Tron is great in black and white!
June 10th, 2007
So a few years ago my friend in the states sent me a care package full of movies she had from her childhood. Among them was Tron. Tron is kind of the perfect movie for me, it’s from 1982 (I was five when I saw it in the theaters) and therefore from an influential time in my life. It involves computers. It involves fantasy and creativity , and it involves gaming. So, anyway I’ve probably watched TRON more than any other movie I currently own. It’s the perfect movie to watch while falling asleep. Last night I finally made it to bed after working on various websites for hours. I popped in Tron (yes I still have a vcr) however the bright blue lights on the costumes were too much for my eyes. I turned the color all the way down, took the brightness down, and then took the contrast up a bit, and to my surprise I saw that TRON looks great in black and white. Since much of the film is shot using blacklights all of the surfaces have this uneven undulating radiance. These textures and uneven lighting are actually very reminiscent of old black and white movies. After watching the entire film in black and white I must say that the fluorescent blue that bombards the normal film is a bit overbearing. The computer panels look especially gorgeous when viewed in black and white.
Secondly I have another theory on why Tron had to be made. In 1982 the idea of owning a computer in your house was just beginning to filter into mainstream America, and computers made no sense. Tron was a reflection of how most people wanted to think about computers. They liked the idea that there was stuff actually happening inside which was very concrete. This theory is compounded by an early scene in the film when Kevin Flynn is trying to break into the ENCOM mainframe in an attempt to retrieve the data which will prove that Dillinger (a co worker) had stolen his ideas for video games which had become popular, resulting in Dillinger’s rise in the company. Anyway, Flynn is trying to break in, and while he’s hacking away at the ENCOM mainframe we see a split screen of a tank trying to break into the system. This illustrates my previous point that people were desperately trying to figure a way to visualize what was actually happening inside computers. 
The third part of the Tron legacy is the element of gameplay. This also corresponding exactly with the rise in video games. Tron is an important film in the realm of ludology because the players of the game actually become fully imbibed into the envornment. This represents the narratavist approach to gaming, and is in my view the most romantic of what players are thinking while they are playing.
So go out and rent Tron, or download it, or whatever you kids do these days. But watch it in black and white. Trust me, it looks gorgeous:)
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