Tron Legacy: Isomorphic Algorithms and the Escape into the Machine

After a nearly 20 year hiatus from release of the original science fiction hit Tron in 1982, Disney released Tron Legacy in 2010 under Director Joseph Kosinski starrring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn with a pumping electronic soundtrack provided by Daft Punk. Building on the original theme from the 1982 film, we are first taken through the chronology of events of the life main characer Flynn beginning with the end of the previous movie Tron. The basic premise of the first film (which I strongly encourage watching first) involved Flynn being "transported" into the realm of a hidden cyberworld that essentially existed on a high performance computer. Initially there is a narrative between the original and current film plot that culminates in the birth and raising of his son Samuel Flynn and scenes of a loving and kind father trying to describe to his son the nature of his work and why he disappears for long periods at a time. Eventually, we are told, Flynn Senior disappears completely right at the time his company ENCON begins to corner its market. A few years later when Sam is fully grown, we are taken to the beginning of the main plot of Tron Legacy where Flynn Junior himself will soon discover just were his father disappeared to.

Early in the film we taken to a boardroom meeting where ENCOM is discussing taking the next leap in their software but only as a paid service - not an open source system as had been envisioned by founder and visionary Flynn Sr. This violation conflicts with Sam's values and he, now the largest shareholder in ENCOM, breaks into the mainframe computer to play a practical joke during the moment the software is meant to be released - the board room is none too pleased with Sam's antics. Later, Sam is visited by his father's friend, ENCOM executive Alan Bradley who tells Sam that he received a message from his fathers pager, an old system by which he used to be on call for Flynn Sr. back in the day - apparently he hadn't gotten a pager message from that location in over twenty years. The location is Flynn's personal arcade - and inevitably Sam finds it and discovers an old warehouse full of arcade games and jukeboxes. He then activates the Warehouse's power and we are treated to Journey's "Separate Ways" blasting on the jukebox as Sam wanders around the labrynth/arcade. Eventually Sam stumbles upon the Tron video game and pops a quarter into it. The coin activates a hidden doorway which then leads Sam into his fathers old office/computer lab where he is instantly drawn to an old keyboard and computer screen. Having known his father's likely passwords he is quickly able to hack into the mainframe which instantly leads to his being transported into "The Grid" i.e. the parallel cyber-universe created by his father in the original Tron movie. Before moving on to describing the rest of the film, a few things should be noted about this parallel world.

-First, once you are "scanned" into this world you no longer exist in the present. Our world and "The Grid" are mutually exclusive and there is no trace left of you until you are "un-scanned".

-Second, The Grid consists of a hierarchy of entities with "Users" being at the lowest level or bottom rung. "Users" must participate in unusual gladiatorial games involving flying discs and light-cycles at the behest of powerful cyber-tyrants like "Master Control" in the original film or CLU in the follow-up. The losers of these games become recycled bits - essentially they die where as the winners can advance on to higher levels of combat and games with perhaps some hint of freedom once enough wins are tallied and they are deemed worthy of life.

-Third, The Grid is a complete parallel world with its own laws of physics and sense of time. When you exist in this dimension it is not clear where you are or indeed if you exist at all - time in that dimension seems to be non-linear with our own space-time.

- Lastly it should be noted that "The Grid" was completely envisioned and designed by Flynn, known within the grid as "The Creator". The rules have been programmed by him though this does not mean in any way that he has control over what goes on there...



Once in the realm of The Grid, Sam is instantly thrown into gladiatorial combat with several other users where he must fight or die. While he is competing in the disc throwing events (note your opponent's disc will vaporize you if you are hit with it) he is told that his disc is essentially his lifeforce and that it will record his every decision/move. There seems to be some suggestion that the disc, along with the combat, is used to see just what makes a particular "program" tick and whether that entity is worth keeping around or not. This is essentially their own cyber-version of our modern capitalist world. Are we not subject to the same lunacy of "compete or die" in our own lives as though we can contribute nothing of value without being forced constantly to prove it? This seems to be a question that the film is asking. More on that later...

At some point during the games Sam is identified at the "Son of Flynn" and brought before the new cyber-dictator CLU who is an exact replica of Kevin Flynn during his younger years - he looks just like him. CLU makes it readily known that he is not Sam's father and Sam is reminded of a childhood conversation he had with his father whereby he described CLU as having been made in his likeness and given incredible gifts and abilities with the directive to make the grid perfect. Sam quickly realizes however that CLU is a sinister character and he is immediately tossed back into combat again, this time in a "to-the-death" light-cycle match with another group of users with whom he must partner. He is nearly killed save for a last minute rescue operation by Quorra, one of Flynn Sr's "Isomorphic Algorithms" that CLU seeks to destroy or convert into slave systems for his own benefit.

"I'm not your father, but I'm sure glad you're here..." -CLU


We soon learn more about Isomorphic Algorithms later when Quorra takes Sam to his father's location outside the control zone of the inner part of the Grid. Here, the reunion between father and son is somewhat awkward and with great misunderstanding between the two. Father Flynn describes his leaving his son often to work within the Grid as he had discovered "Isomorphic Algorithms" which essentially were beings whom arose out of random oscillations of code (i.e. much like our own creation in our universe). CLU, charged with creating 'the perfect system', deemed these an aberration, betrayed Flynn, captured Tron, and destroyed all of the ISOs with the sole exception of Quorra. However the "Input/Output" portal connecting the two worlds was closed and CLU decided to send out a signal through Flynn's pager to trick Sam into finding the Grid. Tension arises between father and son as Sam suggests outright revolt against CLU but father Flynn is skeptical and cautions Sam against this. CLU, it appears, is integrally linked with Flynn Sr., he is essentially a copy of himself in his highest aspirations at the peak of his knowledge and point of greatest idealism - since then however Flynn has come to seen the world differently, appreciating the flaws as much as the symmetry. In fact, there are hints of Buddhism and Dharma mindfulness throughout the film - the idea of not trying to perfect things and allowing things as they are seems to be a common theme. Flynn Sr. at this point comes across as something of a Steve Jobs meets Buddha character - infinitely intelligent and wise all in one. Sam however wants none of this talk, CLU is clearly a dictator that has imprisoned his father and wishes to rule the Grid by force.



(It's clear that Sam and Quorra have a great fondness for and chemistry with one another)

Eventually Sam decides to take off on his own and confront CLU with some help. Quorra offers him advice to meet with a character named "Zuse" whom can help guide him to the I/O portal. Sam eventually locates Zuse and a deal is struck however he is quickly betrayed as CLU 's gaurds show up and attempt to destroy Sam - they manage to swipe off Quorra's left arm in the process. Fortunately though father Flynn, the ever present paternal creator, shows up to save the two and they quickly escape aboard a solar sailer transport and attempt to reach the I/O portal. With Quorra's arm injured, she is quickly losing her life force however Flynn manages somehow to repair her digital DNA and reconstitute her arm - again we are reminded of Flynn Sr.'s role as the "Creator".

The solar sailer eventually passes through a "rectification" ship which includes CLU's army of reconstituted isomorphic algorithms. We are told these programs can never truly die - only be reconstituted for new purposes (note again the similarities with Buddhism). Eventually we discover the true intention behind the reconstituted programs - they are to be CLU's private army that he will use when he invades the physical world and attempts to control it as well. After all, he already owns "The Grid" so there is nothing left for him to perfect.

Eventually there is a showdown as the various parties race towards the I/O portal in light jets. Flynn, now aware of CLU's plan to invade the physical world decides he must be stopped. Eventually Flynn Sr. and Jr. reach the portal with Quorra, the latter two escaping but CLU is right behind and attempts to attack them and breach the portal himself. Flynn Sr. then attempts to stop CLU by reasoning with him. CLU states "you told me to make a perfect world and that's what I did - I've done everything you've asked" at which point Flynn concedes that he did but that unfortunately perfection itself is immeasurable and so essentially everything he told CLU was a lie. CLU, having none of this makes one last attempt at the I/O portal and at that moment, Flynn Sr. pulls his last hat trick and essentially bonds with CLU and their essences coalesce as they morph together and then explode in a flash of light and colors. That is when the viewer comes to realize that these two forces, Flynn and CLU were two sides of the same coin, quantumly entangled. Flynn recognized that to destroy CLU was to destroy himself, hence his unwillingness to confront him but eventually the decision was made to save the world from the obvious hellish, totalitarian vision that CLU would have brought.

This films brings to the surface a variety of different novel ideas. First, with our physical world dying and our lives being further and further confined by corporatism and statism, one has to wonder just how much freedom is actually left for us in the physical world. "Tron Legacy" suggests that our future may actually be inner space - going inward, into the realm of the machine. It further suggests that in such a parallel world we may ultimately have to come to terms with the very same issues we have in the physical world - namely whether or not we can seek out both freedom and perfection. To be blunt I would say that the film is saying the following:

To seek freedom is to be imperfect but to seek perfection is to abandon freedom.

So we must ask ourselves in our current reality whether it is more important to be free or to be perfected. Flynn speaks eloquently to CLU about this when he suggests that the quest for perfection itself is a myth because "it is immeasurable and its staring at us right in the face all the time - we just have to see it". He is telling CLU that his efforts will fail and that he needs to learn to find perfection in things that are broken, quirky, asymmetric and illogical as well as those that are functional, clean, logical and elegant. That is the mark of a truly enlightened and sentient being. This is not something CLU can accept - he is hardwired against it which brings us to the next important point that the film is offering to the viewer. CLU is essentially a dictator because he is driven by his relentless need for perfection which is what drives all dictators. We need to ask ourselves daily whenever we are confronted with someone promoting perfection - be it the politician, salesmen, media spokesperson or even our friends, family and spouses - whether something of equal value has to be destroyed in the process. It seems that capitalism itself is the new ideal that must supercede all others. We must sacrifice everything at the alter of capitalism in a relentless quest for perfection believing that the free market will, in return, improve our lives and make us whole again. However, we are coming to realize that something of value is indeed destroyed in this sacrificial process: humanity and our natural world.....