Full Metal Jacket (1987)

     

        

        Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket is a cinematic adventure that follows the story of a group of marines. This film's first half presents the viewer with a realistic and rather shocking view of Vietnam era boot camp. The second portion of the movie depicts the grotesque, destructive, and chaotic acts of war. The initial opening of the film portrays a beautifully and cleanly shot perspective of the soldiers identity removal through the cutting of hair. In the background, the viewer will hear the song Hello Vietnam written by Tom T. Hall, and preformed by Johnny Wright. This music, along with the deadpan expression of each soldier, successfully communicates to the viewer that each man is now no longer an individual but rather a group of people who create a single being. Individuality is a key concept that I noticed to play a significant role in the transformation of both the characters and the story. In war culture one must not be seen as a separate being, but as an unstoppable brutish force. This not only proves as a technique to better train soldiers and fight the enemy, but as a mechanism of control. When a group of people are obligated to relinquish individual rights this brings about obedience, similar to that of a group of sheep, one would follow the other with an attitude of unwavering confidence. This leads me to my next point, control is not purely that of obedience but of emotion. in the absence of sentiment and moral thought one would not think much of killing another human being. For example, when one of the main characters, "Pvt. Joker" has already been sent to Vietnam to report on the current state of the war he runs into his former boot camp friend, "Cowboy".What proceeds is a prime example of the absence of emotion found in a soldier stripped of his or her individual mind. When this scene begins we can see, "Rafter man" (a colleague of "Pvt. Joker") sitting. The camera cuts to an unknown soldier who is resting next to a limp and rather pale body. The unknown soldier says to "Rafter man" (who is holding a camera), "Wanna take a good picture?" What is revealed is that the pale, limp body is a dead Vietnam soldier. They all then begin to make jokes about, and take picture of this rotting carcass. This scene is a perfect example of what war does to soldiers and what the marine core strives to train each soldier to become. This portrayal is a very realistic, raw depiction of the numbing, emotionless mental state of a soldier living in war culture.

        

        Now that I've discussed what I believe to be the main theme in this movie, I'll go back in the story to present a second example. After the opening scene in the barber shop we are in the boot camp barracks where all the freshly shaven jar heads are standing shoulder to shoulder, being harassed by their drill instructor.During this scene we see that several of the soldiers are singled out by this instructor on the basis of nothing more than superficial qualities such as race, height, or size. I believe this was the drill instructor's power play to teach humility and deconstruct the esteem of each individual. Another example of this is when the sergeant explains that he does not see them on any level higher than any other solder by telling everyone in the room "You are the lowest form of life on earth. You are not even human fucking beings...You are all equally worthless." A statement such as this portrays the sergeant's basic goal to reconstruct an individual psyche into a soldier of conformity. After a few of the men are bombarded with insults, one in particular stands out from the rest, "Pvt. Pyle." Only nick named "Pyle" after being re-named by his drill instructor. "Pvt. Pyle" is quite interesting because he is not an individual constructed from society. He is seemingly mentally disabled and unable to keep up with his counter parts both mentally and physically. So "Pyle" involuntarily remains an individual which has its consequences.

        

        Now that I've covered an example from the early parts of the film I'll present an instance of individuality and its failure to sustain in warfare. By the time we meet "Pvt. Joker" in Vietnam his hair is grown out and he is wearing his military jacket, but on his chest is attached a button that wields the peace symbol. His individuality is beginning to blossom, though upon his helmet is written in black ink "Born To Kill." When asked why he wore such attire by his superior he spoke of the duality of man. It is seen now that even after his transformation in boot camp individuality persists. 

        Finally, after being out on a correspondent mission and having to do several war cultured acts. "Joker" stands motionless looking at nothing as a fire illuminates half his face, while simultaneously the other half is shadowed. This is symbolic of the duality he spoke of earlier in the film. This symbol can be understood in many different ways, though I believe it expresses the triumph of individual spirit and the toll war can have upon it. 

        

         All in all I believe Full Metal Jacket is an incredibly insightful film with some beautiful cinematography. I would not recommend it for those faint of heart or easily offended. Some of the scenes are extremely graphic and it doesn't leave anything out, good and bad. I don't consider it to be the best of Kubrick's films, though it is a great one. 

Works Cited

Photos:

 "Full Metal Jacket." IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093058/>.

"US Military Personnel Pose for Photos with Dead Enemy Soldiers." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfMYPvw_K9k>.

"Full Metal Jacket "Gomer Pyle" 1987." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Feb. 2011. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXhKpUfITV0>.

"A Couple on Kubrick: Full Metal Jacket (1987)." Can't Stop the Movies. 13 Apr. 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://www.cantstopthemovies.com/2012/04/a-couple-on-kubrick-full-metal-jacket-1987/>.

Movie:


Full Metal Jacket. Warner Bros, 1987. Film.


Book:


Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.


Other:

Ebert, Roger. "Full Metal Jacket Movie Review (1987) | Roger Ebert." All Content. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/full-metal-jacket-1987>.

"Cinematicreactions." Cinematicreactions. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://cinematicreactions.wordpress.com/>.