Posts Tagged ‘dead dads’
New Tron Movie Has Daddy Issues [So Do I]
The new Tron movie has daddy issues.
So do I.
‘Tron: Legacy’ is the sequel to the 1982 film ‘Tron‘. I’d say ‘classic’ but if I’m being honest (and I always am, ahem) I don’t remember the original film well enough to call it a classic. I’m not sure if anyone else would agree. More on that later.
A new trailer was revealed at the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC). Here it is:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s8goEO7ma4]
The movie looks like a lot of fun. What caught me by surprise were the daddy issues on display.
Jeff Bridges’ character Kevin Flynn appears to have had a son named Sam (played by Garrett Hedlund) at some point between 1982 and now. (It’s possible he had one in the original film; like I said, I don’t remember.) From the trailer, it looks as if poppa Flynn disappeared when Sam was a little guy, and no one knows what happened. Cue the title card — “20 years later”. Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner, also returning from the original film, although he isn’t playing the Tron character this time) gets a page from dad’s office number, which has been disconnected for 20 years. (When was the last time he used that pager? Was it in storage all this time?) Sam Flynn enters Flynn’s Arcade, which is all wrapped up in saran. He is absorbed into the Tron world, or whatever it was called. Nerds everywhere pop geeky boners. He rides a lightcycle and throws those cool-looking disc things. Boners get bigger. Hot girl in tight cyber suit (Olivia Wilde). Boners get more valid.
During all of this, the bad guy, Clu 2.0 reveals his face. It’s the same face as Sam’s dad, Kevin. No beard, though.
Daddy Kevin is trapped somewhere, and Sam must find him. He also needs a shave. (If I were trapped in cyber world, I wouldn’t shave either.)
Not earth-shattering stuff I suppose. But big-time daddy issues.
“Hi Daddy!”
Oh, the daddy issues. Have we mentioned the daddy issues? Think about it. Kevin Flynn, Sam’s dad, disappeared when he was young. (8 years old? 9? Something like that.) Sam never found out why. (I’m guessing about this part.) After 20 years, his father’s former business partner tells him that Kevin paged him from a number that has been disconnected since dad fell off the face of the Earth. Sam goes to the arcade dad used to run, gets digitized, and discovers that the evil overlord of cyber world is someone who LOOKS JUST HIS FATHER. BUT! It’s not his father. His father is trapped somewhere and he must go and get him out.
My dad died when I was 10; this plotline could have been pulled directly from my brain. I’ve had several dreams over the years where I find out that my father has been alive all this time, living somewhere else. Usually I ask why he didn’t contact me. He has an answer but I can’t remember what it is. Even in the dream, I don’t think I really hear him. I vaguely recall a couple of dreams where he said something about not wanting to upset me, which of course makes sense since it is MUCH better to believe your father is dead than it is to find out he’s been alive but didn’t want to tell you. (OK, breathe… OK. OK.)
In ‘Tron: Legacy’, Sam finds out his dad is alive, trapped, and he can save him — from a bad guy that looks exactly like his dad. (Without facial hair, as noted.)
For me, this raises more issues than Life Magazine.
An older trailer (dated March 29, 2010) has a longer version of the “your dad paged me” scene. Sam says, “You think I’m going to find him… sorry kid, lost track of time?” “Wouldn’t that be something.”
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVJwwbTc98c]
Yeah. It would, wouldn’t it. Too bad it’s only a movie.
(BTW, the movie looks awesome, but I may have to check my emotions at the door when I see it with the kids. It would be way too hard to explain why dad is getting upset during a film in which the major attraction is CGI light cycles.)
Trailer via YouTube; originally seen on Topless Robot – It’s Jeff Bridges Vs. Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy.
Roseanne Cash Defended Her Dad
In August of 2008, during the Presidential election campaign, Roseanne Cash defended her dad. This is old news but I only just saw it, so I’m sharing.
When you have a dad as famous as Johnny Cash, you have to be a bit more vigilant about people taking his name in vain. In the case of my father, it kind of doesn’t matter, although I have been contacted by a couple of people on Facebook about my long-deceased dad. However, while those people may be saying something about my dad that isn’t true, that (a) wouldn’t really bother me and (b) they are unlikely to claim that he would support a particular Presidential candidate. If for some reason they did make that claim, I doubt anyone would care.
Not so in the case of Roseanne Cash’s dad. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Johnny Cash. Had kind of a big music career.
In 2008, country nudnik John Rich proclaimed that “Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around.” Roseanne replied by saying “screw you John Rich”. Well, she used a few more words than that.
“It is appalling to me that people still want to invoke my father’s name, five years after his death, to ascribe beliefs, ideals, values and loyalties to him that cannot possibly be determined and to try to further their own agendas by doing so. I knew my father pretty well, at least better than some of those who entitle themselves to his legacy and his supposed ideals, and even I would not presume to say publicly what I ‘know’ he thought or felt.”
“Screw you John Rich” actually sums it up pretty well.
I’m amused by the idea that someone would vote for anyone based on the endorsement of a celebrity. I can understand seeing a movie because a reviewer whose opinion you trust says that the movie is good. But I didn’t vote for Barack Obama because Bruce Springsteen said I should. I voted for him because he wasn’t John McCain. (OK, I liked Obama well enough. I just didn’t have the delusional idea that he was going to save our souls. But that’s another topic.)
As for Johnny Cash, who knows who he would have supported in the last Presidential race. Wikipedia says that Cash “was friendly with every United States President starting with Richard Nixon.” But before you say “ah-HA!” and declare The Man in Black to be a card-carrying member of the GOP, read this: “He was closest with Jimmy Carter, who became a very close friend. He stated that he found all of them personally charming, noting that this was probably essential to getting oneself elected.” That information is from Cash: The Autobiography, according to Wikipedia.
Bottom line — when it comes to the potential voting preferences of famous dead parents, don’t take the word of self-serving singers.
