saying we're jaded without saying we're jaded?

[acroyear]

Tron: Legacy — Too Much Imagination Required? - Slashdot:

Back in 1982, most anyone who saw Tron (or a few years after, as it garnered 'cult classic' status) was captivated, not just by the amazing computer-generated graphics of the time, but about the possibility of a world inside a computer system, where programs walk around and interact with each other like humans, where bits and bytes are interactive things you could touch and see, and where artificial intelligence was something to be feared (in the form of the MCP) rather than embraced.

Most of my friends were born in the '80s, and the ones that saw the original Tron were much more open to the storyline of Tron: Legacy than the ones who never saw the original or who watched it only recently to prepare for watching the new movie. While they all agreed the CG and 3D was amazing, they felt the story was 'unimaginative' or 'run-of-the-mill.' Also, many people born later, such as my younger sister, who is very tech savvy herself, seemed to dismiss the plot and characters completely, instead speaking only of the quality of the graphics and the music. I believe this speaks to how the human race has grown out of its own imagination when it comes to technology since it entered the digital age. Young people can't see past the fact that there isn't a world inside the computer, that programs are just tools to be used by humans, and artificial intelligence is something discussed on a daily basis.

Comments

yikes

[kitteblue.livejournal.com]

"Most of my friends were born in the '80s"

Really? You know a lot of youngens then.

Re: yikes

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

i didnt write that. unless i say so, indented text is someone elses.

Re: yikes

[kitteblue.livejournal.com]

oops, too early for complex thought I guess.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

Having seen it, it wasn't tron, and it wasn't a sequel, but it was inspired by characters from the original. Some of the story elements were too truncated, and it's sort of like they skipped a movie. They invented too many events between Tron and Legacy, and then explained them in exposition. But as movie stories go, it worked. Kid loses father as a child. Kid grows up and goes seeking his father. He enters a mysterious unfamiliar world and deals with challenges, eventually finding his father and battling a foe. It's not a deep literary movie full of nuance, and it's not written as a complex and adult story. It's teen, or even tween, material, by Disney.