Revisit The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant is a full length film that came out in the 90s. The film captures the time period of the late 1950s and the mistrust between the Soviet Union and the United States. The film allows our children to experience what it felt like to be in this time period from a child's perspective.

Quickly, we are immersed into the drama by having the launching of Sputnik as a reason to fear the Soviet Union. The main character is a child. Hogarth (One of my favorite screen names) is living in era of paranoia. Duck and cover was the norm for students at the time. The desks of the 1950s could actually protect you from nuclear attack! How about that.

Then, out of nowhere, Hogarth actually meets a large mysterious robot from parts unknown. The robot suffers from amnesia. Hogarth adopts the robot as we learn there is more to the story. (The robot has experiences regarding moral reason and killing that he is trying to deal with) The writers seamlessly interweave the struggle of the robot in kids terms. As adults, we may worry a bit about the heaviness of the topic of violence. However, the movie keeps a good balance not to overwhelm kids with adult themes.

Another theme is anti-communism. While we never meet a communist in the movie, we sure do mistrust them. Pretty neat concept for kids to learn.
There is a scene in the movie in which Hogarth's class watches a film how to survive a Soviet Attack. It is hard to imagine schools actively engaging in this kind of behavior until we are reminded in the movie how things were back in the 50s.  Our schools were anti-communist teaching environments to ensure kids knew our way was superior.

The Iron Giant is probably one of the first movies I have seen for children that has an anti-gun message. When a deer is killed by hunters in the film. The Giant notices the rifles and say, "Guns Kill." It is repeated throughout the movie. Even at it's climax, when something triggers the Giant to become aggressive, Hogarth reminds the Giant, "Guns Kill People." to save the day.

What I enjoy about the movie is that it does not indoctrinate children. It simply asks them to question reality. Even with guns, our military is not portrayed in a negative manner. Instead, kids see what can happen when guns get into the wrong hands as in the protagonist Mansley.

Overall, this movie helps kids understand Moral Reasoning as they begin to understand the world they live in. When a movie can encourage children to think, it is worth the view.