Friday, April 11, 2008
Prompt 11
The film Tron makes arguments about the body’s relationship to technology by defining the body via interaction with technology. Through the use of the science fiction technology, lasers, cyberspace, and programs, one can find how bodies are represented and used in conjunction with technology, and in this, find out the relationship between the two entities. One example to explore in Tron is how bodies are represented in the virtual world; that is, the ‘world’ created by the interlinking of computers in a particular corporation. Not only is this world having physical space and obeying many laws of physics, but the ‘programs’ that inhabit this space are represented as human beings. These programs look like the people that wrote them, and have their personality, like Tron, who was created by Alan. In the film, the character Tron is played by the same actor that plays the character Alan, who was introduced earlier in the film as saying he created the program Tron. The character Flynn goes as far as to, in the virtual world, notice this similarity and call Tron ‘Alan’. Tron himself recognizes this, too; often referring to his user, Alan, as the one who created him. Through this, the film Tron makes the argument that human beings manifest themselves in their creations, and in this creation of human beings, their own bodies are reflected as such. This negates the power of physical human flesh, as the mere ‘spirit’ of Alan, in writing Tron, gave the program his own physical body as well as personality. The physical body is of lesser importance in Tron, as most of the action occurs in the virtual world, uncontrolled by any outside physical entities. Another example of the physical body lacking in importance is the interaction programs and the ‘real’ user, Flynn, have. While Flynn is revered in the virtual world because he created much of it, he has nearly equal amount of power in the virtual world. His possessing of a human body or human mind gives him no advantages in the virtual world, as the highlighted programs, Tron and Yori, possess the same amount of physical power, ingenuity, and spirit as Flynn does. They interact on an equal plane in the virtual world, almost to the extent that being a human with a physical body makes no difference at all. Through this, physical bodies are seen as less powerful; instead, it is the human spirit, an idea, that triumphs.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Since I have not seen this movie, it is hard to understand the argument from the movie. I guess when presenting it to the class, you should really describe what happens in the movie to make it clear. From you description, it sounds interesting. I guess you could compare it to things in other movies or real like. It sounds like, I could be wrong, but a person made a copy of himself, with its own mind and body in a cyber world. Isn’t there an internet program called Second Life, where people make characters for the virtual world. I am not sure if they can actually do stuff without someone controlling it. Or the Sims, the video game, is similar. A person creates a character, and in the slow motion time, the person can control what they do. But if you speed up time, the character does what they want to do and interacts with other characters in the game. So they kind of have their own personalities. Now I could totally be off topic and not understand the movie because I have not seen it. But I think it would be interesting to compare the fictional movie to other things seen today that take on the same argument of the body. I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful. I cant wait to see what you come up with for your project becuase the movie sounds interesting!!
Julia - you've got some great ideas going on here - I really like the following idea:
"Not only is this world having physical space and obeying many laws of physics, but the ‘programs’ that inhabit this space are represented as human beings"
I think this way of representing the virtual world is interesting and the anthropomorphism at play here should be an important part of your investigation. I think that you might have a hard time, though, reconciling this idea of physical space with the following idea:
"The physical body is of lesser importance in Tron, as most of the action occurs in the virtual world, uncontrolled by any outside physical entities."
I think your first argument shows that the physical is very important - not only for the characters but as a way of understanding technology. One of the interesting results of this mode of representation is that the programs actually die. Think back to the pathos section at the beginning of the semester - this fear and suffering attendant with death makes the "programs" actually sympathetic for the viewer. On that line - is it important to consider that Master Control is NOT represented in human form?
Post a Comment