Aahana Swrup
‘Tron: Ares,’ the third installment in the titular franchise, centers around familiar company names, ENCOM and Dillinger Systems, but under new leadership. Both companies are still working towards revolutionizing the tech industry, albeit in vastly different ways. Under Julian Dillinger’s guidance, the company is making a hard pivot to military AI, manufacturing ways to bring their exceptional security program, Ares, out of the virtual world and into the real one. However, in order to achieve this feat, at least for longer than 29 minutes, Julian needs to get his hands on Kevin Flynn’s “Permanence Key.” Thus, Eve Kim, ENCOM’s co-CEO, who is also on a quest to locate the code, becomes a prime target. Fortunately for her, as Ares receives his directive to track her down, he begins questioning his own loyalty to the unethical tech CEO. As the new protagonist of the franchise, Eve, a world-class programmer and the revitalizer of Kevin Flynn’s Space Paranoids video game, remains a crucial building block in the film’s overarching narrative.
Eve Kim is a Fictional Tech CEO Who Grounds Tron: Ares in Humanity
In ‘Tron: Ares,’ the narrative builds upon the pre-existing ‘Tron’ franchise, continuing the story of ENCOM and its fascinating technological progression. As a result, given the fictionality of the sci-fi franchise, the film itself also remains confined within a fictitious narrative. By extension, Eve Kim also largely remains a work of fiction, created in the service of propelling forward the on-screen world where the line between the virtual and reality blurs. After Sam Flynn, son of the original protagonist, Kevin, disappears at the end of ‘Tron: Legacy,’ the ENCOM company sees new management in the Kim sisters, Eve and Tess, who take over as CEOs. After Tess’ tragic death, Eve, one of the best programmers in the world, sets herself up on a mission to finish what her sister started and uncover Kevin’s permanence key in order to progress ENCOM’s world-changing innovation.
All of these elements intimately connect Eve’s narrative to that of her predecessor, Kevi, who also dreamt of curing illnesses and making life on Earth better through his technological advancements. Nonetheless, her character brings a new, distinctly modern touch to the storyline. Although this distinct characterization wasn’t based on any particular real-life tech CEO, actress Greta Lee found some inspiration and influence from various experts in the field. Eve’s character deals with the more innovative side of the tech world, including Artificial Intelligence, which makes her narrative pretty relevant to the contemporary world of the 2020s despite the story’s sci-fi and cyberpunk roots. As a result, in order to ensure these relevant topics are properly articulated through her character, Lee and her creative collaborators chose to consult many industry experts, including the scientists from Caltech (California Institute of Technology).
Additionally, Lee also got to know Dr. Fei-Fei Li, who is known as the Godmother of AI, over the course of working on the project. The pioneering computer scientist has a cameo appearance in the film, wherein she plays her on self on screen. As the actress got to know the computer scientist better, she took some inspiration from Li’s reality as an industry giant, especially as a woman in a male-dominated field. However, more importantly, she was struck by the scientist’s focus on advocacy for human-centric tech in relation to the future of AI. As a result, she interjected these lessons into Eve’s character, highlighting her casual humanity as she remains surrounded and even submerged in a technological world. In a conversation with Disney, Lee spoke about her character and said, “I think I’m always really fascinated by regular people who find themselves in an extraordinary situation, and in that unexpected moment in their lives, they have to become superhuman. (And) That’s Eve for me.”
Space Paranoids Was a Fictional Game, Which Became Real Over Time
Space Paranoids has been a part of the lore of ‘Tron’ since the first 1982 film. The on-screen arcade game, developed by programmer and game developer Kevin Flynn, remains a crucial plot point in the character’s narrative. In ‘Tron: Ares,’ the game has been revived and revitalized by Eve Kim, who has managed to take it to entirely new heights. The game now sports a widespread, fanatic fan base and has become a relevant part of the fictional world’s cultural zeitgeist. Interestingly enough, the on-screen game’s connection to reality remains fascinating. Initially, when Space Paranoids made its debut in ‘Tron,’ the video game was very much a fictional element confined within the film.
However, as the franchise grew more and more popular, so did Kevin Flynn’s on-screen video game. As a result, Space Paranoids ended up being developed into a real-life game as a part of a promotional strategy. In the lead-up to the 2010 sequel film ‘Tron: Legacy,’ 42 Entertainment developed the game into an arcade version that first debuted at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. Eventually, the game was released online in 2010. The action-adventure game is a first-person shooter in which the player earns points by destroying hostile vehicles and weaponry. The game’s revival in ‘Tron: Ares’ strengthens the third film’s roots in the overarching franchise and further entangles Eve’s narrative with Kevin Flynn.
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