The movie poster above illustrates this idea of the program communicating with his creator. This act of autonomous communication implies of level of thinking beyond that of a program executing its purpose. The key piece that has separated humans as the dominate species on the planet has been our intelligence and ability to be self-aware. Now when the idea of thinking machines (who exceed us intelligence) and are self-aware, are introduced into the equation our uniqueness is imposed upon. This takes an underappreciated sci-fi movie and transforms it into a philosophical/social commentary on the human condition, which would not be possible without the use of special effects.
Tron takes our imagination to a new level by giving a glimpse of what “cyberspace” looks like. Programs are no longer just bits of code written to carry out tasks. They live and die, love and hate much like their human creators do. In fact, one of the main villains in the movie, the Master Control Program is obsessed with the idea of total control. Not just of the “cyberverse” but control over the universe the humans live in as well. By showing us this first person view of what the programs go through (light-cycle races, gladiatorial combat, prison as well as the full range of “human emotions) there is an entire background of thought that is implied and never directly mentioned to the audience. Without the use of CGI to illustrate cyberspace, the arguments of sentience and superiority fall short.
The scene above shows how the “MCP” is portrayed in the movie through the use of computer generated imaging. He is essentially a giant face that resembles a human being. It is this use of special effect that perpetuates the idea of man vs. machine throughout the movie. If the main villain were portrayed through the use of some other type of effect (such as robotics or puppetry) that message of man’s uniqueness being imposed upon would become lost on the audience. It is the use of the CGI that drives the message home. The audience would not believe the MCP is possible and the argument loses believability.
The special effects appear to take on a type of “character” of their own in the movie. In fact, the movie would not be effective, not even possible before this technology was created. Without the effects, the movie would fail in its message to the audience.
Imagine the movie Tron created in the 1950’s, with the cinema technology of the time. The movie would not be able to carry the same message of the 1980 sci-fi classic. Simply put, the effects help propel the movie forward and without them, the movie would not succeed in convincing the audience of the level of “humanity” reached by these machine counterparts.
While the idea of being “human” is usually separated from artificial intelligence in the idea that we are capable of such unique emotions such as passion and love, Tron breaches that gap in the idea that the hero (who is a computer program) is involved in a romantic relationship. Since that last chasm that separated us from our machine creations has been breached, it is interesting to think that there is virtually nothing that separates us from an artificially intelligent machine.
The scene above illustrates this range of emotions experienced by the programs. Without the special effects in this scene such as the lighting of the costumes and the black-lighting in the background this scene simply appears to be two lovers. But with the special effects inserted, it now translates into the evolution of computer programs as sentient beings loving like their human creators do.
Below is another example of how emotions are amplified in the movie. Below we see one of the villains of the movie; however without the same use of neon and black-lights in the background, it would appear to only be a man who is angry. Instead, we have a sinister computer program determined to destroy Tron and Flynn. Typically only humans would be able to express emotions such as these, but the special effects transcend that logic and convince the audience that computer programs have achieved not only sentience, but are emotional equals to their creators.
It is the gap between the “human’s” world and a world shared with machines that moves from the reality we live in to the hyper-reality we learned about in week 11. Our reality becomes corrupted and this new reality (one we must consider not just in the movie but in our everyday lives) takes over. (Mellencamp)
So instead of technology showing us how different we are from our machine creations, the movie Tron is an excellent example of how the differences are almost unperceivable. Any argument that one could create to distinguish humans from machines can be countered. Humans are nothing more than advanced, biological machines themselves with systems designed for specialized tasks; this is no different than a computer program. It is these philosophical questions that are generated by movies such as Tron and potentially, answered.
Works Cited
Cornea, Christine. Science Fiction Cinema, Between Fantasy and Reality. New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2007.
Dyer, Richard. Modern Classics. London, England, 1999.
