7/10/23

"The Iron Giant" Review

The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated movie that was directed by Brad Bird and animated in a time frame that was much shorter than the average time given to a studio to produce a movie. And as I watched it in my basement on my family's big box of a TV, it probably changed my life.

Now, you might be wondering. How does an animated movie that postively flopped at the box office (a tragedy I will never really stop being enraged about) change how I see media? That's a stupid question. Not only is the human mind incredibly impressionable in youth, but also, it's a damn good movie. People's perceptions of media can change all the time based on all types of factors!! But, getting the obvious out of the way, I want to talk about what that movie means to me.

I am very aware of the fact that some of my own perception of this movie is probably very different from the way that the writers, directors, etc. intended this movie to be seen, but I saw myself in the Giant's character, and I want to talk about that. The feelings that I felt about this movie as a child make so much sense while reading it through the way that I did.

Anyways.

The Iron Giant as a Trans Allegory

Rewatching the movie recently made me realize that the Giant's struggle of wanting to be different than what he was "made for" and how the town of Rockwell (representative of cisgender-heterosexual society in this metaphor) either didn't believe that he was not a threat (ie: who he says he is) or they believed him, but only to an extent. All except for Hogarth, the eternal, supportive friend. Hogarth is the one who tells the Giant that "[he] is who [he chooses] to be". That hit me like a schoolbus.