A metaphor can be a very dangerous tool to wield; quite often while
you are trying to reference one particular aspect of a thing, myriad other
associations and relations spring to peoples' minds and they may well be
quite different from those correspondences you intended to summon.
Such is definitely the case with The Iron Giant by Ted Hughes--once
England's poet laureate, now best remembered, albeit unfairly, by angry
feminists as the husband who drove Sylvia Plath to her grave. Hughes
tells the amiable story of a huge metal robot who crashes to Earth and
after putting himself back together begins to sate his enormous appetite
for metal by devouring cars and tractors and the like. Infuriated
local farmers trap him, despite the efforts of one friendly boy named Hogarth.
But the Iron Giant turns out to be quite useful when an enormous space-bat-angel-dragon
attacks Earth and demands a tribute of animate matter to consume.
The Iron Giant agrees to battle the monster, vanquishes him and determines
that the creature is actually peaceful but was attracted to Earth by man's
violence. The space-bat-angel-dragon agrees to return to space, where
his "music of the spheres" has such a calming effect that Earth becomes
a peaceful place.
Now the intent of Hughes's original story, as well as that of the very
good recent movie which is loosely based on it, is to show the futility
of war, violence, etc. Hughes book was written at the height of the
Cold War and the space-bat-angel-dragon can be understood to be the Left's
idealized version of the Soviet Union--a threat only because of our own
attitudes and actions. The Soviet Union having been disposed of in
subsequent years, the movie makes a more generalized anti-gun, anti-military,
pro-nonconformity statement. But the truly delicious irony in both
cases is that the most obvious subtext of the story is at war with the
intended central message. Because, at the end of the day, the Iron
Giant is nothing less than Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative
come to life and saving the world. The author's pacifist message
and the filmmaker's antiestablishment message are overwhelmed by the powerful
metaphorical symbol of a gigantic defensive weapon being the only thing
standing between mankind and certain destruction. How delightful
the irony that book and movie basically end up being pleas for the biggest
boondoggle in the history of the military-industrial complex.
I liked both book and movie very much. The film in particular
may be the best non-Disney animated feature film ever made. Obviously
the symbolism of the Iron Giant has escaped the control of the storytellers;
but the metaphorical ironies merely add an additional layer of enjoyment.
Dorothy C. Judd adds:
Reading The Iron Giant by Ted Hughes made me long for a classroom
of young children who would listen wide-eyed to this tale. He uses
such descriptive language that even the laziest listener could picture
the Giant, the space-bat-angel-dragon, and the action precisely as Hughes
intended. However, I should add that Hogarth, the boy, though clever,
is lost in the shadow of these exciting figures. The story yields infinite
possibilities for follow-up writing, drama, and art activities.
But on another level? As a parable? I would equate the Iron Giant
with technology, the space-bat-angel-dragon, come to Earth, with fallen
man, human greed, and ambition. It is not surprising that the contest
between the two is by fire and a proposed three rounds, familiar Biblical
references. It is interesting to imagine that the battle cries and
war cries of Earth drown out the music of the spheres and that once heard,
the "strange soft music" could bring about world peace.
But in either capacity - tall tale or parable - the ending is, though
idyllic, too abrupt and unconvincing.
Grade: B + (tall tale); B- (parable)
(Reviewed:12-Mar-00)
Grade: (B+)
Websites:
Book-related and General Links:
-OBIT:
(Sarah Lyall, NY Times)
-OBIT:
(Salon)
-Featured
Author: Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath (includes book reviews, news articles,
interviews and poetry excerpts, NY Times Book Review)
-Ted
Hughes (1930-1998)(kirjasto)
-Ted
Hughes Pages (English Department, University of Leipzig)
-Ted
Hughes Page (Joanny Moulin)
-David
Eads: Ted Hughes Page (1930-1998)
-EXCERPT:
The Watchman's Lament The following is the opening of Ted Hughes's
translation of Aeschylus' Agamemnon,which he completed before his death
on October 29. (TED HUGHES, NY Review of Books)
-ARTICLE:
Ted Hughes Is Named English Poet Laureate (December 20, 1984,
NY Times)
-ESSAY:
Ted Hughes and the British Bardic Tradition (Symposium Paper, University
of Cairo, December, 1994. © Ann Skea)
-ESSAY:
Ted Hughes with Shakespeare Or the Night of the Tragic Equation (Joanny
Moulin)
-ESSAY:
Hughes with Barthes: Mytho-poetic Icons (Symposium Paper - Contribution
to the E. S. S. E. Conference in Glasgow September 1995, Joanny MOULIN)
-ESSAY:
History and Reason in the Work of Ted Hughes (Joanny MOULIN,
History in Literature, ed. Hoda Gindi, Department of English, University
of Cairo, 1995)
-ESSAY:
Ted Hughes: A Reconciliation (Eavan Boland, NY Times Book Review)
-ESSAY:
Poetic Ability Desirable but Not Essential (Richard A. Cohen, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of Karl Miller: Fear and Fang, NY Review of Books
Selected Poems 1957-1967
by Ted Hughes and drawings by Leonard Baskin
The Iron Giant: A Story
in Five Nights by Ted Hughes and drawings by Robert Nadler
-REVIEW:
of TALES FROM OVID By Ted Hughes (James Shapiro, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
Bernard Knox: Playboy of the Roman World, NY Review of Books
The Poet and the Prince:
Ovid and Augustan Discourse by Alessandro Barchiesi
After Ovid: New Metamorphoses
edited by Michael Hoffman and James Lasdun
Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes
The Metamorphoses of Ovid
translated freely into verse by David R. Slavitt
-REVIEW:
of The Oresteia By Aeschylus. A New Translation by Ted Hughes (Garry
Wills, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of BIRTHDAY LETTERS By Ted Hughes (Michiko Kakutani, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of Birthday Letters By Ted Hughes (Katha Pollitt, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of BIRTHDAY LETTERS | BY TED HUGHES (Jay Parini, Salon)
-ESSAY:
The Good Father (Kate Moses, Salon)
-REVIEW:
James Fenton: A Family Romance, NY Review of Books
Birthday Letters by Ted
Hughes
-REVIEW:
of WOLFWATCHING By Ted Hughes (William Logan, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
Irvin Ehrenpreis: At the Poles of Poetry, NY Review of Books
Millions of Strange Shadows
by Anthony Hecht
Gaudete by Ted Hughes
-REVIEW:
Richard Murphy: Last Exit to Nature, NY Review of Books
New Selected Poems by Ted
Hughes
Remains of Elmet poems by
Ted Hughes and photographs by Fay Godwin
Cave Birds: An Alchemical
Cave Drama poems by Ted Hughes
Under the North Star poems
by Ted Hughes
-REVIEW:
Not an Ideal Husband DANIEL MENDELSOHN, NY Review of Books
Euripides' Alcestis
translated and adapted by Ted Hughes
-REVIEW
ESSAY: The 'demon' that killed Sylvia The intimate journals
of Sylvia Plath, to be published next month, cast a fresh light on what
drove the poet to suicide. They provide a record of a mind spinning out
of control - and, writes Michael Shelden, offer proof that Ted Hughes
was not the villain of the piece (Daily Telegraph, UK)
SYLVIA PLATH:
-The
SYLVIA PLATH Forum
-Lucy's
Sylvia Plath Page
-Tribute
to Sylvia Plath
-LETTER
TO A DEMON; by Sylvia Plath (NY Times)
-ESSAY:
The Biographer and The Murderer (James Atlas, NY Times Book Review)
-ESSAY:
'THE DARK FORCES OF LUST': PLATH AT CAMBRIDGE (Anne Stevenson, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW:
Elizabeth Hardwick: On Sylvia Plath, NY Review of Books
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Crossing the Water (to be
published September 8) by Sylvia Plath
-REVIEW:
Karl Miller: Sylvia Plath's Apotheosis, NY Review of Books
Letters Home: Correspondence
1950-1963 by Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath: Method and
Madness by Edward Butscher
Chapters in a Mythology:
The Poetry of Sylvia Plath by Judith Kroll
-REVIEW:
of THE COLLECTED POEMS By Sylvia Plath Edited by Ted Hughes (Denis
Donoghue, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
Irvin Ehrenpreis: The Other Sylvia Plath, NY Review of Books
Sylvia Plath: The Collected
Poems edited by Ted Hughes
-REVIEW:
of THE JOURNALS OF SYLVIA PLATH Foreword by Ted Hughes. Consulting
Editor, Ted Hughes. Editor, Frances McCullough (Le Anne Schreiber, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of THE JOURNALS OF SYLVIA PLATH Foreword by Ted Hughes. Consulting
Editor, Ted Hughes. Editor, Frances McCullough (Nancy Milford, NY Times
Book Review)
-ESSAY:
Editorial Notebook; Plath, Hughes and Malcolm (MARY CANTWELL, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of The Silent Woman Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes By Janet Malcolm (Michiko
Kakutani, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of THE SILENT WOMAN Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes. By Janet Malcolm
(Caryn James, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
Rosemary Dinnage: Kicking the Myth Habit, NY Review of Books
The Silent Woman: Sylvia
Plath & Ted Hughes by Janet Malcolm
-REVIEW:
of THE DEATH AND LIFE OF SYLVIA PLATH By Ronald Hayman (Elizabeth Frank,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of Bitter Fame A Life of Sylvia Plath By Anne Stevenson (Michiko Kakutani,
NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of BITTER FAME A Life of Sylvia Plath. By Anne Stevenson (Robert Pinsky,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
A. Alvarez: A Poet and Her Myths, NY Review of Books
Bitter Fame: A Life of Sylvia
Plath by Anne Stevenson
-REVIEW
ESSAY: The 'demon' that killed Sylvia The intimate journals
of Sylvia Plath, to be published next month, cast a fresh light on what
drove the poet to suicide. They provide a record of a mind spinning out
of control - and, writes Michael Shelden, offer proof that Ted Hughes
was not the villain of the piece (Daily Telegraph, UK)
-REVIEW:
The long goodbye Hugo Williams reviews Ariel's Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia
Plath and the Story of Birthday Letters by Erica Wagner A savvy study of
Hughes's verse conversation with his dead wife (London Telegraph)
-REVIEW:
Trapped in time Allison Pearson reviews The Journals of Sylvia Plath
1950-62 by Karen V. Kukil A woman fatally constrained by the expectations
of their era (London Telegraph)
-ESSAY:
High Performance Poets: W. H. Auden, James Merrill, and Sylvia Plath
read from their work in recordings previously unavailable (Wen Stephenson,
The Atlantic)
-REVIEW
: of The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (Zoe Heller, New Republic)
FILM:
-BUY IT: (Amazon.com)
VHS:
The Iron Giant (Widescreen Edition) (1999)
DVD:
The Iron Giant (1999)
-The Iron Giant
(Official Site)
-PROFILE:
of Brad Bird: Iron without irony With "The Iron Giant," cartoon
whiz Brad Bird brings an elegiac Ted Hughes fable to life -- and he's not
embarrassed about making you cry. (Michael Sragow, Salon)
-INTERVIEW:
A Gun with a Soul: Brad Bird on The Iron Giant (Amazon.com)
-REVIEWS
& INTERVIEWS: (The Reel Site)
-INFO:
The Iron Giant (Movie Web)
-LJC's
Iron Giant Tribute Site
-WEBRING:
Iron Giant Webring
-The
Iron Giant Rules - A comprehensive site that has trailers the game
and much more. Lots of links to other iron giant sites
-The
Iron Giant Scrapyard
-Mr.
Showbiz Guide: The Iron Giant
-REVIEW:
(Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times)
-REVIEW:
(LAWRENCE VAN GELDER, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
The metal-machine sci-fi cartoon delivers robot action, retro nostalgia
and stony metaphysics (Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon)
-REVIEW:
MYTHING IN ACTION (J. HOBERMAN, Village Voice)
-REVIEW:
The Iron Giant: surprisingly good (KATHERINE MONK, CBC Infoculture)
-REVIEW:
(PETER ELLIOTT, Anglican Journal)
-REVIEW:
(@nzone Magazine)
-REVIEW:
'The Iron Giant': Heavy Metal (Nicole Arthur, Washington Post Staff
Writer)
-PROFILE:
Austin Screenwriter Tim McCanlies: Iron Writer (Cary L. Roberts, Austin
Chronicle)
-REVIEW:
(Pheasant Demon, UK)
-REVIEW:
Animated, Yes, But Not Cartoony (Brad Cook, Another Universe)
-REVIEW:
(Screen It, movie reviews for parents)
-REVIEW:
(Jeff Vice, Deseret News movie critic)
-REVIEW:
Animated 'The Iron Giant': fun, action and heart (Craig Kopp, Cincy
Post movie writer)
-REVIEW:
(Inside Out, UK)
-REVIEWS:
Epinions
MUSICAL:
-Reviews
of The Iron Man (Nina Simone Web)
-BRILLIANT
CAREERS: Pete Townshend (STEPHANIE ZACHAREK, Salon)
Comments:
Orrin welcomes reader comments on his reviews.
Add yours here.
During The Iron Giant Story There Was A Speak In The Yellow Star And Do You No What Was In There?
- Caitlen
- Mar-29-2006, 02:14
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