CLICK HERE to view the article on the Scanning the Movies site on Bravo!.
Original Bravo! Broadcast Date: Friday, August 6, 1999
Movies are a powerful marriage of image and sound, an exciting yet complex means of affecting how we feel and even how we think. While many of us understand something about the books we read or the music we hear, we don't necessarily understand as much about the movies we see. Think of this Study Guide as a way to "read" movies, to discover how they work and how they communicate through the magic of story-telling on the big screen.
This Study Guide focuses on Iron Giant, a story of loneliness, paranoia and choosing between violent and peaceful resolutions. It complements the Iron Giant episode of Scanning the Movies, and suggests activities for discussion, writing and research that extend the ideas presented in the video. The suggestions may be addressed during the screening, after stopping at intervals, or after the whole tape has been screened. A remote control may be very helpful in the discussion to pause or freeze specific frames. Not all discussions need to be pursued, nor does the entire tape need to be screened; choose those sections and discussion activities that fit the time and that best match the needs and maturity of the viewers. There are many questions. Possible answers to some of the questions appear [in brackets].
Plot Synopsis
Hogarth Hughes is a bright, active boy who sees a creature from outer space -- an Iron Giant. At first fearful, Hogarth's curiosity drives him to find and face the creature. They become friends, and many adventures ensue. The Iron Giant has to be trained in the ways of Americans, and must be hidden from a military investigator who thinks the Iron Giant has been sent from outer space to destroy America. In the process of the friendship, both Hogarth and Iron Giant learn important things about life.
1. Ambivalent Feelings
Hogarth goes into the forest to seek Iron Giant.
He brings some sheet metal as bait and a camera. Yet when Hogarth meets
Iron Giant, he runs away. Why would Hogarth both seek and fear Iron Giant?
Are there things in our lives that we both seek and fear? What does that
ambivalence say about us?
How does Hogarth overcome his fear of Iron Giant?
2. Role of the Media
Iron Giant contains a strong use of media messages to further the plot and provide context for events: there are newspaper headlines, a TV show, and a TV commercial.
There are at least two headlines. Can you remember them? [Russian Satellite Seen at Night, Catastrophe Imminent and Train Wreck.] How do they add to the feeling of Cold War paranoia, and help us understand the characters' actions?
There is a TV show. What happens? [A scene from a sci-fi story shows a scientist being eaten by an alien brain.] How does it add to the feeling of Cold War paranoia and help us understand the characters' actions? There is a little piece of a TV commercial. If you watched TV in the ‘50s, you might remember the Maypo commercials for a hot cereal, where the child screamed the tag line, "I want my Maypo!"
Why is it significant that the events in Iron Giant occur in 1957? [The launch of sputnik by the Russians sparked a fear that Russia would soon be able to put nuclear weapons into orbit that would threaten the US, and that they were far ahead of the US in scientific achievements. These feelings bred a strong paranoia that strengthened the fears of the Cold War and caused a massive investment in science education.]
Could Iron Giant have been successfully set in 1999? Why? What events or characters would not be believable in a 1999 setting that audiences will accept when set in 1957? [When Kent comes to the door to use the phone, Hogarth and Annie let him in without checking his ID or reasons for needing entrance -- they are not street proofed. In 1999, they would not have let him in, and Kent would have used his cell phone, as Mulder does.] There have been several movies set in the present that depict contact with extra terrestrials (Independence Day, Men in Black, Mars Attacks). How do their depictions of extra terrestrials differ from those in the Iron Giant? Do the humans think about and treat the aliens the same way or do stories have a different feeling in the 90s?
3. It's Language, if you know what I mean
Within the small fishing village are several distinct groups, each with its own language. The movie's writer has carefully given each group its own vocabulary and sentence structure, so we can understand more about them from what they say. Note the language used by Hogarth and his classmates. What words do they use that tells us they are children?
["Mom'll wig out..."
"you little spaz..."
"...bomb it to smithereens."]
When Kent Mansley is questioning Hogarth, he uses falsely friendly language, like "sport, champ, scout, cowboy, etc." but when he speaks with the general, he switches to militaristic language, like "call in a strike."
Dean is unique in the village, with unique dress, lifestyle and language. What are some of the things he says that set him apart from the villagers and identity him as part of the Beat Generation? What was the Beat Generation? Do we have a similar group of people now? Which group would that be?
4. Becoming complete
A major plot element in You've Got Mail is that the two main characters are seeking someone to "complete" their lives, to make them feel whole. The characters spend much of the story seeking this same "completion".
Hogarth is without a father and without friends; Annie is without a husband; Dean has no respect in the art community; the Iron Giant is without a soul. How do the characters find their "completion"? What role does the Iron Giant play in helping them become complete? What would have happened to the process of their finding completion if the Iron Giant had not arrived?
5. What's in a Name?
The Iron Giant is nameless throughout the story, while everyone else is distinctly named: Hogarth, Kent, Annie, etc. What is the significance of The Iron Giant not having a name? Do you think it's important that he never have a name? Why? If you could give him a name, what would it be? Why? What would be the significance of the name?
6. Guys' Pics and Girls' Flicks
There is only one female character in Iron Giant, Annie, and she does not play a key role. There is a strong macho/male environment: Hogarth's classmates are male, the military are all male and Dean is male. Is Iron Giant "a boys' movie"? Can girls enjoy the movie? How? How might Iron Giant be changed so it would appeal more to female viewers? How would the story change if Hogarth's character were a girl? If Annie were replaced by a father? If Dean were replaced by a female artist?
Is Iron Giant male or female? How can we tell? What does the character's body language, tone of voice, activities, and reactions to situations reveal about the Iron Giant's sex? Could the Iron Giant be as easily a female as male? Does the Iron Giant do some things that are more female than male? Why? Does it matter whether the Iron Giant is female or male? Why? Iron Giant is a machine, which doesn't need to be either male or female. Does the story work if we assume it is genderless? Why?
7. Grace Under Fire
Hogarth's saying grace is clever and funny because of its use of language. How is it clever? What makes it funny? [When Hogarth says grace, he uses part of the grace to order the Giant's hand out of the room. He shouts at the hand, then has to incorporate his shouting into the grace so his mother won't suspect anything is wrong. Hogarth's volume and tone has to be loud and imperative when speaking to the hand, then soft and modest when saying grace. As his mother says, his grace is 'unusual.'] Could you create a speech that has two levels of meaning, one for the stated purpose, like saying grace, and the other to warn or scold?
8. Challenging Images
A major challenge in the creation of the movie is the portrayal of the friendship between Hogarth and Iron Giant. Iron Giant is 15 time bigger than Hogarth, yet they appear together and interact in much of the movie. How do the animators put a giant and a boy into a movie frame so that we can see them both and understand their relationship? How are Hogarth's and Iron Giant's points of view communicated? Some scenes are drawn from Hogarth's point of view and some from the Iron Giant's point of view. Why is it important for us to see things from both points of view? What ideas do the two perspectives help us understand? [Hogarth and Iron Giant have very different positions in the story: one is a Maine boy, the other a giant extra-terrestrial. Seeing action from BOTH points of view helps us understand their characters and actions better.]
9. Ground-breaking animation
The director of Iron Giant specifically wanted to use the older, hand-drawn animation style of earlier cartoons. For some reason, however, the Iron Giant character is animated using computer-animation, while Hogarth's character is traditional drawn animation. Could you recognize the difference in the animation styles, or was there a good match between them?
How does the animation of Iron Giant compare to recent animated movies? Does using the older style of animation help make the movie seem like it is part of the culture of the 1950s?
10. Effective Editing
Parallel editing, the technique of cutting back and forth between two locations where action is occurring simultaneously, is used when Hogarth outsmarts Kent and phones Dean to save Iron Giant from discovery by the military. How did the use of parallel editing increase the tension and enjoyment of the movie? Where else have you seen parallel editing used to increase tension in a story?
11. Lessons from the Past
We have a chance to learn some important lessons from Iron Giant. One lesson deals with the qualities of humanity.
Hogarth: "You're made of metal. But you have feelings. You think about things, so that means you have a soul. And souls don't die."
Giant: "Soul...?"
Hogarth: "Mom says it's something inside all good things and it goes on forever and ever."
Does Iron Giant have a soul because it "thinks about things?" In Sphere, a computer thinks about things and makes thoughts real. Does it have a soul? In The Matrix, a computer program creates whole cities and the people inside them. Does it have a soul? In Bladerunner, a cyborg comes to earth to beg its maker to allow it to live. If a machine has artificial intelligence, does it have a soul?
Hogarth tells Iron Giant, "You don't have to be a gun. You can be what you want to be.'" Could Hogarth also be talking to us? How are we encouraged to become guns? How can we choose not to be guns?
12. Iron Giant, part 2?
At the end of the movie, we see Hogarth, Annie and Dean as a family unit at the park and Iron Giant re-assembling in a snow-covered field. A sequel could be made from these ingredients.
If you were the writer of the sequel, what new story would you tell? Would Iron Giant use his peaceful or destructive powers? Would he use both? Would Iron Giant find Hogarth or form a friendship with someone else? Might that someone else be female? An adult? A group of people? If Iron Giant is in a snowy field, it might be in Canada, Scandinavia, Russia, New Zealand or at one of the poles. Would it return to the US or to another country? You can choose any place, time or event from 1957 to the present. What times and places might make the story most interesting?
Write a film treatment for a sequel to Iron Giant.
A film treatment reads like a short story and is a few pages long. Give
your treatment a new title (Iron Giant, part 2 is too boring).
CLICK HERE to view the article on the Scanning the Movies site on Bravo!.
