Flynn's a showman, at least when he was younger and dumber. Good point about white being a symbol of mourning. It fits the character; even before the coup happened, he had lost so much in the analog world. Encom's board saw him as a cross of madman and cash cow. He met, married, had a kid with, and lost Jordan in the space of about two years. Lora left for DC (ok, those two were such a classic case of "better as friends," but they would have been very good friends). Alan was trying to keep Flynn's ass grounded, but only able to do so much, especially with the board breathing down both their necks. If you're going for some reality in the scenario, then the Great Crash of 1983 took the stuffing out of the American gaming market - even a massive hit like his Tron game would have come out at the worst possible time. The Grid was the only thing that seemed to be working right, and the Iso miracle was just something so unexpected and wonderful that it would have been self-evident to him to help nurture it...but he forgot the Programs don;t think like humans.

And it all falls apart in the most horrible fashion possible. White for purity and passivity (he almost blends into his sterile surroundings), white for morning, white because he is a living ghost.

But black is the color of a Grid citizen. Black is the color of fighters, the Western color for anger, outrage, and mourning (I'm thinking of black armbands worn by anti-war protesters and peace protesters who wear black and hold prayer vigils in the park). At this point, the only things he has left - analog (Sam) and Digital (Quorra) - are in trouble, and enough is enough.

Kaisergrendel Wrote: From a character-driven point of view, I'm not sure Flynn himself is particularly given to such conspicuous symbolism. Heck, I don't think the writers really gave it that much thought.

Young Flynn? I'd say no. As we see him in T:L? Absolutely. Look around his house. The dude rezzed up *crystals*, for heaven's sake. He wears a mala and dresses as if he's living at a Buddhist meditation center. I'd say he's pretty big on symbolism, or he could meditate in jeans and a t-shirt or his pajamas.

If the writers hadn't thought about it, they wouldn't have bothered to put a color change in. It's possible Bridges himself thought of it-- it sounds like he did a lot of directing as far as how Flynn was portrayed-- but SOMEONE clearly thought about it.

I wasn't aware of the Buddhist traditions and wearing white for mourning, but that is a great explanation for the change.

I was wondering if white vs black represents a difference in a program's code or primary task. Wouldn't be an issue w/ users but it seems in Legacy the more "emotional" programs (Sirens / Castor) are in white while the combat driven / security programs are in black. I've read interviews w/ Olivia Wilde where she campaigned to have a white suit (like Joan of Arc) but that was changed to black.

Of course, Uprising kind of screws up this thought because white / black seem to be interchangeable between Beck / Tron.

Kaisergrendel Wrote:I don't disagree with that, I just doubt they had as much time as we do to cook up these explanations. That's the general vibe I get from cast and crew interviews, articles and other literature. In my mind, it's a stretch to think Flynn would be all "Woe is me, I've lost all creation and family. I shall clothe myself in robes of white, and act a swami." But perhaps he would. He is after all, very very old. I just feel inclined to believe otherwise. Of course, fanfic is purely your domain. YMMV.

I don't imagine they spent as much time thinking about it as we do, no-- that's clear about some things because we HAVE to ask questions about them. But I also don't agree that they didn't have a reason for his change. Nor do I think it's entirely out of line to think "in character," even if that goes deeper than the writers actually did and ascribes motives they never intended. The whole film is fictional... so of course I'm going to think in the fictional realm. And perhaps that IS *because* I do fic and try to get into characters' heads, but hell, why not? It's fun to speculate. I think about serious stuff enough all day. Sometimes it's nice to get caught in a fantasy world. If we're going to be practical about it-- for all we know the white one was dirty and they said "what the hell, let's switch him to black, then."

1982program Wrote:I wasn't aware of the Buddhist traditions and wearing white for mourning, but that is a great explanation for the change. I was wondering if white vs black represents a difference in a program's code or primary task. Wouldn't be an issue w/ users but it seems in Legacy the more "emotional" programs (Sirens / Castor) are in white while the combat driven / security programs are in black. I've read interviews w/ Olivia Wilde where she campaigned to have a white suit (like Joan of Arc) but that was changed to black. Of course, Uprising kind of screws up this thought because white / black seem to be interchangeable between Beck / Tron.

I never figured out the difference. How would Zustor and the Sirens be related? How would they be different from every other program on the Grid? The only thing I can guess is that the white was simply because the directors/costumers/whoever wanted them to stick out as different.

Or, if you like-- someone noted that Flynn's white blends in with his house. The armory and EOL Club are also white, so perhaps Zustor and Sirens are meant to blend in with their environments (doubtful, but you never know). I just chalk it up to another one of those things that seems like they probably had a reason for doing X and it made sense in their heads, but unfortunately, they forgot to clue US in on the reasoning. As I've said before in other threads, it happens a lot in this film.