Dear Mr. Disney,
I went to the local movie theatre and saw your latest offering called Tron Legacy. Part way through, I had to pick the wax out of my ears. Did I hear what I thought I heard? Did you have your main character, played by Jeff Bridges (the older one), say: “Information wants to be free?” WTF?
Need I remind you that you are one of the world’s largest media conglomerates? That you are a long-time proponent of DRM and infinite copyright terms? That your mouse bites? Was this a momentary lapse? That line properly belongs to the EFF and net neutrality advocates. Or there’s the variant: “Culture wants to be free.” That comes from Lawrence Lessig.
Are you suddenly trying to sound cool? Are you suddenly trying to ingratiate yourself with hacker culture? What gives? Just between you and me, you don’t really pull it off. You’re too blue chip. And with a couple of homicides in that perfect town of yours, let’s be blunt, you have some image problems to work through. It’s a question of trust. When one of your characters (and a good guy no less) says: “Information wants to be free,” we don’t think you really mean it. There must be a catch.
In a way, Tron Legacy illustrates the dictum: “Information wants to be free.” Tron is a piece of cultural appropriation. Jeff Bridges (the older one) plays a Prospero figure to Olivia Wilde’s Miranda and Garrett Hedlund’s Ferdinand. In case you’ve forgotten, those characters come from a play called The Tempest by a guy named Shakespeare. But Tron seems equally indebted to another story, written only a few years after The Tempest. I’m thinking of Milton’s Paradise Lost. Jeff Bridges (the younger one) plays a fallen angel named Clu, a kind of Lucifer who would rather reign in an integrated circuit board than play second banana in Disneyland.
Mr. Disney, you haven’t acknowledged any of your sources. But that’s nothing new. Most kids have never heard of the Brothers Grimm and seem to think you’re the one who came up with Snow White. Technically, you don’t have to acknowledge your sources since they belong in the public domain. I mean, it’s not as if Shakespeare or Milton are going to come knocking at your door.
But there’s still this business of “Information wants to be free.” The person who said that is still alive and maybe you need to acknowledge him. In case you’ve forgotten, his name is Stewart Brand.
Yours truly, Dave
p.s. I actually paid to see your movie. You don’t need to worry about me downloading an illegal copy. Your movie doesn’t bear watching again. To be honest, it didn’t bear watching the first time. Visually interesting, but what you did to the story! You’re just a second-rate hack.