Full Metal Jacket (1987)

          "HOLY DOGSHIT TEXAS! ONLY STEERS AND QUEERS COME FROM TEXAS PRIVATE COWBOY! AND YOU SURE AS HELL DON'T LOOK LIKE A STEER TO ME SO THAT KINDA NARROWS IT DOWN!" -Gunnery Sgt. Hartman

Arguably one of the most iconic scenes from any war movie, the opening scene of Full Metal Jacket shows the newest batch of privates lined up in their barracks getting lectured by their drill instructor. This scene is very important to the movie as a whole because it sets the tone for the first half. The movie itself it broken up into two parts, basic training, and going to war. The two halves are very different in that the first half is neat and tidy, everything kept in line by Hartman's iron fist. The second half of the movie on the other hand, the segment of the movie that takes place in Vietnam, is much less organized, and everything begins to fall apart, starting with Hartman's death, which occurs at the very end of the first half.

 Private Pyle is humiliated in front of the rest of his platoon after disobeying Hartman's rule about food in the barracks.

For the first half of the movie, the story mostly follows Private Pyle and Private Joker. With Pyle's lack of athleticism constantly getting him into hot water with Sergeant Hartman, Hartman makes Joker bunk with Pyle, so that Joker can keep an eye on him. Joker helps Pyle with his training, his rifle maintenance, making his bunk, everything. Throughout the rest of the first half of the movie, Pyle seems to be improving. He now appears to fit in with all of the other privates. But Pyle still remembers everything Hartman said to him. The next few scenes are absolutely dripping with foreshadowing. While at the firing range, it is shown that Pyle is a very good shot. In another scene, a couple privates; while cleaning the bathrooms; comment that Pyle often talks to his rifle. Adding to this, Pyle seems to be acting even stranger than he normally does. In one final scene, Hartman gives a speech about several famous assassins, such as Lee Harvey Oswald. He says how accurate and precise these assassins were, he then goes on to say that they all learned how to shoot in the Marines.

"Seven-six-two millimeter... full... metal... jacket." -Private Pyle

The night after the platoon's graduation, we find Private Pyle sitting in the bathroom, loudly reciting the rifleman's creed. (This is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine.) This is one the few scenes to include any music at all, which in this specific scene is very creepy and ominous sounding. Joker finds Pyle in the bathroom, loading his rifle and practicing his marching. Shortly after, Sergeant Hartman comes in and begins telling Pyle to put down his rifle. After this fails to get a reaction out of Pyle, Hartman does what he always does, and attempts to intimidate Pyle by insulting him, this doesn't work either, and Pyle, with a menacing grin on his face, aims and fires one round through the center of Hartman's chest. He then sits back down on the toilet, and puts his rifle in his mouth and shoots himself through the head.

The restless soldiers finally get to see some action.

The second half of the movie takes place in Vietnam, in the war zone. These scenes make no effort to romanticize the war at all, with only one soldier (Animal Mother, above, right)  having a good time, acting like he is in Rambo or something. The second half of the movie follows a unit containing Joker, his friend Cowboy, and a few others on a journey through Vietnam. Along the way they fight the Vietnamese several times, but they never show the faces of the enemy up close. This is to make the enemy seem more like targets than people. The only Vietnamese soldier we see up close is a dead one during the aftermath of a battle.

Joker claims to be making a statement about the duality of man with his helmet and peace badge.

During a later scene, we notice that Joker has added a peace sign to his uniform. This is interesting because his helmet says "BORN TO KILL" on it, and the peace sign signifies, well, peace. It would seem that Joker doesn't quite know what to think about the war, if he is for it, or against it. He certainly doesn't seem very happy during the war scenes. Much less at the end of the movie, where after tracking down and wounding an enemy sniper, who turned out to be a young Vietnamese woman, Joker is put on the spot when the sniper, who is wounded and bleeding heavily, begs for death. No one moves, except Joker, who walks up next to her. He looks down at her broken form, his peace symbol clearly visible in the light of the fire from the burning building. After a long shot of him looking down at her, the peace sign slowly fades from view, and just as it disappears completely, Joker pulls the trigger.

Joker while he ponders shooting the Vietnamese woman. (Notice the peace symbol is visible)

Joker right as he shoots the Vietnamese woman. (Notice how the peace symbol is no longer in view)

This scene is a defining moment for Joker as a character, and for the film as a whole. It shows Joker as he changes from a soldier to a killer. At the beginning of the film in the boot camp scene, Sergeant Hartman says he will turn the privates into soldiers, into weapons, into killers. This is proof that he succeeded, for better or for worse.

Works Cited

Photos:

FMJ.jpg. Digital image. Movies.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.

Full-metal-jacket-screenshot.jpg. Digital image. Listal.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.

196906.jpg. Digital image. Wall.alphacoders.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.

Full_metal_jacket_adam_baldwin_animal_mother_desktop_1200x767_hd-wallpaper.jpg. Digital image. Hdwallpapersbase.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.

MV5BNDIxNzcwOTEyM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTg4NDIwNA@@._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg. Digital image. Http://ia.media-imdb.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.

Full-metal-jacket3.jpg. Digital image. Http://calitreview.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.

Fmj-jokercu.png. Digital image. Jonathanrosenbaum.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.