Latest news from the Asterbrain Pattern-Recognizer: How a butt joke led to a religious analysis of the whole TRON 1982 cast.
So, today, for… strange and mysterious Aster-specific reasons… I was looking for a character who could be written as Catholic.
And because Tron is always on my brain, I went straight for those characters.
Now, though I was technically raised Roman Catholic, my own family’s faith and customs were pretty secular, and I certainly never developed any notion that I could know other Catholics on sight.
And, while TRON leans heavily into religious themes from the Program viewpoint, the Users don’t say or do much that would indicate their own religion. All I can think of, offhand, is a few references to Christmas– so brief and vague that they might not even be enough to imply anyone being Christian.
So, we might just have to go by character names… and the associations that an audience familiar with stereotypes and archetypes would have with them.
Alan Bradley: Both given name and surname seem to be British in origin; could be coded as Anglican or Methodist or some other form of Protestant, but in the absence of other clues I don’t think viewers would give much thought to his religion or his ethnic background. He’s basically designed to look like 1980’s American audiences’ idea of the most normal, standard everyday guy.
Lora Baines: Probably also of British origin, though that spelling of the first name is uncommon. Like Alan, there might be some vague assumption of Protestantism, but not a whole lot of thought given to it.
Walter Gibbs: Last name, again, seems to come from England, and the actor’s accent sounds to me like maybe it’s attempting to be British… but that might just be how older Hollywood actors had been trained to talk, back then. I hear similar voices in old movies a LOT. Again I’m not sure audiences would immediately think anything about his religion (although his line about programs and their “spirits” ties very closely into the… animism of the whole digital-world side of things).
(Wow, so far lots of names from England, and lots of reinforcement of the idea that those names are so default as to go unnoticed. Probably says something about society, and/or about me and my viewpoint on it. …Moving on.)
Ed Dillinger: that surname seems to have originated separately in both Germany and England; going by his accent it’s clearly England, so audiences would probably guess Anglican. (If they thought anything about that name at all beyond the 1930’s gangster connotation.)
Roy Kleinberg: very unambiguously Jewish name, thank you Legacy and The Next Day! (as of 1982 we only knew him as Popcorn Coworker, which could have been anything, since there is, to my knowledge, no religion with dietary restrictions against popcorn.)
Kevin Flynn: …okay! this is the most Irish name I have seen in a long time! We may have our Catholic-coded character, folks. (Although he might be primarily “luck of the Irish” coded, LOL.)
(they found him under the rainbow, like a leprechaun on his pot of gold)
And, completing this analysis, I’ve found that it felt much more worthwhile than the joke I had in mind when I started.
Truly, the journey outweighs the destination here.
Yes, my idea did require a Catholic and someone else unfamiliar with Catholicism– the joke itself remaining agnostic on which of them, exactly, was being made fun of.
But it was such a silly, throwaway joke that could have been a two-line shitpost, and certainly did not NEED to be about Tron characters.
My mind, though, will go off on whatever tangents it wishes.
….the butt joke, in case you wanted it:
“So, you Catholics only listen to the Pope when he is… talking out of his ass?” “His seat, man. Cathedra means seat.”
I’ve seen people suggest that Alan might have Irish ancestry. Rudimentary googling suggests the last name Bradley could be English, Scottish, or Irish in origin. His original last name (If the Tron wikia is right) Bailey is English or Scottish. I’ve never seen Scottish Alan headcanoned, but that could be interesting.
omfg that would be a mess. What if Tron follows Alan’s version of Irish religion and Clu follows… oh damn
the Irish Reunification of (Clu and Flynn reintegrate and the Grid explodes)
… Now, for some horrible sleep-deprived reason I’m imagining Kevin Flynn trying to apply a Catholic background to his governance of the Grid
Like, hesitant to actually claim he’s their God, but the closest thing he has for a reference for “mortal human with God powers” is the freakin Pope
“hey Clu why don’t you chill out and come play Lightcycles with us for once”
“I am working on this debug routine, I can’t just stop, you told me it has to be perfect”
“I wasn’t speaking ex cathedra when I said that, man”
“How am I supposed to know when you’re talking out of your seat, Flynn? It’s not like I can SEE commands coming outta your backend code”
“that’s a metaphor. The seat represents speaking from my position of authority. Like the throne the Pope sits in. In his cathedral, that’s how it got the name”
“you really are talking out of your ass now. Talking through a throne? …Wait. Is that like another way to pronounce Tron? Are you saying TRON is your selected representative in this world??”
“maybe he should be, if you’re more likely to listen to him than me! Hey Tron. Tell Clu to chill out and come ride bikes with us”
“I don’t know, Flynn. You did tell us we have to get these servers upgraded by next micro. I’m not convinced you’re talking out of your catheter right now.”
