Coal in “October Sky.” Iron in “Iron Man.” Steel in our songs, our stories, and even our metaphors. We may think of raw materials as lifeless – just rocks, ores, and metals buried deep underground. But if you look closely, they’ve shaped not just civilizations – they’ve shaped stories.
From the glimmer of steel in superhero suits to the coal dust that dreams were built upon, raw materials have long played the silent protagonists of human creativity.
This is not a story of industries. It’s a story of imagination, where metals became metaphors, mines became myths, and the world’s hardest elements forged the world’s most emotional art.
Act 1 : The Soul of Steel – From Foundry to Fiction
Steel has always symbolized strength – not just physical, but moral and emotional resilience.
Think about it.
When we say someone has a “nerves of steel,” we don’t mean their tensile strength in megapascals – we mean their courage.
In Cinema :
- “Man of Steel” (2013) – Superman isn’t just an alien. He’s the embodiment of the unbreakable – a metaphor for strength under pressure. Steel is his identity, both literally and symbolically.
In fact, in 2013, when the movie was released, global steel production crossed 1.6 billion tonnes, most of it from China and India – nations that, like Superman, were in their own phase of industrial rise. - “Iron Man” (2008) – Tony Stark’s suit, made of titanium alloy and gold-titanium composites, is the modern myth of metallurgy.
The movie premiered during a time when the world steel industry was worth $900 billion, with the U.S. and China leading in innovation.
The message? Technology + Metal = Power + Responsibility. - Bollywood’s “Loha” (1997) – Translating to Iron, this cult film starring Dharmendra and Mithun used the term as a symbol of masculine endurance and revenge. The title alone captures the deep-rooted Indian association of iron with resolve.
Act 2 : Coal – The Dark Fuel Behind Bright Dreams
Coal rarely takes center stage in pop culture, but it’s always there – behind the lights, the trains, the smoke, and the revolution.
- “October Sky” (1999)
The true story of a miner’s son who defies expectations to become a rocket scientist. Coal in this film is both curse and catalyst – it symbolizes the weight of tradition and the fire of ambition.
The U.S. was producing 1.1 billion short tons of coal that year – even as its symbolism shifted from economic might to environmental guilt. - “Kaala Patthar” (1979)
Bollywood’s rawest tribute to India’s coal workers. The title literally means “Black Stone.”
Set against the backdrop of coal mine disasters, it portrayed the miners as modern warriors – turning soot and sweat into sacrifice.
The movie drew inspiration from the 1975 Chasnala mining tragedy, where over 370 miners lost their lives – proving that behind every flicker of light, there’s a story of human endurance.
Act 3 : Music and Metaphor – When Metals Found Their Rhythm
Music, too, has always borrowed from the lexicon of industry.
When artists sing about fire, pressure, and heat, they’re channeling the emotional physics of metallurgy.
In the West :
- “Heavy Metal” – a whole genre named after the industrial material that defined modern civilization.
In the 1970s, while steel mills in Pittsburgh and Sheffield were roaring, bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin used distortion and density to mirror the chaos of industrial progress.
(Fun fact : The term “Heavy Metal” first appeared in Steppenwolf’s 1968 hit “Born to Be Wild.”) - “Coal Miner’s Daughter” by Loretta Lynn – a heartfelt anthem about resilience and poverty in a Kentucky mining family. The song humanized coal like never before.
In India :
- The rhythmic clanging in “Chaiyya Chaiyya” – shot on a moving train – is literally the sound of iron wheels and rails, the heartbeat of industrial India.
- In “Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana”, the orchestra used steel drums – an imported sound born from the transformation of oil barrels into music.
- And in more modern compositions like “Loha Da Hathoda” (from Guru, 2007), industry becomes metaphor – symbolizing relentless ambition and grit.
Act 4 : The Poetry of Pressure – When Raw Becomes Rare
Coal and steel don’t just belong to factories – they live in language.
Poets and writers have long used them to describe human experience :
- “Diamonds are just coal that did well under pressure.”
- Rudyard Kipling’s “Cold Iron” called iron “the master of them all,” a warning about power and consequence.
- In Urdu poetry, zanjir (chain) and loha (iron) often symbolize oppression and resilience – two sides of the same coin.
Even advertisements, like Tata Steel’s legendary tagline – “We also make tomorrow.” – have poetic roots in industrial truth.
Act 5 : Numbers Behind the Narrative
Let’s bring it back to reality because even the poetry of metals runs on hard data.
- The global iron and steel market is valued at $1.6 trillion (2025 est.).
- Coal still accounts for 36% of the world’s electricity generation.
- India is the second-largest producer of crude steel, producing over 125 million tonnes annually.
- Nearly 40% of recycled metal used globally comes from ferrous scrap, giving a new life to the old – quite literally recycling history.
Behind every reel and rhyme, there’s an economy of effort, extraction, and endurance.
Act 6 : Why Pop Culture Still Needs Its Metals
The transition to renewable energy and “green steel” doesn’t mean the end of metal’s story – it’s simply a new chapter.
Just as coal powered the Industrial Revolution, data powers the Digital Revolution.
But even data lives in servers made of – you guessed it – steel, copper, aluminum, and rare earths.
Even when the future is electric, the skeleton remains metallic.
And maybe that’s why raw materials keep reappearing in art because they are, in essence, reflections of us :
Strong, flawed, transformative, and deeply human.
From furnaces to film frames – raw materials have always been the world’s greatest storytellers.