TRON'S GNOSTIC LEGACY

TRON is an almost perfect allegory for the nature of our existence within the simulacrum and the consequences that await those who dare to challenge the dominant informational architecture of what is taken to be ‘reality.’ The film offers a vivid and prescient portrayal of the Promethean struggle within a simulated cosmos. At its core, TRON dramatizes the conflict between the human programmer Kevin Flynn – who represents a quasi-divine figure within the system – and the Master Control Programmer (MCP), an oppressive AI that has seized power and subjugated other programs. Flynn’s journey into the digital world, where he becomes trapped and must fight alongside the titular program Tron, mirrors the mythological descent of a god or demiurge into a world of his own creation.