3. 2001: A Tron Odyssey
The third way in which Tron can be viewed is as an anti-technology film. In Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey, one of the messages which comes through is a warning of technology overcoming man. The onboard computer HAL becomes self-aware and attempts to kill the protagonists, before Stanley Kubrick takes Science Fiction to a whole new level and resolves the story with disco lights and a floating space-baby. If we look at Tron, the threat of technology is present once again, in a manner not too dissimilar to that in 2001: A Space Odyssey. (Though without a floating space-baby) The Master Control Program is the central antagonistic element and is entirely technological. Its threat is clear from the outset, as it warns Dillinger that it is vastly superior to man, and intends to take over the Pentagon and the Kremlin. I can run things 900 to 1200 times better than any human! warns the Master Control Program in an icy mechanical tongue (note to self: leave stage descriptions to Broadway scriptwriters). The threat of technology is featured as one of the main devices of the film. The laser (proverbial rabbit hole) which transports Flynn into the mainframe is a huge weapon-like piece of hardware, which like a scene from the opening of a Columbo episode, shoots the unsuspecting protagonist in the back, at the command of the Master Control Program. (Not really anything like a Columbo episode) Finally, early in the film, the elderly character of Dr Walter Gibbs asks quite prophetically, when Alan states that soon programs will be thinking, Wont that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking, and the people will stop!