Wonkette Movie Night: The Iron Giant
'You are who you choose to be.'
It is 1957 and an outsider has arrived in Rockwell, Maine. The outsider comes from beyond what we know, a being from beyond our Earthly boundaries.
Crashing into the ocean, a massive metal monster rises above the waves, surprising a desperate boat captain, his vessel sinking after smashing into the unknown behemoth. The seaman escapes to the shore but everyone ignores his fish tale, it is not a white whale nor a mermaid, it is unknown and unbelievable. So of course he calls the government, because that is a thing you could do in the 1950s. And the government sends agent Kent Mansley (c’mon with the name, might as well have been Dick Moore).
A person reporting an alien/immigrant arrival would probably receive a larger response in 2026 from the government, but the 1950s loved demonizing an other, so everything old is new again. Weird/Not Weird how things go through the Cuisinart of history and just show up in another form.
Hogarth Hughes, a young boy, has discovered the visitor munching on metal and entangled in high power lines and saves him.
The federal agent Mansley is assigned to the case. He is creepy and manipulative, driven by ambition to find the giant. He knows the possibilities of military power this iron giant presents and he doesn’t care who it hurts. But the Iron Giant we see is loving and protective, it is not built to destroy but to protect.
As he interviews the young boy, Agent Mansley proves himself worthy of a top spot in the current administration with statements like this:
“You can learn this Hogarth, I can do anything I want, whenever I want, if I feel it’s in the people’s best interest.”
Agent Mansley believes the “people’s best interest” involves total destruction of the newcomer, even if that hurts all around him. He is so blinded to destroy what he perceives as the enemy that he doesn’t realize till it is too late that all that surrounds him includes himself.
But the Iron Giant is a protector and has come to understand love and friendship better than his human foe. The Iron Giant feels love and all that comes with it, although he presents as an unfeeling monstrous robot, he is not necessarily a “he” or unfeeling or a monster. The young boy Hogarth insists that the Iron Giant is not an “it” but a “he” as a way of imparting humanity on them.
Did I just turn this into something involving enby issues. Yes I did.
As I was writing this I was also reading Robyn’s piece.
Newsmax Guy: Why Do We Never See Aliens Peeing Standing Up, And Are Women To Blame?
Things aren’t going especially well for MAGA lately, and while many right-wing grifters are looking to distance themselves from Donald Trump and his terrible Iran War decisions, others are doing their best to change the subject to things they can all agree on — that transgender people are scary and it’s important for people to be mean to them, or that t…
The Iron Giant is definitely alien in nature but the movie makes a point about saying that he is a he as a reflection of its humanity. Although there is little to suggest that the Iron Giant is either male or female. I would hope that a remake would change that thinking. Many have wanted an Iron Giant 2, the ending of the film leaving open that possibility, including some fan inspired videos.
The Iron Giant stars Vin Diesel, Eli Marienthal, Jennifer Anniston, Christopher McDonald, Harry Connick Jr., Mary Kay Bergman, M. Emmett Walsh, and John Mahoney. Directed by Brad Bird.
The Iron Giant is available with subscription on Howdy (free trial available). Free with ads on YouTube. $3.99 in the usual places.
To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules go to WonkMovie.
The animated short is Coquille by ESMA.
Next week’s Movie Night selection is getting an early start on 420 celebrations, it’s Wayne’s World.
Wayne’s World is free with ads on Pluto TV, with subscription on Paramount+. $3.99 in the usual places.
𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀:
Brad Bird was in part inspired to make this film as a memorial to his sister Susan, who died at the hands of her estranged husband by gun violence. His pitch was this: "What if a gun had a soul and didn't want to be a gun?"
𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀:
The 1999 film is based on a novel "The Iron Man". The author of the novel, Ted Hughes (who bears the same name as the characters Annie and Hogarth Hughes), wrote the novel as a way of comforting his children after the suicide of their mother Sylvia Plath.