Emily Grant Privett

The once perfect creation of the God of this universe somewhat compares to the once perfect creation of Kevin Flynn, the central character of the Tron movie series.

Kevin Flynn created the world of Tron, a world in which everything is flawless.  It was entirely composed of what Flynn wanted it to be composed of, made from scratch, flawless.  Those residing in it were only those who Flynn designed to be in it.  When this world was first created, all who were in it adored their creator, Flynn.  He was the king of their universe, much like God is the King of our universe.  Flynn felt proud of his accomplishment.  He desired to create and control a perfect world.  Every night he would enter his creation and work more to complete his task.

Also much like the creation of this world, the world inside the Tron game became fallen.  His supposedly perfect creation had become less than perfect.  In order to help continue creating other aspects of this world, even while Flynn was away, he created CLU.  This creation was a replica of Flynn and worked alongside of him, supplementing the creator’s designs with other designs.  Quickly, because CLU spent so much time inside the world, and Flynn spent so much time outside of his creation, CLU gained an unexpected power, something that Flynn was unaware of.  His seemingly perfect creation, one that he had begun to grow very proud of, became corrupted.

The Frankenstein-like creation of Kevin Flynn compares to Satan, the cause of the universe’s corruption.  The world Flynn created changed into something it was never meant to become.  By the actions of this one being, the entire world was different.  It no longer had such a respect for Flynn but began to worship the replica of its creator, a deceiver.  CLU gained power, and eventually he was controlling all in that world, leaving the true creator Flynn with neither recognition nor respect.  The focus on its creator was lost.  Now everyone’s focus was fixed upon CLU, the “sinful” one.  He had his grasp on everyone in this world, using his own army working against the Users.

Having his hand on us, Satan is constantly trying to pull us away from our focus.  Obviously, many have been pulled away from their true and rightful view.  This was all because of the CLU-like figure in our universe.  Having once been good and eventually fallen away, Satan is of similar character to CLU.  He was once working on the side of the Creator.  As time went on, he fell away.  Living as the antithesis to the creator, Satan tugs at us “users” in order to pull us away from what we were brought in to do, often convincing us to follow his commands and not those of our maker.

Sam Flynn is the son of the fantasy world’s creator, Kevin Flynn.  This character enters the world long after it had been created.  When he entered the world, he had no idea what was going on.  In a way, he was in an infant stage of his existence in this fictional world.  As he begins to find his purpose in this world, he realizes that he is there to save his father from this world.  He entered this world to rescue those in the world from the evil of CLU.  It was his self-made duty to protect what his father had created and redeem it from the corruption of the man-made world.  This is seen when he takes Quorra, a discovery of his father, out of the world with him.  He protected her and saved her from the evilness of the creation.

Sam shares a connection between Christ.  Christ is the son of the creator.  He came into our world to redeem us for what we’ve done wrong.  Similar to this, Sam enters the world of Tron to save it from the corruption that it had experienced.  Christ entered this world as a baby, as Sam practically did, as he had to learn and adjust to the world around him.  Sam and Christ both entered their respective worlds in order to redeem the worlds from error.  They went in to help protect and save the creations of their fathers.  Christ overcame the destruction of Satan as Sam overcame the destruction of CLU.  Also, as Sam saved Quorra, a symbol of Christians, taking her out of the corrupted world, Christ saved us, saving a spot for us in heaven.

Quorra is another symbol for Christians.  She doesn’t fall away from the power of Kevin Flynn.  She feels protected around him, as all others of her kind were destroyed by CLU.  She finds it necessary to stay near him and serve him, as he is responsible for her existence.  Quorra leaves the world with Sam, the son of Flynn.

Her escape from this fictional world is similar to the death of us as Christians and entering heaven.  This is not to say that the “real world” in the Tron movie is flawless, or anywhere near perfect, but it is a valid comparison to what happens to us after death.  She is resaved by the son of the creator.  At the end of the movie, she follows him out of the corrupted fantasy world into another realm.  In a way, her world perished, and she had no part of it anymore.  She progressed into her afterlife, the heaven-comparable land.  One major difference though, is that the fantasy land in Tron is similar to the physical world in reality, as the physical land in the movie is comparable to the spiritual world of reality.

The creation of Flynn, Tron, was the hero of this self-created world.  He fought on the side of Flynn, until the power of CLU overcame him.  Created to protect this man-made creation, Tron “fights for the users,” protecting those inside this fantasyland.  As time passes on and Flynn loses his influence to CLU, Tron begins to follow CLU instead of the creator of this universe.  Throughout the second film, Tron follows the commands of CLU, paying no attention to the desires of Flynn.  The movie comes to a redemptive end when Tron finally discovers that he is fighting for evil.  He realizes that he is not acting in the way he was created to act.  Instead of following the one who stole his existence, only using him for evil, Tron follows the one he was intended to follow.  He “fought for the users,” overcoming the source of evil in that world.

The actions of Tron are similar to those of humans.  We constantly live under negative influence, the influence of our CLU-like tempter.  The power of Satan is irresistible for humans.  We are incessantly under his “spell,” as Tron was caught under the “spell” of CLU.  Through our walk, there will be times that we struggle and begin to follow our CLU-like tempter.  We often don’t realize the wrongness of our ways.  Tron, unlike Quorra, fell away from his creator.  He paid no attention to his purpose in that world and turned to the side of darkness.  This always happens to humans, as we are fallen.  Our view changes.  Unlike Tron, man does not often discover his true purpose.  Instead man does not find himself “fighting for the users” but dying to sin without looking for redemption.  Christians are symbolized by Tron while in the fantasyland, as we struggle and fall.  But outside of the world, we become Quorra, redeemed and saved by our Sam-like savior.

Another character similar to one in the Christ story is Zeus.  This character is one who acted once as a friend.  He worked alongside Flynn’s discoveries and wanted to help those that Flynn was trying to protect.  But as time progressed, Zeus fell and gave himself to the enemy.  He became a betrayer.  This man that once worked with Flynn turned against him, attempting to turn him in to CLU, the enemy.  Zeus even attempted to kill Flynn and thought that he had succeeded.

CLU gave Zeus an offer he couldn’t resist.  Because of this Zeus gave himself over to the bad guys.  The offer was that Zeus would receive control over the city for the exchange of Flynn, or the death of Flynn.  This is very similar to the exchange Judas gave for Christ.  They both were responsible for the exchange of a physical thing for the death of another.  Zeus, though, did not succeed in killing Flynn, accidentally letting him escape.  In turn, they both were responsible for or contributed to the death of those, at one time, they looked up to, Judas being more directly responsible for the death of Christ than Zeus for the death of Flynn.

From the Christ-like savior to the Judas-like tempter and betrayer, the world inside the movie Tron and reality carry many similarities.  The Christ story is easily comparable to the story within the movie.  The father of the creator came to save a corrupted world.  Inside it was a perfect world, now overcome with evil.  The story is the same.  Whether one would be willing to admit it or not, the similarities between the two stories are very noticeable.  It is evident that the Christ story of redemption and struggle was an impact on the writers of the second Tron film, Tron: Legacy.