Warner Bros is usually known (in terms of animation) for its various projects surrounding the Looney Toons and all the DC superheroes. However, it did venture unsuccessfully with other projects such as Osmosis Jones. Another film it made was The Iron Giant. Although it was successful critically, it failed at the box-office. This film was about a giant robot that crashed into Earth from somewhere else in the universe and how a boy befriends it and struggles to keep it a secret from the government. This film is an enjoyable watch, but more than that it is heart-warmingly inspirational with other messages included too.
The Iron Giant is a very intriguing film just from the idea of the robot alone. But it turns out to have a lot of depth behind it. http://www.deviantart.com/art/
First and most obviously the film presents anti-war and anti-gun messages. To start with the film is set during the Cold War and at a time when paranoia was at its pinnacle as the Russians had just launched a the first satellite into space, showing their capability to bomb America from a very long distance. In Hogarth's school there are video warns of how to "protect" oneself from this sort of attack. Not only that but Hogarth's dad died as fighter pilot, leaving his family struggling to survive. Thus when it emerges the Iron Giant is from space some are scared it was from the Russians to destroy America. However, the robot never wants to destroy anything other than guns themselves and wants to protect and save all that he can shown throughout the film. When he first encounters guns they are they cause of the death of an innocent woodland deer, whom the giant has a certain affinity for. Guns, Hogarth tells him, are bad. Thus whenever guns, even if just toys, are around the robot he goes into a selfdefense mode. He sees guns as an evil force and whenever he is accused of being a gun he vehemently denies it. At the same time as showing all this it does not show the army itself and its generals as the bad guys. They were willing to stop and listen to reason. The real bad guy is the one who would use war for nothing more than personal power, and under the guise of protection or justice.
Although this film is very anti-gun and anti-war the army is not the antagonists, it is a private citizen, Mansley. http://www.deviantart.com/art/
However, the main message I got from the film was more about what you want to do with live and how you should pick your goals and follow them no matter what because this will make you happy. We can see this is played out by the robot's inner battle between being a gun vs something more. This problem is first posed to the Iron Giant when Hogarth brings him his comic books. Having fixed the railway (not entirely successfully), Hogarth claims the robot is like Superman, he is a good guy. However the robot sees a comic book underneath about an evil robot called 'Atomo the Metal Menace' who seemingly destroys all in his wake. Despite looking more like Atomo, Hogarth reassures the giant he is who he wants to be. When confronted with guns and the stag's death the giant realises he does not want to be a gun obviously because of what they create, or rather destroy. The iron giant will endeavour to be like superman and not like Atomo or like guns that only aim at destruction. However, due to the setting of the film, where the mass population is paranoid of Russian attack especially with weapons from space (because this is just after Sputnik's launch). This is precisely what Mansley thinks of the giant and this is what means that, when Mansley is able to produce evidence of the giant for the army's general, a large amount of men, tanks and even battleships are sent to destroy the giant.
The Iron Giant choose to be Superman, not Atomo the Metal Menace. http://fc09.
Throughout the film, the Iron Giant shows he is really gentle giant. The fact that he lived in the forest and his connection to nature showed how peaceful his spirit is to begin with. The way he can play with Hogarth and help Dean with his art further show he is not out to destroy humanity. However, the fears surrounding him become true when he is playing with Hogarth and Hogarth points a toy gun at him. The giant, acting in self defence and anger towards guns, produces a laser beam and fires at Hogarth. Dean thus kicks him out. Likewise when the army meets him and attacks him he eventually turns into this walking medley of laser guns destroying all in his path. However, before this we are reminded this is not the Iron Giant's inclination as first the giant saves a child from falling to his death, Dean realising his mistake and more importantly, when the army is shooting at him, especially as he is flying and the fighter jets shoot at him, the giant tries to control his anger/self-defence mechanism. Although this is unsuccessful Hogarth is able to calm him down, saying "you are what you choose to be". This leads to the giant's redemption and metamorphosis, not into Atomo again, but into Superman. He is now the protector, telling Hogarth not to follow rather than the other way around, and his change into Superman is emphasised with the S on his chest. During this the robot is happy, "I am Superman" he says to himself in complete joy, having fulfilled his dream. He is not the angry force of destruction he despises but utterly happy. This joy is continued even past his destruction as his pieces are rebuilding around his smiling head in Iceland.
Overall this idea of being what you want to be is further emphasised by how childlike the giant is shown to be throughout the film. The giant does not know how to speak and has to be taught this, along with the difference of a rock and a tree. Admittedly is world could be much different but the way he repeats and asks questions of Hogarth was so childlike. The fact that he is lead and commanded by someone as young as Hogarth shows how immature the giant is. It really seems like he is Hogarth's younger brother who tags along with him. The giant continues to act childlike through the film, playing with Hogarth in numerous different ways. The iron giant thus represents all children and the film says how they have the potential to be and do whatever they want. We should not expect them to be something in particular like everyone in the film (bar a few) expected the giant to be a gun. We should encourage them just like Hogarth and Dean encouraged the giant to be what it wanted to be.
The Iron Giant chooses to be Superman and fulfills his dream with an act of heroism. http://geektyrant.
In fact, this whole idea is actually played out by Dean, the scrapyard artist who turns his pieces of scrap metal into pieces of art, if you could call them that. Dean sometimes talked about his life as a struggling artist and said how people buy and steal his pieces of scrap metal for their value but when he turns it into art they won't touch it, implying how bad it is. However, he keeps pushing on with his dream despite probably being more financially sound if he just bought and sold pieces of scrap metal, rather than spending all his time making them into art. However, this is what Dean loves and during the ending of the film we learn that he is the one who made the statue of the Iron Giant and he continues to live his dream happily. Although never directly confronted on his lifestyle choices I think we can tell from Dean and his conversations with Hogarth he had this in the past or does it himself. He is in fact the one that tells Hogarth that "You are who you choose to be", which is then later applied to the robot in its internal conflict. In addition, after telling the robot to get lost, Dean is the first one (well after Hogarth) to see that the giant wants to be peaceful and was acting in self-defense. Dean then becomes the robot's biggest defender in talking to the army. Dean has lived this life of being what people expect and what is the easy route but choosing to live the way you want to live and he thus sees this conflict within the robot and tries to help it.
The Iron Giant is a great watch for many reasons. It was one that had a happy ending but unlike most cliched kids' movies it was not overly expected to happen this way. The happiness I felt at the end wasn't forced like many other children's animated movies. But more importantly it portrayed messages about war and being who want to be that I felt were slightly inspiration and heartwarming. The Iron Giant has a cult following nowadays, not just for the character it shows but also for the values it represents. I would also like to add how this was based on a book but was changed dramatically to portray similar values in a different way, which the original author was delighted by with the results.
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