actor.

The good father is concerned for the young James Flynn, and can see the ways in which he has failed as a father to prepare him for their predicament. Then there is the over-confident and competitive Clu. A digital Narcissus, born of the elder Flynn’s need for a partner and, perhaps, someone as smart as himself to help him set up the “perfect system”, one which will help to revolutionize an ailing humanity (certainly no argument there). However, Clu turns out to be too good at creating perfection; he cannot understand the value of the new creatures which spawn in the Tron-verse, the Iso Algorithms, or Isos. Their presence upsets Clu, who organizes a genocide against the innocent creatures. Whether or not this is successful is an important part of the plot of the new Tron movie.

The interplay between the two fathers, and the challenges that James faces, along with his sprightly female friend Quorra, make for an interesting movie. The best part for me, however, was, toward the end, when Kevin Flynn realizes that he is both the wise Flynn and the ambitious Clu, and must somehow manage to combine the two sides of his personality without destroying his son in the process.