Well, in this line of work, you tend to get surprised often. For example, I had no idea that I would ever be writing about The Iron Giant unless it was in “top movies to make you cry”.
Ooh, write that down!
The year was 1999…
A far off time, when Kevin Spacey was still being praised for his acting in American Beauty .
Where two polar opposites, Family Guy and Spongebob SquarePants , were making their debuts.
Your favorite writer…
Was only four years old, and a whole generation of kids was getting ready to lie about how they “remember the ’90s” even though they remember the early 2000s more.
One movie…
Came out and not only launched the directorial debut of one of animation’s most prolific directors but also came out with a message that stood, and will continue to stand, the test of time.
That movie was…
Tarzan , one of the greatest Disney movies of all time.
It showed us that people of all types, whether they be ape-man or British person, can teach each other new things.
Oh yeah…
And there was this other movie called The Iron Giant that got criminally under-marketed, thanks to Warner Bros. going over-budget that year.
Eyes Wide Shut , Stanley Kubrick’s last film, got the same treatment.
It was based on an old story by Ted Hughes.
One that he told to his children over five days and eventually turned into a book.
It was hugely popular with children, of course.
Eventually…
A little-known Simpsons writer by the name of Brad Bird decided that it would be his first project, and it was a deeply personal story to him.
He was going through some tragedy at the time…
His sister had just been shot and killed by her estranged husband.
And when he pitched the movie to executives he did so with one sentence:
“What if a gun had a soul?”
The story was about a young boy from Maine who discovers an alien robot.
The two become friends and the government eventually tries to take away the giant robot.
Eventually, the giant saves the day.
The movie itself was unique, stylistic and overall gorgeous.
It had its own style that is not only immediately recognizable but still holds up to this day, twenty years later.
The story itself was awfully familiar if you’ve seen ‘E.T.’, but it was the ending that really set it apart.
While it does end up being a somewhat happy ending, there is a huge underlying sadness to it.
And the message is still as relevant as ever.
One line stands out from a government official:
“You think this metal man is fun, but who built it, the Russians? The Chinese? Martians? Canadians? I don’t care, you are going to tell me about this thing and we are going to destroy it before it destroys us.”
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It’s tells the story about fear of the unknown, of outsiders.
About humanity’s knee-jerk reaction to destroy or get rid of anything that isn’t like themselves, out of fear they themselves will be destroyed.
In this day and age…
Where people are shutting others out of countries, where there is war between religions and people dying for the way they look, the Iron Giant ‘s message is as relevant as ever.
What do you think?
Does The Iron Giant still hold up? Was it one of the only movies to make you cry?
Or am I and many others just a little baby soy-boys for crying at an animated movie?
