Sci-Fi movie compare and contrast essay Interstellar & Tron: Legacy

1. 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 systemat 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.

2. 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 themalong 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” systemfor 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”, SamFlynn 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.

3. 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