QUESTION: COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY- SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES

“INTERSTELLAR” and “TRON: LEGACY”

I had watched two science fiction movies which were “Interstellar” and “Tron: Legacy”. “Interstellar” was about how Earth was facing food jeopardy and finding a new planet for humanity’s survival. “Tron: Legacy” was about how a software engineer discovered digital world and wanted to create a “perfect” computer system at there. Even though they were two different movies, I came across that both movies had similarities as I compared them. The similarities of these both were that they had discovered a new world, great love from a widowed father, high technology components and family united after many years later.

After watching both movies, I found out that both movies were about they discovered a new world. In the movie of “Interstellar”, the Earth was running out of food source due to crops blight. The main character, Mr. Cooper who was a former military pilot and NASA astronaut found out the secret NASA installation from the coded message on the ground. The leader of the NASA secret installation was Professor John Brand. He revealed that a wormhole was created and was able to lead them to another galaxy. In this galaxy, they hoped to find a new planet for the humanity’s survival. Cooper was assigned to lead the team to the wormhole to find a habitable planet. As for the movie of “Tron: Legacy”, the main character, Sam Flynn went back to Flynn’s video arcade center to investigate the strange pager message. He discovered a secret pathway to a basement room which had a large computer. Without knowing that he had activated the devices behind him, he was transported to a virtual reality, a digital world. His father, Kevin Flynn revealed that he tried to create a “perfect” computer system and was betrayed by his own creation, CLU. Kevin Flynn was stuck in the digital world, the Grid for quite some time. In short, both movies were about discovering a new world.

Besides that, both movies were quite similar because they showed that a widowed father’s love towards his child or children. In “Interstellar”, Mr. Cooper decided to pilot the spacecraft to recover the astronauts’ data in order to save his children and the next generation from being starve. The moment he made his decision, he knew that the chance for him to return was very low. However, he still made a promise that he will return someday. After many years later, same-aged Mr. Cooper was able to reunite with Murph, but Murph had turned old due to gravitational time dilation. In the movie of “Tron: Legacy”, Kevin Flynn sacrificed himself for his son, Sam Flynn. Towards the end of the movie, Kevin Flynn destroyed himself together with his creation, CLU. This was to allow his son to escape from the digital world, the Grid to the real world without CLU clinging on them. Thus, both movies showed how great a father’s love is; even it meant to sacrifice himself for his children.

Aside from that, these two movies also included high technology components. The time frame of “Interstellar” was around year 2050. Since it was around that time frame, the technology by then was extraordinary compare to the technology we are having now in year 2015. In this movie, they had the technology that travel through space. Their spacecraft, Endurance was able to travel from Earth to Saturn in two years and enter a wormhole. They had machine that allowed them to hibernate and kept them alive in these two years to Saturn. They also had two robots, TARS and CASE that assisted them along the journey. In “Tron: Legacy”, Kevin Flynn invented a device that allowed him to go into a virtual reality world. Kevin also tried to create a “perfect” system for the digital world but was taken over by CLU. CLU controlled the whole system of the cyber world. Although he was just a program, he was able to control almost everything in the Grid. Hence, it was proven that these two movies had high technology components.

In both movies, the family was able to reunite after many years later. In the movie of “Interstellar”, Mr. Cooper was finally able to reunite with his daughter after 89 years. By the time they reunited, Murph was already a dying 99-year-old lady and Cooper did not age at all due to the time dilation from the entire mission. Even though it had been a long time, Murph did not lose hope of seeing her father again because she believed that her father will return as promised. As for “Tron: Legacy”, Sam Flynn was able to reunite with his father, Kevin Flynn after 20 years. His father went missing when he was only 7 years old, it was unexplainable. After 20 years, a mysterious message was sent from his father’s arcade office. Sam found a secret pathway into a confined control room and searched information from the computer. Without knowing that he had activated the laser behind him, he was then sent to the digital world and met CLU who resembled his father. CLU attempted to kill Sam by sending him to the LightCycle Arena. Sam was saved by Quorra and was sent to see his real father. Sam finally met his father after 20 years and the mystery was solved. Thus, both movies were similar as they showed that family reunited after years later.

To sum up everything, these two movies had similarities as we compared them. They both mentioned about the discovery of a new world, a great father who sacrificed himself to ensure a better life for his children, high technology of the future and the reunion of family after decades. In my opinion, “Interstellar” and “Tron: Legacy” were both equally interesting and exciting movies. It would definitely be awesome if we were able to find another world.

REFERENCES

Thomas, E., Obst, L., (Producers), Christopher, N. (Producer & Director). (2014). Interstellar., United Kingdom & United States: Paramount Pictures & Warner Bro. Pictures

Bailey, S., Silver, J., Lisberger, S., (Producers), Kosinski, J. (Director). (2010). Tron: Legacy., United States: Walt Disney Studios & Motion Pictures

IMDb., Interstellar (2014)- Synopsis., 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/synopsis?ref_=ttpl_pl_syn

IMDb., Tron: Legacy (2010)- Synopsis., Retrieved 6 April 2015 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104001/synopsis?ref_=ttpl_pl_syn