The Iron Giant is an amazing animated film directed by Brad Bird. On its surface, this film is like E.T. in many ways. It is about a boy who befriends a being from outer space (in this case, a giant robot). And, as in E.T., the government is seeking the alien. So what’s different about it, you might ask. It’s the armature. As a matter of fact I heard very few people compare the two films. They each had something different to say, so the similar stuff on the surface didn’t matter much.
In the story of The Iron Giant, the robot is damaged when it gets to earth. Later, after befriending the boy, the kindly robot remembers that it is programmed to be a weapon of mass destruction. In fact, it nearly vaporizes the boy by accident. Now, the robot has an internal conflict. Will it give in to its programming (its nature) or rise above it? From what I understand, when Mr. Bird pitched the story, he said, “What if a gun had a conscience and didn’t want to be a gun anymore?” That was his armature. In the film it is stated this way: “You are who you choose to be.”
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