Red States vs. Blue States:
The Politically Charged Astro Boy
by S. Randall Toms, Ph.D.
Warning: This review contains spoilers.
I suppose that all films are political to some extent, but I must confess that when I went to see Astro Boy I did not expect to be hammered with such an overt political message. Astro Boy borrows ideas from Frankenstein, Pinocchio, Oliver Twist, Transformers, Superman, Wall-E, and Jesus, just to name a few sources. Any of these stories coul
d have provided the inspiration for truly engaging plots and characters. Instead, director David Bowers and co-writer Timothy Harris seem determined to turn this cartoon into a political parable about liberals vs. conservatives, good environmentalists vs. bad consumers, peaceful scientists vs. evil militarists, or blue vs. red, if you will. This animated feature alludes so pointedly to 2008 and 2009 political questions , one wonders if anyone viewing this film 30 years from now will catch the references to the current political situation.
Astro Boy was originally created in 1952 by Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka. Since the inception of this anime series, Astro Boy has been the inspiration for countless comic books, animated cartoons, and now a motion picture utilizing the latest in computer generated imagery. The animators have done a nice job of making the film look up to date while retaining the feel of the older incarnations of Astro Boy from the ‘50s and ‘60s, although some fans of earlier versions may complain that it departs too much from the anime-look of earlier adaptations.
A few new wrinkles have been added to the storyline. Toby (voiced by Freddie Highmore, Finding Neverland, Spiderwick Chronicles) is the intellectually brilliant son of Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage), well-known physicist and expert on robotics. They live in a post-apocalyptic , utopian world, Metro City that hovers above an Earth that has become a waste dump because of unfriendly environmental practices. The people of Metro City are served by robots portrayed as mistreated slaves, forced to meet every need of their human masters and summarily thrown down to Earth once they have outlived their usefulness. Earth is now a huge junkyard, populated with misfit robots and poor humans who are not rich and powerful enough to live on Metro City.
Dr. Tenma and his assistant, Dr. Elephan, have discovered a new form of energy that they have harvested from a meteor. This alien form of energy has two parts: blue (positive and creative) and red (negative, destructive and unstable). When General Stone (Donald Sutherland), the hawkish president of Metro City learns of these powerful forms of energy, he wants to use them for his own political purposes which involve starting a war with Earth, a move that he thinks will increase his popularity and help him win re-election to the presidency. The evil President/General Stone orders that the red energy core be placed in a giant robot called “The Peacekeeper.” Meanwhile, Toby, disobeying his father’s orders, has mischievously gained entrance into the room where the weapons experiment is taking place. When the scientists discover too late that the robot is uncontrollable, Toby is vaporized. Unable to deal with his son’s death, Dr. Tenma takes a strand of Toby’s hair, extracts the necessary DNA, and creates a robot with human characteristics. The good power of the blue energy is placed within this android creature, and it comes to life with the same appearance and all of the memories of the human Toby. But when his father fully realizes that his creation is nothing more than a robot and can never be a replacement for his real son, he rejects his creation. Abandoned like Frankenstein’s monster, Toby runs away, only to be attacked by General Stone who wants to harness the power of the blue core that is in the Toby replica.
While trying to escape General Stone, Toby is struck down, but falls to the surface of the Earth where he befriends both human beings and robots who have been oppressed, cast away, and marginalized, by the Metro City society. The Toby replica, now known as “Astro” is taken in by a group of waifs who are led by the Fagin-like Ham Egg (Nathan Lane), who uses the children to collect mechanical parts so that he can create robots to use in an arena for gladiatorial entertainment. Not realizing that Astro is a robot, they accept him as one of their own. Unaware of Ham Egg’s purposes for reanimating robots, Astro uses his blue energy to bring to life a huge robot, ZOG, to be Ham Egg’s champion. Astro is also befriended by three robots, calling themselves the Robot Revolutionary Front, who are going to lead a rebellion again Ham Egg. Their hideout is decorated with posters displaying the names of Lenin and Trotsky. 
While being forced to compete in Ham Egg’s gladiatorial games, Astro is found by General Stone who carries him back to Metro City. Despairing of his ability to ever fit in with either humans or robots, Astro submits to his own death by having the blue core removed from his chest. After his father removes the core and Astro dies, Dr. Tenma has second thoughts and replaces the core, bringing Astro back to life. A battle ensues between Astro, having the good, blue energy, and the Peacekeeper with the evil red energy. In the middle of the battle, when it appears that it will be a stalemate, Dr. Tenma tells Astro that if the red and blue ever combine, they would both cease to exist. Astro, seeing that the war will go on forever, decides to sacrifice himself and combine his blue energy with the red energy. The Peacekeeper and Astro both die, but ZOG appears who shares the life-giving blue force that Astro had given him to reanimate Astro.
As I watched the film, I was trying to discard the distracting political message and enjoy the other aspects of the film, and there are others, believe it or not. I began to think, “Maybe I’m reading too much of a political message into this movie.” But then, displayed behind a podium where General Stone is about to make a speech, we see a huge banner with his campaign slogan, “IT’S NOT TIME FOR CHANGE.” I don’t think I need to spell out the obvious political parallels. What politicians have been accused of starting wars in order to win re-election? What politicians are associated with the ideas that a strong military is necessary to preserve peace? General Stone even flies in a ship called “The Spirit of Freedom,” again, associating Stone with who believe that strength is necessary to ensure freedom. Granted, the Robot Revolution Front, following the teachings of Lenin and Trotsky are ineffectual buffoons who provide comic relief, nevertheless they are portrayed in a favorable light, just one more unfortunate group of the oppressed on the Earth’s surface who are subjugated by the militaristic regime of Metro City. When our news media constantly remind us of blue Democrat states and red Republican states and the various political stances associated with each, the images presented in Astro Boy are not subtle. Blue and red are presented in this film as not merely states that vote Democrat or Republican, but as states of being. When Dr. Temna tells Astro that if red and blue are combined, each will cease to exist, I thought that the message might be that we need to forget our political differences and come together. But then, when Astro is resurrected by the blue power, the message seems to be that coming together is really just another way of becoming blue.
There are ideas presented in Astro Boy other than those that are political. The film deals with issues of death, grief, rejection, conformity, and friendship. For all of its political overtones, there is a sense in which Astro is a Christ figure. In order to save the world from further destruction, he willingly gives his life sacrificially that other smight live. Not only does he die for others, he is also resurrected so that he might continue the fight against an approaching alien force.
Astro Boy probably tries to do too much. While trying to entertain children with well-done action scenes, it attempts to deal with complex issues of politics, science, and philosophy, complete with allusions to Kant and Descartes. If you take your children to see Astro Boy they will probably like the computer generated imagery. They may enjoy the chase scenes and even the storyline about a boy who has been rejected by his father and friends, and yet becomes a hero, although the younger children may be very disturbed when the main character dies three times. They will get a kick out of seeing Astro who has jet-powered feet and various body parts that become weapons. Depending on how old they are, they may not recognize the social commentary, but many adults will probably leave the theater feeling that they were made to sit through a political satire in the guise of a children’s cartoon.
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