Disney's TRON Led to How We View Digital Avatars
(image credit: Disney)
I wanted to start today’s post by saying that a lot of this is more on the speculative side. That’s not to say that what I’m saying isn’t true. There’s absolutely evidence to back up the claims I’m making, but there’s no real clear source that outright says “yes, this is 100% true and clear.” That being said, do you like video games?
If you’ve ever played a video game before, then you’ll know that games have characters that you play as, and you’re able to experience the world and the story through the eyes of that character. As you may know, this feature is often called an “avatar.” They act as a vessel between the world of the game and the player. The thing about avatars is that games have always had them, even from the very beginning. That little white line that beeps up and down in order to hit a small pixel back and forth? That’s an avatar, probably the first avatar in video games. However, as technology evolved and games got more advanced, it got to a point where games would allow you to customize your avatar to represent your likeness in the game universe, all in the name of immersion. This is a feature that’s been in the industry since, being included in games from Bethesda’s Fallout franchise to Larian Studio’s most recent hit, Baldur’s Gate 3, in which you can customize your avatar to vast proportions. Even Facebook/Meta’s “metaverse” allows for you to make a digital version of yourself to exist in the digital world.
But what if I told you that the way we think of avatars and digital likenesses might have come from Disney?
What Does Disney Have to do With It?
Actually, one simple movie that barely scraped out of the 80’s. You may have heard of it, but it’s also equally likely you haven’t. It’s called TRON, and honestly, it’s awesome.
The story behind the movie is actually really cool. Basically, Disney wanted to branch out with the types movies that they made, and a man named Steven Lisberger had an idea for a movie that took place in an all digital world, inspired by the rise of computers and, funny enough, video games.
While I personally believe the movie is great, a lot of audiences in the 80’s really didn’t like the film. That’s not to say that everyone didn’t like it, as it is regarded as a “cult classic” today, but it definitely wasn’t the massive hit that everyone who worked on it was hoping it would be.
However, the movie has gained a lot of popularity as of late. It became a franchise when a sequel, TRON: Legacy came out in 2010 to moderate success, it got a theme park ride in 2016 in Shanghai Disneyland, and a copy of that ride in 2023 at The Magic Kingdom.
But that’s not what’s important about TRON. What’s really important is what TRON is about.
What’s TRON About?
(image credit: Disney)
Like I mentioned earlier, Steven Lisberger was inspired by the brand new world of video games that had come about in the late 70’s. Consequently, TRON follows a man named Kevin Flynn who takes a dive into the digital world to stop an evil computer named the Master Control Program. While in the digital world, Flynn is forced to play gladiator style “video games” against other programs, each of which look like the person that made them. For example, Flynn’s friend, Alan, made a program named Tron. In the digital world, Tron’s face looks exactly like Alan’s.
See where I’m going with this?
Did TRON predict digital avatars?
I don’t think that TRON necessarily predicted digital avatars so much as it inspired people to imagine what a game could be like in which the character looks like the player.
In fact, one of the first notable games to have an “avatar” (and even the game that coined the term) was a game called Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, which came out in 1985 (see the YouTube link below). TRON was released in 1982. It’s entirely possible that Richard Garriott, the creator of Ultima IV saw TRON and took a bit of inspiration from there.
TRON was a look at what the digital world and games in general could become, and having the digital manifestations of the programs look like the real world people who programmed them really ties into what Richard Garriott says when asked about avatars. He wanted people to get a sense that they were making choices as themselves. The characters in TRON act the same way.
In the movie, Alan made Tron as a security program. In the digital world, Tron is a noble warrior who wants to protect programs from evil viruses. It’s the same idea.
In conclusion…
I think it’s entirely likely that TRON inspired a lot of young people when it came out. Steven Lisberger likes to say that the reason it failed was that it was simply ahead of its time, and he was right. Traces of TRON and its story can be seen across video games and the digital world, even today.
I highly recommend you see TRON if you haven’t yet, and I encourage you to over analyze the movie yourself and see if you can spot anything else it predicted. I might just write another post about it one day.
See you next Friday!
-Britton
Richard Garriott talks to Critical Path:
I do not own any media used in today's blog. The use of these images falls under section 107 of the copyright act “fair use,” which allows that a copyrighted image may be used under the pretenses of criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.