The Iron Giant Deals with History Added: 11/29/2007

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Movies are a part of our culture. There are many different movies to suit different people’s tastes. Therefore, it is possible that most people both in America and abroad have gone to the movie theater now and then. Going to the movies is a way to relax and release the stress and the tension of the day or the week at work or at home. Going to the movies is also a way for many people who love the same thing, mainly movies, to share in the experience of watching a movie and commenting on it through the emotions of anger, sadness, and happiness. In short, many movie lovers like to laugh, cry, and yell while watching movies at the movie theater. Movie lovers like to go to the movies all year round; however the big movie season seems to take place in the summertime and during the wintertime holidays because these are the two times of year that people spend the most time with their friends and family. During both the summertime and the winter holidays, there seems to be many animated films at movie theaters for movie lovers to enjoy. This year’s crop of animated movies included Meet the Robinsons, Ratatouille, Bee Movie, and Enchanted. However, there was an interesting animated film back in 1999 called the Iron Giant. Both Ratatouille and the Iron Giant were directed by Brad Bird. Now let’s take a bit of a closer look at the animated movie called the Iron Giant.

The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated comedy science fiction film. Did you know that this animated movie was nominated for both the Nebula Award for Best Script and for the Hugo Award for Dramatic Presentation? Did you also know that the movie version of the Iron Giant is loosely based on a 1968 children’s book written by Ted Hughes called the Iron Man? The voice cast for this animated science fiction includes musician and actor Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston, and Vin Diesel. The Iron Giant is set during the Cold War in October of 1957, where a giant metal robot, called the Iron Giant crash lands just off the coast of Rockwell, Maine. An interesting fact in this movie is that when the Iron Giant crashes on Earth, he has a large dent on the top of his head.

This animated science fiction comedy film centers on a young boy named Hogarth Hughes who rescues the Iron Giant from electrocution and grateful the childlike giant becomes friends with him. Hogarth’s mission in the movie is to stop a military force led by a general and an egoistical federal agent from finding and destroying the Giant because they are afraid of him. Did you know that there are many interesting references to the Cold War, the McCarthy Era, instructional films of the 1950s such as Duck and Cover, and science fiction films and television of the day? This animated movie has a great tag line which is “It came from outer space.”

The Iron Giant does end up getting destroyed because he collides with a missile. However, in the Spring of 1958, there is a metal stature of the Giant is sculpted and placed in a park as a monument and Hogart is given the only piece of the Giant that was recovered after the explosion. The movie ends with the Giant’s body parts traveling to a glacier in Iceland because of its self repair mechanism and the Giant’s eyes lit up and it smiles. Therefore, it seems like the Iron Giant will live to fight another day, someday.

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