4 ms·

I kind of like Tron but that statement from the director isn't something I buy. There's no spirit world in Tron's plot- the plot is literally about a guy getti

I kind of like Tron but that statement from the director isn't something I buy. There's no spirit world in Tron's plot- the plot is literally about a guy getting zapped into a machine. If it was the director's intent to depict a "spirit world" or "shaman" , he did a poor job of conveying it. Other movies like "Return to OZ" do a much better job of opening themselves up to non literal interpretations by having ambiguity between the "real" world and the "fantasy" world. What I really get from Tron is it is basically Star Wars with "galaxy far far away" replaced with "CGI computer world". The Tron poster is heavily copied from this famous Star Wars poster: https://www.starwars.com/news/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-original-star-wars-poster https://www.starwars.com/news/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-... Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" influenced Star Wars. So calling your Hollywood formula "mythic" in some fashion was presumably fashionable on account of the success of Star Wars. I kind of like Tron but the plot is very simple, and very literal. It doesn't really come to life the way Star Wars does, or open itself up to interpretation like more symbolic films. If the director really wanted us to see the film as shamanic, he probably shouldn't have used such a clunky plot device as a laser beam that makes someone enter a computer.

goto11 4y ago
> If the director really wanted us to see the film as shamanic, he probably shouldn't have used such a clunky plot device as a laser beam that makes someone enter a computer. That was my favorite scene! But I don't think the director "wanted us to see the film as shamanic". I think this is getting it backwards. The director wanted us to see it as a science-fiction adventure. Star Wars was certainly not the first movie to use science-fiction for mythological or religious themes. Science-fiction is rarely about science.
- anotherman554 4y ago
  It's not that Star Wars was the first movie to use science-fiction for mythological or religious themes but Star Wars is the first I know of famous for being inspired by Joseph Campbell. Joseph Campbell claimed all myths follow the same formula which he called the monomyth. You look at the poster of Tron and it's Luke Skywalker imagined as a computer program with the pose and lightsaber glow from the Star Wars poster. If you buy Joseph's Campbell's claims that all myth follows a formula then adventure film making is about casting a Luke Skywalker Monomyth figure in a difference setting (wild west setting, computer setting, crime ridden urban setting, samurai setting etc.) and just telling the same story over and over and claiming you are doing something spiritual. I don't particularly buy that view of filmmaking but I see the director's comment about Shamanism in that context seeing as Tron seems to borrow a bit of inspiration from Star Wars.
  - goto11 4y ago
    > If you buy Joseph's Campbell's claims that all myth follows a formula I don't. And I don't think anybody who have seriously studied myths and folktales buy it.
    - satisfice 4y ago
      Joseph Campbell was encyclopedic in his education and analysis. Hero With a Thousand Faces persuaded me. But his thesis is not that all mythology boils down to one simple story. His thesis is more like the website tvtropes: there are recurring identifiable patterns in cultural teaching stories.
    - anotherman554 4y ago
      I don't buy Campbell's theories either but I think it's fair to say Joseph Campbell seriously studied myth and folktales and believed his theory so you can't really say nobody who has seriously studied myth and folktales bought into it. I know the director of Mad Max has referenced discussion of Mad Max as a version of the Monomyth, so that's at least two Hollywood directors who were inspired by it, I'm sure there are significantly more.
      - goto11 4y ago
        Oh yeah lots of Hollywood scriptwriters have studied Campbell, it is part of the reason all movies look alike today. I'm just saying it is bullshit that historical myths and folklore follow such a template. But blockbuster movies definitely does these days.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

goto11 4y ago

> If the director really wanted us to see the film as shamanic, he probably shouldn't have used such a clunky plot device as a laser beam that makes someone enter a computer. That was my favorite scene! But I don't think the director "wanted us to see the film as shamanic". I think this is getting it backwards. The director wanted us to see it as a science-fiction adventure. Star Wars was certainly not the first movie to use science-fiction for mythological or religious themes. Science-fiction is rarely about science.

anotherman554 4y ago
It's not that Star Wars was the first movie to use science-fiction for mythological or religious themes but Star Wars is the first I know of famous for being inspired by Joseph Campbell. Joseph Campbell claimed all myths follow the same formula which he called the monomyth. You look at the poster of Tron and it's Luke Skywalker imagined as a computer program with the pose and lightsaber glow from the Star Wars poster. If you buy Joseph's Campbell's claims that all myth follows a formula then adventure film making is about casting a Luke Skywalker Monomyth figure in a difference setting (wild west setting, computer setting, crime ridden urban setting, samurai setting etc.) and just telling the same story over and over and claiming you are doing something spiritual. I don't particularly buy that view of filmmaking but I see the director's comment about Shamanism in that context seeing as Tron seems to borrow a bit of inspiration from Star Wars.
- goto11 4y ago
  > If you buy Joseph's Campbell's claims that all myth follows a formula I don't. And I don't think anybody who have seriously studied myths and folktales buy it.
  - satisfice 4y ago
    Joseph Campbell was encyclopedic in his education and analysis. Hero With a Thousand Faces persuaded me. But his thesis is not that all mythology boils down to one simple story. His thesis is more like the website tvtropes: there are recurring identifiable patterns in cultural teaching stories.
  - anotherman554 4y ago
    I don't buy Campbell's theories either but I think it's fair to say Joseph Campbell seriously studied myth and folktales and believed his theory so you can't really say nobody who has seriously studied myth and folktales bought into it. I know the director of Mad Max has referenced discussion of Mad Max as a version of the Monomyth, so that's at least two Hollywood directors who were inspired by it, I'm sure there are significantly more.
    - goto11 4y ago
      Oh yeah lots of Hollywood scriptwriters have studied Campbell, it is part of the reason all movies look alike today. I'm just saying it is bullshit that historical myths and folklore follow such a template. But blockbuster movies definitely does these days.
- deleted 4y ago
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