The Iron Giant is a masterclass in how to display emotion in a character with very limited speech and minimal facial expression. Using only the tilt of his head, shape of his eyes, and the set of his jaw the giant robot can display a wide range of emotions. It is probably a testament to how people are able to anthropomorphise non-humans, that both Hogarth and the audience can empathise with the robot, but also down to smart design. These key elements of facial expression and body language - the mouth, eyes, and neck - are maybe the bare minimum required to properly tell the audience how the character is feeling, in the same way that Gromit uses his one dynamic eyebrow to such great effect. The robot also looks just futuristic enough to be impressive and still fit in seamlessly to the 1950s cold war setting of the film, but without resorting to obvious 50s sci-fi conventions like aerodynamic fins or rockets, or shiny glossy paintwork like was seen in "futuristic" car designs of the era.
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| looking angry |
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| looking curious |
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| looking sad |
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