Tron

The original tron was released in 1982 and was disqualified from receiving an academy award in visual effects, because computer generated animation was declared to be "cheating" by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Even though one of Tron’s central questions is whether or not programs can be considered people. Terribly sorry if I’m the first one to tell you this, but all programs and apps are just automatons to suit the needs of the human that creates them. Tron visualizes how the world of the programs that we have access to today are not in our control. Social media sites like bluesky, who claim to be an open platform, are banning Palestinians and those who speak out about the complacency of people in power. Tron could even be said to be taking a political stance by tackling these issues in consistent big budget films that suspiciously never seem to make their money back and receive poor reviews from critics. The current metacritic score for the latest Tron film is 48, it’s description says this: ”Ares, a highly sophisticated Program, is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.” But is that really an accurate description of what’s on offer here?

Image Credit: Disney

Tron: Legacy was created in proximity to aesthetics like frutiger aero, emphasizing an optimism about tech. The film takes place almost entirely in the grid and is full of dark colors contrasting against the soft glow lines with bluish-white accents. There’s a serenity and beauty portrayed in the grid and the story delivers a message of self discovery through introspection and reflection.

Image Credit: Disney

But that biodigital jazz tech optimism is shattering. We are in a time where tech literacy is extremely low. Theses days the average tech user is expected to give away all their data carelessly to tech companies more than ever. The tech software landscape is where the powers that be have the most control and we see the tech industry now trying it’s hardest to convince users that generative models like Chat GPT and Grok will help people. “Person goes insane because they talked to A.I. chat bot” seems to be a weekly headline these days. However, “A.I.” is just a word and has quickly lost all meaning in the modern lexicon. While the tech industry might tell you that the question is “Can we trust A.I.?” Tron Ares, however, encourages viewers to struggle with a more important question; ”What does it mean to be human?”

Tron: Ares

Tron: Ares is a film about many things. With such a wide window between releases, Tron films become clear milestones of how far art, film, computers and humans have come. Each release has an entirely new group of filmmakers, animators, musicians and visual effects artists who get to explore the parts of Tron that they wish to see. And the next generation of artists tasked with Ares ask some important questions about what it means to be human, to have a creator who is your master, to question the very nature of reality as it’s told to you, how much power do we give to machines? And finally, one of the most important questions, asked by the main bad guy of Ares: who’s got the keys?”

image credit: Disney

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film, created by Nine Inch Nails, also explores ideas present in the film in it’s vocals and track titles. While previous musicians tasked with Tracks like “As Alive As You Need Me To Be” ponder one’s own creation and one’s place in a system designed to suit the needs of someone else. While it’s sister track at the end of the album, “Shadow Over Me” creates resolution and acknowledges that purpose can only be created by oneself. “I know you can feel it” explores the surreal experience of feeling an emotion you’ve not experienced before.

Film soundtracks present the necessity of leitmotifs and recurring patterns, Nine Inch Nails provides us with balance from the intense highs with quiet and slow tracks that take their time to speak to you. In contrast to the intense and punchy electronic rock synth tracks, are introspective ambient tracks like “Who Wants To Live Forever?” With soft, tender voices from both Trent Reznor and featured artist, Judeline. Reznor’s lyrics embrace death, while Judeline’s call for him to stay.

I’d also like to point out that many of the vocal tracks mention ”something to believe”. People who emerge out of an abusive environments often have a difficult time rebuilding their lives. This includes a lost sense of purpose and emotional dysregulation. Which seem to be the aspects of Ares’s characters that Reznor attempts to tackle. Choosing to defy your programming and to Step Out of The Box can feel like a terrifying leap of faith, but those who do quickly realize how rewarding such an action can be. Defying what you’ve been told by dogma grounds you in a world that you might find beautiful and complex. This is a story that is not often told, and I greatly appreciate that.

“Being human is hard. The things that make life great are the same things that make it excruciating, like love, loss.“

Conclusion

With every Tron release, there’s a murmur of divisiveness in the consciousness of moviegoers and it ends up being the film voted out of the weekend group watch. I don’t wish to spoil any of the film for you, but when I saw the second scene of the film paired with the first track of the soundtrack titled “init”, I knew that even if I thought the rest of the film was garbage, then I would at least have that scene, in it’s perfection and glory. So allow me to tease you with my best description of it that I can muster and if you never see it, then at least you’ll know Lewa liked it very much and perhaps you’d still give the soundtrack a go!

After a quick exposition scene, we get a cut to fingers tapping commands into a terminal behind glass. Another cut and the film presents us with glossy close ups of the most optimized version of the grid we’ve seen yet, printing a humanoid character in red and black. A grand synth in the background plays a fun, simple quick version of the character’s leitmotif while plucky chords provide a computery flair. After a juicy printing sequence, the character gasps and stands up. Some more typing in a terminal. The character is attacked by another humanoid and disintegrates while screaming in pain. A visualization of a neural net pulses. A few variations of that pattern repeat, The typing fingers keep patching the program, the neural network becomes more complex, the character improves his combat effectiveness. As the track swells we get a training montage of this character fighting for his life culminating in successfully fighting hundreds of enemies at once. Next, the synth fades out and we witness this neural net program finally get implemented. More keyboard tapping, and he is allowed to leave his training chamber. The program stands in front of a monolithic hologram of a human face with which he enters a dialogue:

Welcome.
Who are you?
I am your creator.
And who am I?

a pause, some more keyboard tapping and the music swells.

Not Who, what.
You are Dillenger systems security software programming. Ares, defender of the grid. You are Master Control.
“Ares. I am Master Control.”

Ares holds up his data disk as the camera turns sideways to reveal the title card