History Main / SteelMill

A steel mill is one of the closest approximations of HellOnEarth, if [[DivineComedy Dante's Inferno]] is used as a yardstick. Since metal work requires extremely high temperatures, a steel mill is a [[BigLabyrinthineBuilding humongous maze]] of [[EternalEngine eerie machinery]], [[HellFire fiery furnaces]], extreme temperatures, [[LavaPit molten metal]], poisonous gasses, foul smells and, most of all, [[NoOSHACompliance heavy objects]] [[AccordionMan falling from height when least expected]].

At best, a SteelMill may be a BigLabyrinthineBuilding - the Severstal mill at Magnitogorsk, Russia, spreads ''twelve kilometers'' along the river Ural bank. RealLife steel mills are usually hangar-like, with large open spaces inside, [[CaptainObvious due to the need to move around heavy equipment]]. At worst, it is a true NightmarishFactory. Its DangerousWorkplace nature is often displayed by a large [[XDaysSince X Days Since Last Accident]] billboard.

A steel mill is one of the closest approximations of HellOnEarth, if [[DivineComedy Dante's Inferno]] is used as a yardstick. Since metal work requires extremely high temperatures, a steel mill is a [[BigLabyrinthineBuilding humongous maze]] of [[EternalEngine eerie machinery]], [[HellFire fiery furnaces]], extreme temperatures, [[LavaPit molten metal]], poisonous gasses, foul smells and, most of all, [[NoOSHACompliance heavy objects]] [[AccordionMan falling from height when least expected]].

* Saruman runs one at Isengard in ''LordOfTheRings''.

A steel mill is one of the closest approximations of HellOnEarth, if [[DivineComedy Dante's Inferno]] is used as a yardstick. Since metal work requires extremely high temperatures, a steel mill is a [[BigLabyrinthineBuilding humongous maze]] of [[EternalEngine eerie machinery]], [[HellFire fiery furnaces]], extreme temperatures, [[LavaPit molten metal]], poisonous gasses, foul smells and, most of all, [[NoOSHACompliance heavy objects]] [[AccordionMan falling from height when least expected]].

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[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:{{Live-Action TV}}]]

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

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* Mentioned in the backstory of a little-remembered BBC serial called ''A Very British Coup'': the newly-elected Prime Minister's father was employed in one, but one day something went wrong and, as the PM puts it: "He were ''[[DeadlyEuphemism splashed]]'', by 'ot steel." The company's owners escaped punishment in a wrongful death lawsuit by claiming it was a result of the man's own negligent, a fact about which the Prime Minister is very bitter indeed.

* Jurgis worked in one in Upton Sinclair's ''TheJungle''. He described working in one far more favourably than working in Chicago [[NightmarishFactory meatpacking industry]].

* VideoGame/MaxPayne blasts through one of these in the third act of his first game. Apart from the other dangerous elements of the Cold Steel Foundry, he also has to deal with hired mercenaries and laser tripmines because it's a front for production of Valkyr [[spoiler:as well as having a military bunker underneath the plant]].
* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' Batman goes inside Sionis steel mill, the first time trough a chimney which there's a pool of molten metal below and second time trough the cooling tunnels with rivers of liquid nitrogen, the factory also serves as Joker's main hideout.

* Billy Joel tried for this in his "Allentown" video, but it just came off kind of HoYay.
* Bruce Springsteen in his "Youngstown". The "sweet Jenny" which he refers in that song is not a girl, but the Youngstown Steel and Tube Co. blast furnace named "Jeannette".

* In ''TheSimpsons'', Homer, worried about Bart's manliness after interactions with a gay shop-keeper, takes him to one of these mills to show him examples of masculinity. It backfired big time as it quickly [[CrowningMomentOfFunny converts into a gay disco.]]

* In ''BatmanArkhamCity'' Batman goes inside Sionis steel mill, the first time trough a chimney which there's a pool of molten metal below and second time trough the cooling tunnels with rivers of liquid nitrogen, the factory also serves as Joker's main hideout.

* The climax of ''{{Terminator}} 2: Judgment Day'' takes place in one, of course.

* Mentioned in the backstory of a little-remembered BBC serial called ''A Very British Coup'': the newly-elected Prime Minister's father was employed in one, but one day something went wrong and, as the PM puts it: "He were ''[[DeadlyEuphemism splashed]]'', by [[NightmareFuel 'ot steel.]]" The company's owners escaped punishment in a wrongful death lawsuit by claiming it was a result of the man's own negligent, a fact about which the Prime Minister is very bitter indeed.
* ''Series/SesameStreet'' has used [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNInmrPmug8 this clip]] of a steel I-Beam being forged when an episode is [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS Brought To You By The Letter "I"]]. It's memorable AccidentalNightmareFuel for many when they first saw it as a child.

* ''TheDeerHunter'', where the characters work as steelworkers. The picture was shot in a real steel mill at Mingo Junction, Ohio.

* In the third season premiere ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' gets sent to a hell-factory that has all of these standard tropes, along with YearInsideHourOutside.

* The sports-movie parody sketch from ''ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' carries the DidNotDoTheResearch jokes beyond [[GretzkyHasTheBall sports]] by having the characters work in a steel ''mine'', combining the two standard "got to get out of this dead-end town" industries of plucky underdog movies.

* In VideoGame/Anarchy Reigns, at Black Side campaign, Jack fights Big Bull in a foundry. Molten metal acts as a environmental hazard.

* In ''Anarchy Reigns'', at Black Side campaign, Jack fights Big Bull in a foundry. [[LavaPit Molten metal]] acts as a environmental hazard.

A steel mill is one of the closest approximations of {{Hell on Earth}}, if [[DivineComedy Dante's Inferno]] is used as a yardstick. Since metal work requires extremely high temperatures, a steel mill is a [[BigLabyrinthineBuilding humongous maze]] of [[EternalEngine eerie machinery]], [[HellFire fiery furnaces]], extreme temperatures, [[LavaPit molten metal]], poisonous gasses, foul smells and, most of all, [[NoOSHACompliance heavy objects]] [[AccordionMan falling from height when least expected]].

At best, a SteelMill may be a BigLabyrinthineBuilding - the Severstal mill at Magnitogorsk, Russia, spreads ''twelve kilometers'' along the river Ural bank. RealLife steel mills are usually hangar-like, with large open spaces inside, [[CaptainObvious due to the need to move around heavy equipment]]. At worst, it is a true NightmarishFactory. Its [[DangerousWorkplace Dangerous Workplace]] nature is often displayed by a large [[XDaysSince X Days Since Last Accident]] billboard.

* ''{{The Deer Hunter}}'', where the characters work as steelworkers. The picture was shot in a real steel mill at Mingo Junction, Ohio.

* The droid factory in ''{{Star Wars}} Episode II'' is the scene of a brutal battle between the heroes and their Geonosian adversaries.

[[AC:{{Tabletop Games}}]]
* There are ''entire planets'' turned into steel mills in Warhammer40K. With NoOSHACompliance, of course.

* In ''{{Batman Arkham City}}'' Batman goes inside Sionis steel mill, the first time trough a chimney which there's a pool of molten metal below and second time trough the cooling tunnels with rivers of liquid nitrogen, the factory also serves as Joker's main hideout.

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[[AC: VideoGames]]
* The ''{{Fallout 3}}'' add-on "The Pitt" gives up what may be the world's last functional steel mill, staffed by slaves in loincloths and sadistic criminals as their foreman. The leader, Ashur, hopes to use the industry provided by the mill to build a self-sufficient empire.

* ''Ganz Unten'' ("Lowest of the Low") by Günther Wallraff. He describes of the [[NoOSHACompliance working conditions]] of Turkish immigrant workers in the [[NightmarishFactory post-WWII German steel industry]]. Reading about [one of the workers stumbling at work and falling in the blast furnace is creepy.

* ''Ganz Unten'' ("Lowest of the Low") by Günther Wallraff. He describes of the [[NoOSHACompliance working conditions]] of Turkish immigrant workers in the [[NightmarishFactory post-WWII German steel industry]]. Reading about [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel one of the workers stumbling at work and falling in the blast furnace]] gave this troper creeps.

* In ''{{Batman Arkham City}}'' Batman goes trough one of these, the factory also serves as Joker's main hideout.