Things Engineers Like: Tron
While there are many feel good stories in movies, there isn't one quite like Tron (The original, of course). It's a great movie that isn't all about the human aspect but involves the technology we all love so much. Is there a better feel good movie than having a programmer getting back everything back from someone who plagiarized his work? Probably not. That's why engineers can relate to Kevin Flynn so easily. He's a just a normal guy programming games that are awesome. Spoilers included! You've had 29 years, 9 months, and 7 days to watch it!
It's just not the overall story that creates a great presence in the movie. It's definitely how Steven Lisberger creates life out of the computer and it's software. The technology actually becomes characters and play significant roles in the movie (Basically IS the movie). Like the main enemy, the MCP (Master Control Program) enslaves other programs; of course only to be stopped by Tron, written by Alan Bradley! I think Tron intrigued me into the software portion of technology. The fact that you can do anything you think of is quite amazing (Of course to the limitations of the hardware).
The relationship portrayed between the program and user (The programmer) truly enchanted me. The feeling that the program that you wrote is a part of you is unique. It's something that I think software engineers seem to put off too. The engineers seem to be passionate about what they are writing and know everything little detail about the code. (This sometimes is an obstacle to get through to make changes to, though)
It's the little details that make the movie so phenomenal. For a movie made in 1981, the animation is quite remarkable; It was one of the first movies to use such technology in a motion picture. The game grid was awesome with the colors and especially the Light Cycles. The suits of the programmes were interesting with the high contrasting colors and lights. It gave a feeling that they weren't human beings like ourselves. I don't know if the character, Ram, was suppose to give a sense of computation with it's name being similar to random access memory but I thought it was a good tribute. My favorite detail about Tron is definitely the character Bit. He can only say "Yes" or "No", of course representing a binary digit! But with the Yes' and No's, he tries to convey emotions but it's terribly difficult. Sometimes I feel like I'm Bit...
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