Post by klep on Dec 17, 2018 7:56:11 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 12/17: The Iron Giant
ANIMATION WEEK!
Most animated films targeted at children don't go this hard. They'll have some conflict - perhaps even a good vs. evil struggle - but the bad guy will either have some relatively mundane goal that just happens to mean a lot to the protagonists, or they'll have some global domination/world ending goal that is so over the top that it doesn't feel real. Taking either of these paths softens the blow, makes it feel like evil is either distant or easily managed.
Brad Bird's Iron Giant makes evil much more immediate, consequential, and relevant. Backgrounded by the height of the Cold War, his film shows how paranoia can twist minds with fear and cause people to do terrible things - and allow terrible people to take advantage of them. The up-close, personal evil of one man nearly dooms an entire town to nuclear annihilation, and only the self-sacrifice of a being choosing to be good is able to save them.
Make no mistake, Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) is evil. From the first moment we see him it's obvious he views the people around him with contempt, assured in his own superiority. And when he learns that young Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) may know of his quarry, he proceeds to stalk, intimidate, and threaten a young child - leaving Hogarth's mother Annie (Jennifer Aniston) entirely in the dark as to the torment he is visiting upon her son.
Mansley's evil is bred of fear. He's so swept up with Cold War paranoia that anything which could potentially disrupt the delicate balance between the superpowers is an existential threat which must be destroyed. He's not interested in finding out what fell from the sky, he's only interested in its destruction. And his fear is so great there are no depths to which he will not stoop. He'll torture a child, he'll frame someone for murder, and he'll even call in a nuclear strike on a civilian population.
Bird shows us this evil in order to demonstrate the nobility of the Iron Giant (Vin Diesel). The Giant was built as a warbot, and violence is something that comes easily to it. When it gets threatened, it lashes out in reflex - adopting its war posture and devastating the military forces arrayed against it. It's completely at odds with the compassionate, caring Giant we've spent the film learning to love. But Hogarth is able to remind the Giant that it has a choice - it doesn't have to succumb to fear and hate. It can choose to be good.
It's a powerful message to be sending to young kids, and a great one. Mansley is just a normal guy who succumbed to the darkness inside him. Bombarded by messages of paranoia and fear, he decided it was best to be the one to create the fear and sow the destruction. The Giant was literally made for destruction - a warbot used to annihilate civilizations. But it chose to go against its nature. Despite everything against it - its creation, its upbringing, and the fears and hatred of people around it it chose to help them. It chose to be good.
You are who you choose to be. And you always have a choice.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 12/24: Seven Beauties
CHRISTMAS COUNTER-PROGRAMMING WEEK!
I know basically nothing about this film other than that it was in the voting 4 times before you guys finally selected it, so it must be pretty good. Join us next week as we talk about the first film to have a woman nominated for Best Director! Seven Beauties is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 12/18: The Favourite
The current podcast edition's pairing about social politics between women concludes next week with Yorgos Lanthimos' new The Favourite, about the scramble to keep the Queen's ear in Queen Anne's court. Join us Wednesday for our discussion of this film, still in theaters.
ANIMATION WEEK!
Most animated films targeted at children don't go this hard. They'll have some conflict - perhaps even a good vs. evil struggle - but the bad guy will either have some relatively mundane goal that just happens to mean a lot to the protagonists, or they'll have some global domination/world ending goal that is so over the top that it doesn't feel real. Taking either of these paths softens the blow, makes it feel like evil is either distant or easily managed.
Brad Bird's Iron Giant makes evil much more immediate, consequential, and relevant. Backgrounded by the height of the Cold War, his film shows how paranoia can twist minds with fear and cause people to do terrible things - and allow terrible people to take advantage of them. The up-close, personal evil of one man nearly dooms an entire town to nuclear annihilation, and only the self-sacrifice of a being choosing to be good is able to save them.
Make no mistake, Kent Mansley (Christopher McDonald) is evil. From the first moment we see him it's obvious he views the people around him with contempt, assured in his own superiority. And when he learns that young Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) may know of his quarry, he proceeds to stalk, intimidate, and threaten a young child - leaving Hogarth's mother Annie (Jennifer Aniston) entirely in the dark as to the torment he is visiting upon her son.
Mansley's evil is bred of fear. He's so swept up with Cold War paranoia that anything which could potentially disrupt the delicate balance between the superpowers is an existential threat which must be destroyed. He's not interested in finding out what fell from the sky, he's only interested in its destruction. And his fear is so great there are no depths to which he will not stoop. He'll torture a child, he'll frame someone for murder, and he'll even call in a nuclear strike on a civilian population.
Bird shows us this evil in order to demonstrate the nobility of the Iron Giant (Vin Diesel). The Giant was built as a warbot, and violence is something that comes easily to it. When it gets threatened, it lashes out in reflex - adopting its war posture and devastating the military forces arrayed against it. It's completely at odds with the compassionate, caring Giant we've spent the film learning to love. But Hogarth is able to remind the Giant that it has a choice - it doesn't have to succumb to fear and hate. It can choose to be good.
It's a powerful message to be sending to young kids, and a great one. Mansley is just a normal guy who succumbed to the darkness inside him. Bombarded by messages of paranoia and fear, he decided it was best to be the one to create the fear and sow the destruction. The Giant was literally made for destruction - a warbot used to annihilate civilizations. But it chose to go against its nature. Despite everything against it - its creation, its upbringing, and the fears and hatred of people around it it chose to help them. It chose to be good.
You are who you choose to be. And you always have a choice.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 12/24: Seven Beauties
CHRISTMAS COUNTER-PROGRAMMING WEEK!
I know basically nothing about this film other than that it was in the voting 4 times before you guys finally selected it, so it must be pretty good. Join us next week as we talk about the first film to have a woman nominated for Best Director! Seven Beauties is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 12/18: The Favourite
The current podcast edition's pairing about social politics between women concludes next week with Yorgos Lanthimos' new The Favourite, about the scramble to keep the Queen's ear in Queen Anne's court. Join us Wednesday for our discussion of this film, still in theaters.