Tron: Legacy: Does it have Spiritual Undertones?

Tron: Legacy is (if you didn't already know) the 2010 sequel to the 1982 Tron, which in itself was not a blockbuster movie, but has become a "cult film", with few, but highly devoted fans. There have been differing opinions as to why this was the case, such as the fact that there was a Tron video game before the first movie came out, but there is one particular idea that caught my eye, and that is that the spiritual undertones presented gave the story more meaning to those more open-minded sci-fi fanatics. These spiritual undertones are revisited in Tron: Legacy, and I want to explore what these undertones could represent, and how they relate to the bible.

I watched Tron: Legacy last night with a few friends, and though it is a great movie imo, I definitely would not compare it to movies like Avatar or Inception based on the epic storyline, action or visuals. I would agree that this movie did have great plot, action and visuals, but I would say it had an eerie feel to it, kind of like those spiritual undertones were subtly punching you in the face.

Before we get into it, here is the trailer (the coolest one imo :D)

WARNING!! SPOILERS!!

So basically the characters are Kevin Flynn as the creator of this digital world and former president for ENCOM, Sam Flynn as the son of Kevin Flynn and the main character of this movie, Alan Bradly as close friend of Kevin Flynn, executive consultant for ENCOM and creator of Tron; a security program that fights for the users, Clu as a program made in Kevin's image, built to create perfection in Kevin's world, but becomes a tyrant in trying to do so, and finally Quarra as the last ISO; beings that came to life within Kevin's world he created, but not by his doing, calling them "miracles", while Clu called them "imperfections".

The easiest, and most likely first thing to conclude, is that Kevin would be portrayed as the Father, while Sam would be portrayed as the Son, Jesus Christ. There are however many inconsistencies with this idea, for example; Kevin was the one to sacrifice himself to save humanity from Clu, not Sam, Sam is not seen as the Creator incarnate, but more like another god incarnate, Sam is seen as being romantically attracted to Quarra (who would be the Holy Spirit if one were to take this view) rather than someone who represented humanity, and so on. I would like to propose another viewpoint that Kevin Flynn is the trinity in one person, i.e. The Father as the Creator of the world who loved all that he created, the Son as the one who sacrifices himself to save humanity and the Creator who walks with his creation, and the Holy Spirit as the one to guide his children to their destiny. Kevin has powers in this world that none other have, and although he is not omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, etc, he is shown to be wise, powerful and know where he is going and where to go. I think that Kevin Flynn would best represent God in all His persons.

So what does that leave for Sam and Quarra? The idea in this movie (contradictory to scripture btw) is that God created some, and the rest just grew into life in the right situations. Kevin was smart, and knew a lot, but was in awe at his creation, more than they were themselves. For he did not create every single part of them, but they grew themselves and he merely had a hand in that process. So back to Sam and Quarra, I think they both describe humanity in their own way. Quarra is as much Kevin's daughter in the digital world as Sam is in the real world, and with both he had a hand in creating, but did not create them fully as they grew in the right conditions. Kevin guided both of them to their destiny and sacrificed his life for both of them in the end, which is what God did for humanity.

Clu would be viewed as the devil, the evil tyrant of the world. He was the creation that Kevin made "in [his]... image". This makes it seem like Clu is man, because man was made in God's image in scripture. However, I believe that Satan is viewed in this movie as loved by God, but just a flawed version of His creation. This is shown especially in the scene where Kevin is pleading for Clu to understand him, and does not blame Clu for his way of thinking. I think the "in my image" idea is more to portray that Satan is still one of God's children, even though he is evil, has rejected God and will spend forever in hell. I also think the "in my image" idea portrays Clu as symbolizing the side of humanity that rejects God, which at first seems to grant a more Calvinistic feel of predestination in the movie, that evil men and Satan were predestined to go to hell. That being said, the movie has an overall Arminian feel to it, emphasising God's "free will" as well as man's, with the main theme being that perfection (no free will) means that there is no life. The idea is that with free will comes mistakes, which brings imperfection, but also brings life. So I think this movie portrays the idea that Satan and the wicked go to hell merely because God could not prevent it, rather than God created it that way (which is a view of scripture that I do not hold FYI).

Tron I would view as an angel, as well as the rest of the programs. I think this is seen mostly in the way that Clu reprograms many of the programs to be his army, much as the same way that Satan convinced a third of the angels to follow him and betray God. Tron seems to be shown as an angel who rebelled against God, but free will is hinted at even further than what an Arminian would say by hinting that Tron can come back and fight for God again.

Finally, Alan Bradly would signify believers that held on to their faith when no one else would. They had a real relationship with God and walked with Him for many years, and it was their faith in God that allowed humanity to be saved.

The final biblical theme that I would like to emphasize would be the idea that Kevin's death saved the world, ridding disease, changing religion, philosophy, most likely stopping wars, and bringing earth to what one would seem to be a paradise, much like the new earth promised to all of Christ's followers.

I am not saying this is gospel lol, this is just one dude's opinion. It would be awesome to hear from anyone else if they have any other ideas of how the bible may have been represented in Tron: Legacy :)

Well, that's my rant for tonight, God bless!!