This past weekend I watched “The Iron Giant,” a Warner Bros. film released in 1999, for the first time. “The Iron Giant” tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a young boy named Hogarth and a mysterious giant robot from outer space. As their friendship grows, the two face challenges from a paranoid government agent that wishes to destroy the robot. For those who have seen the movie, you know that it is heart-breaking and heart-warming simultaneously—it was no surprise that I was left in tears. However, I knew that “The Iron Giant” was a great movie because it kept me thinking long after the credits rolled. Filled with allegories and morals, the movie has quite a bit to say about life and humanity. Here are a few lessons that I picked up from the film:
Life is uncertain.
When the giant arrives on Earth from some unidentified location in outer space, he has no conception of his purpose, where he is from or why he is on Earth. Self-awareness is a struggle. This speaks to both grown-ups and children; we don’t know the meaning of life or our purpose. Life is uncertain and full of mysteries that we will never understand. However, this should not stop us from living life and attempting to discover—or even create—our identities.
Don’t be afraid of what you don’t understand.
Almost immediately, we see the giant not as a danger or weapon, but as a victim. He is misunderstood by everyone except for Hogarth and is feared and, as a result, attacked viciously. We desperately want him to achieve acceptance. The giant is benevolent and only wants to do good, but he never has the opportunity to display his intentions. People have difficulty relating to things that they don’t understand, and so they are afraid. It’s important to keep an open mind because if you give something the benefit of the doubt. Who knows, it may surprise you.
Death is a part of life.
In one scene, the giant learns the value of life and the danger of weapons when hunters kill a deer that the giant had just appreciated. Afterward, when the giant is pondering about this event Hogarth says to him, “Things die. That’s part of life. It’s bad to kill, but it’s not bad to die.” This is a concept that many people struggle to grasp—many people fear death and the idea of nonexistence. However, life is made all the more valuable because of its briefness. Death is natural and a part of life. We must not focus on death and instead appreciate all that life has to offer us.
You choose who you want to be.
The iron giant, although benevolent in nature, has a defense mechanism that causes him to turn into a walking weapon when attacked. He is seemingly unable to control this tendency. However, he almost attacks Garth until Garth says, “You don’t have to be a gun. You are what you choose to be. You choose.” The giant takes this to heart and ends up proving to humanity that he is benevolent by choosing to be the ‘good guy.’ Everyone has the potential to be good or evil—you have the choice as to how you want to act and who you want to become. Nobody but you will prevent you from becoming who you wish to be.
