Full Metal Jacket is the story of young Marine recruits during the time of the Vietnam War. The film takes place in two parts, with the first being the preparatory experiences of the recruits in boot camp and the second being the actual experiences of two recruits, Joker and Cowboy, in the war. The two halves of the film are made distinctive by the way that each begins. The overall theme of the film is capturing the real experiences that thousands of recruits faced graduating from boot camp and being shipped to Vietnam to fight in the war. The sudden shift from one half to the other conveys this sense of culture shock and suddenness.
The film begins with the recruits being yelled at and commanded by Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann, the instructor that leads them through boot camp. This sudden explosion of loud yelling and orders makes the viewer feel like the recruits must have felt, and Kubrick chose a former Marine to help convey this feeling. According to HistoryInFilm.com, R. Lee Ermey, who plays Senior Drill Instructor Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, was originally the Technical Advisor for the film. Since he had really been a Marine DI, Stanley Kubrick asked him to give an example of how an SDI would talk to a new platoon of recruits. After some minutes of non-stop invectives without repeating himself, Kubrick was so impressed that he hired Ermey on the spot to play the role on screen. And, the sample dialogue was incorporated into the script. Kubrick shows how the Marines desensitize recruits and take away their individual senses of identity to make them work as a team and for the good of the Marine Corps instead of their own personal benefit. One way that he does this is through Hartmanns distribution of nicknames based on his first impressions of the recruits. One recruit is named Joker because he admits to telling a joke when Hartmanns back is turned, another is called Cowboy just because hes from Texas, and a third is given the new name Pyle because Hartmann feels that he looks like Gomer Pyle from television. None of the recruits show any resistance to being renamed and address each other with their given nicknames for the rest of the film, adopting their new names as their only form of individual identity.
Kubrick also displays the unity instilled in the Marine recruits in boot camp with the setup of several shots during the first half of the film. There are repeated shots of the recruits during drills and physical training, or PT, moving and maneuvering as one single unit. They dress alike so they blend in, they yell cadences together, and they move as one. The recruit barracks are used in several shots to frame the recruits in sameness and convey the sense of routine and lack of individuality. The shot is often pulled back so far that the individual identities of the recruits cant be determined and the only figure identifiable is Hartmann because of his hat and his voice. The bunks and footlockers in the barracks are the same for each recruit, and Hartmann includes a drill for them to all climb into their bunks with their rifles at the same time and recite the same prayer to their rifle. Though they are taught that they are to work as a unit, Hartman also teaches them that their only real friend and companion is their rifle. They each give their rifle a name and are taught to revere it as sacred. This framing can be seen during bunk inspections when the rows of bunks are used to emphasize each recruit standing at the end as Hartmann goes down the line and assesses each of them. One of the most significant examples of Kubricks use of framing a shot in the barracks is when Pyle gets caught eating food outside the mess hall. Hartmann makes him stand on his footlocker in the center of the aisle while the other recruits do push ups to his left and right in the bunk rows as punishment for his infraction. This serves to illustrate the unity of the unit and the way that Pyle stands out from the rest and doesnt fit in. He looks down at the other recruits as they exercise below him, and the close up shot of his face emphasizes his isolation as much as his physical placement in the room does.
The character of Pyle is set apart from the other recruits. Kubrick does this in several ways, particularly in regards to his relationship with Joker. When Joker becomes squad leader he takes Pyle under his wing and begins to show him all the basics that Pyle is struggling with, like cleaning his rifle, maneuvering it during drills and finishing the PT obstacle course. In the scenes where Joker helps Pyle there is no yelling from Hartmann or marching cadence, and the two are set against bright blue skies and green grass that stands in sharp contrast to their uniforms. This conveys a bond between the two and a sense of peace and belonging that Pyle is given when Joker becomes his friend. Though they become friends, it is still apparent through Hartmanns treatment that they are two very different soldiers. Zivah Perel states that, Kubricks focusing of his narrative so explicitly on Privates Pyle and Joker and their vastly different experiences adapting to the Corps asserts that it is these mens individual identities that shape the Marines they will become and the Corps as a whole. In other words, Kubrick focuses on these two characters to emphasize how the instruction towards Corps unity can affect individual personalities, and how it can either enhance or destroy a soldier based on the individual identity they are taught to discard.
Pyles transformation and descent is one of the most moving elements of the film and stays with the viewer until the end, though it happens in the films first half. Kubrick emphasizes Pyles transformations with a series of close-up shots that show the changing emotions clearly on his face. Kubrick repeatedly closes in on Pyles eyes, which have become heavy and ominous, and his smile, which has gone from being a carefree innocent smile to one that suggests anger or madness. When Joker finds Pyle in the latrine with his rifle, the viewer experiences another Kubrick trademark when the meaning of the films title is revealed in Pyles answer to Jokers question about whether the rounds in his rifle are live Seven six two millimeter. Fullmetaljacket. The movies title might have been a mystery to non-military viewers before, but Pyle leaves no question about its meaning in his answer. He has a scary grin on his face and looks up at Joker while his head is lowered towards his rifle. This is a pivotal scene in the film because the underlying meaning of its title is revealed as part of the plot and also because it is a significant turning point for the films main characters. Here, the first half of the film is ended with the suicide of Pyle, the murder of Hartman, and Jokers graduation from boot camp.
Kubrick emphasizes through the whole film that the Marine boot camp has been intended to turn the recruits into hardened, desensitized killing machines. This ethic is humanized with the characters of Joker and Cowboy, but it is made very clear with Hartmann and later with the character of Mother. The Columbia Encyclopedia described Kubricks films as ones that portray a deeply flawed humanity and his characterization of Joker and the other soldiers conveys this message. There is an underlying theme that they are killing machines as Marines and they are even told by Hartman that God wants them to be killers to supply Him with fresh souls. But Jokers juxtaposition of a peace sign button on his jacket with the motto, Born to Kill written on his helmet conveys a sense of humanity in the soldiers that is evident in the way they look out for one another. A poster for the film bore the slogan, Vietnam can kill me but it cant make me care, yet Kubrick emphasizes how the soldiers do just that. Joker has the opportunity to kill a Vietnamese sniper but pauses, considering the consequences of his action. The scene is composed of close-up shots alternating between Jokers face and that of the sniper who is whispering, Shoot me over and over again, but the viewer is left to draw their own conclusions about whether Jokers decision was humane or just that of a killing machine.
Kubricks film, The Shining deals with evil of the supernatural kind instead of the inherent human kind that is confronted in Full Metal Jacket. As in the previous film, the movies title references a seemingly benign element that becomes malevolent when confronted with insanity. Here, in the title, the shining represents the disturbing telepathic powers unleashed by the next major technological epic, the electric age (visual-memory.co.uk). Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, and his telepathic son Danny move into a mountain resort where Jack intends to work as a caretaker over the winter. The film reveals Jacks descent into madness after being infected with whatever supernatural evil resides in the building. The source of the evil is never fully revealed, though there is foreshadowing in the details about the land being an old Indian burial ground and Jack having a past history with unexpected violence towards Danny. There is also foreshadowing detail in the telling of the fate of the last groundskeeper, who, like Jack, moved his family into the hotel to look after it for the winter and eventually killed his wife and daughters with an axe before shooting himself. The extent of foreshadowing in this film is much more than in Full Metal Jacket Kubrick perhaps included these extra details to help explain some of the abstract images he inserted into scenes of dialogue and reaction that were also not present in the other film.
The theme of isolation is present in both films. Here, it is conveyed physically with broad shots in which the camera takes in the single winding road with the Torrances car driving along alone, set against huge mountainsides and wide open skies. The hotel accomplishes a similar effect, with the three main characters seeming to be swallowed up in its rooms thanks to wide shots from high angles above them. Continuous shots out the windows into the great white expanses of snowy mountains indicate the characters feelings of isolation. The young boy Danny feels the individual isolation that is similar to that felt by Pyle. Danny is identified as being different from the beginning of the film with the presence of Tony, his imaginary friend, and his talents for telepathy. Danny is often left alone in the hotel to his own devices. Danny initially relishes being able to explore the huge building and shots of him running and riding his tricycle through its long hallways are initially shot at his level and with the camera following his movements to convey a sense of childlike curiosity. But as Danny begins to see the ghosts of the murdered little girls and have visions of huge waves of blood, the shots change to angles above him, feeling ominous and oppressive. There are several shots of Danny where he is framed in several doorways, making the hotel seem to loom over him dangerously and conveying Dannys vulnerability.
In a similar fashion are the setups of the shots featuring Jack writing at his typewriter. Kubrick conveys to the viewer that Jack is being both mentally and physically taken over by the force in the hotel by including shots of him appearing very small in the scope of the huge room. There are expansive decorated floors, tall ceilings, winding staircases, and giant windows, and Jack appears very small against all of them. It is as though the hotel has engulfed Jack, and his behavior soon reveals that it has. This angle technique is used repeatedly throughout the film and succeeds in making the viewer experience both the isolation and the disorientation that can happen in such a large and unfamiliar place. It also serves to make the sudden appearance of violent or disturbing images, like the little ghost girls, the wave of blood, and the butchered butler all the more startling.
Jacks breakdown clearly juxtaposes that of Pyle, and Kubrick used similar techniques to convey the descent into madness for each. The two actors portraying the characters manage frighteningly similar facial expressions in their pivotal final scenes, and for this reason, along with Kubricks unique shot setup in each instance, each scene has become memorable and instantly recognizable to viewers. Pyle stares at Joker and smiles malevolently before shouting the rifle prayer taught to all the recruits before shooting Hartmann and then himself. This scene is remembered for the rifle prayer and also for the shocking effect of Pyles blood spraying on the white latrine tiles. This color technique and the full-frontal shot that Kubrick uses to capture the suicide make the scene shocking, forcing the viewer to confront it. This scene parallels that of Jack breaking down the door in The Shining when he looks through with an equally malevolent expression and yells, Heres Johnny His murderous intent makes this famous talk-show line into one of chilling finality, and it is arguably the most famous scene from the film. Kubrick makes it more effective by alternating shots between Jack on one side of the door, intent on breaking it down, and his wife on the other side, sobbing and terrified. This parallel scene echoes that of Joker and the sniper.
The source of the evil is never fully revealed, nor is the ending of the film. According to the Warner Brothers website for the film, Kubrick himself never gave a definitive answer, preferring to let audiences decide for themselves. It also plays on the theme that Evil has always existed and always will. The viewer never definitively knows what happened to Wendy and Jack or if the hotel claims any other victims. In a similar fashion, the fate of Joker and his fellow soldiers is never revealed. The viewer of course can learn what happened to end the Vietnam War, but it is the individual soldiers that one remembers and what happens to them is left to the viewer to speculate. Kubrick did not end all of his films with this open-ended lack of final conclusion, but there is a definite sense in each of these two examples that he intended for the viewer to ponder the possible outcomes and draw their own conclusions. In this way Kubrick empowers the viewer. They are allowed to imagine the killing of the former caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, because while the quick shots of the little girls and the blood indicate violence they dont paint a full picture. That is the responsibility of the viewers mind, just as it is to imagine what it was like for Jack to freeze to death, insane and abandoned, or what it was like for Joker to try to survive with death all around him. In this way Kubrick achieves true mastery of film because he leaves the film in the viewers mind after it ends.
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