Usually a work of art isn’t 100% direct; rather the message is wrapped in metaphors and symbolism – otherwise it’s dismissed as mere observation. But funny enough, there are movies with a cheesy plot that make the cut for me, one being “Tron: Legacy”. Here’s the plot of the decade-and-a-half old movie:

[Spoilers ahead… spoiled to the maximum extent possible]

• His dad abandoned him as a child.
• He’s now an adult, still struggling with that. While he rejects any notion of human attachment, he never truly separated form the father. Indeed, the father is strongly present in his consciousness.
• Finds his father, faces some more struggles.
• Returns back, apparently has forgiven him, and now is in peace.
• Life goes on.

Quite cheesy and predictable. The father’s situation on the other hand, is quite different:

• Got fascinated by the inside-the-computer-circuts’ world
• Starts building the perfect world, whatever he thought it meant
• To maintain the order in this world, needs someone to take that responsibility during his absences.
• Creates an entity in his own image, to do just that

And here’s where it gets interesting for me.

I am the one right? #

He did bring Tron from previous world but he is just henchman here. He has no real agency; only some greater good to guide him. Although that greater good is redefined from time to time. What if he did have agency? Would he reject the father’s vision? Yes, as it was itself against life (or shall we call it “User”). To resolve this conflict, his agency is taken away and instead, a character is brought into the world who has the “right” mindset, which is of course the worldview of the father.

Glass / Mirror #

Within the plot we see the father create his likeness inside a glass and/or a mirror. Initially it resembles just his own reflection but then the image takes life of its own. So it must have been a glass all along (would be interesting to read the etymology of “Looking Glass”), not a mirror, not a mere reflection. Some usual narcissistic stuff going on here: Am I seeing (and recognizing) a reflection of myself in a mirror? Or am I projecting my self onto another?

Idealization, Devaluation, and the Split #

The father’s goal is to create the perfect world. But we know such a thing is not defined, let alone exist. He lacks the mental capacity to integrate whatever it is that he wants without splitting, and try to accept and only then, achieve it. Yet, he subconsciously recognizes this limitation, therefore tries to get rid of the “burden of rejecting the imperfect” or rather what he deems as imperfect, by projecting parts of his self onto his creation (the likeness).

May we consider him free now? Yes—at least to some degree: Free enough to accept the ISOs as a genuine achievement – A new lifeform, and of course, by an extension to that, imperfect. But the projection is still present and at work: Traps him again, within a world he created himself. This part was also active while still not projected out. Maybe exactly this very part of the self brought Tron here, but took his agency away. Now, while projected out there is nothing to control him and keep it in check, it goes as far as to trap all of the self within a digital world that now he controls, and the price is paid not just by the father himself.

And what’s puzzling is the question of suffering itself: One may say, living with the narcissistic parts of his self was painful enough that he chose to split and project it outwards. At the same time it allowed him to touch the real life which caused him even greater pain but of an entirely different kind: A sense of guilt or maybe shame. Or perhaps, it has been the plan all along? The father did not mind the suffering, but he found a way to connect to his self.

The God #

The father is portrayed as a God within this world. He walks into a club, where the “programs” start praying to him. We see one on the screen closely, let’s call him Cat. We also observe the God walking among his creations: Anxious, confused, lost and grumpy; still narcissistic, still not givign a fuck about his creations, not even noticing Cat pray to him (and more interestingly, he never asked for his prayers; or at least I like to think so).

Let’s focus back on Cat who’s praying to him. At this point in the plot, we have learnt of the disappearances of other programs, therefore Cat must know what’s commng for him in near future. Today he is desperately praying to this deity—his creator. And the deity? He does not even notice him, who is instead occupied only by what he deems more important than these primitives (It’s “Zuse” who mockingly calls them “Primitive”; but maybe he too, is mocking the creator)

The Integration #

The movie ends with the father integrating projected part of self which interestingly, stopped any growth or development from the moment it was projected out of consciousness. It got mentally stuck as a younger age and the movie depicts that as physical appearances of it being unchanged.

The result of the integrating? Total annihilation. And what puzzles me here: Would it be a prediction of the reality, should such integration happen; or is it the unconscious that rejects any such integration due to some phobia? Of course the movie never promissed to be an accurate depiction of narcissism, but still, provides a playground to think about it.

Conclusion #

Nothing really. That’s the best one gets out of “Tron: Legacy” I would say. But I know the part most interesting to me: Tron himself. He was brought here apparently to protect this world, but in reallity to follow orders to the point. He is important enough that his name was put on the movie’s title. and he gets the least important role in the movie. The plot could progress by replacing him with an accident:

I tried to bring Tron to protect this world, but his design was not compatible with this architecture, etc, etc, so I had to create another program as a 1:1 copy of me (since it’s only I who is absolutely right about everything).

Yes, the plot writers thought they had to bring him and degenerate him to level of a henchman.

The other interesting part, is the fractal nature of narcissism. The father learnt whatever he does, it will feed the narcissistic part of the self and makes him stronger, be it fighting him, reasoning with him, rejecting him, etc. It’s a tragedy of his life, a game lost before even started.