The Naive, The Disciplined, and The Psychopath

A dynamic character is one that changes throughout a story. He starts out one way and ends up another. It’s not simply physical things like being alive and then dying. No being dynamic reaches deeper, into behaviors, and actions of the character and their psyche within. Private Leonard Lawrence in Full Metal Jacket is an example of a dynamic character. We see him evolve throughout the film. Starting as a harmless, incompetent, boy and being turned into a deviant, killing machine.

            We first see Leonard in the head shaving montage at the start of the film. Like I stated in an earlier post, the longhaired kids of the sixties and seventies were sent to war, so we can get a feel for who Leonard is just by seeing him with long hair at the beginning. A kid. He probably not ready for what is about to come. We see that he isn’t ready for the marines when he and Gunnery Sergeant Hartman first interact. Like most immature viewers watching the film, Leonard gets a kick out of everything Hartman says to his fellow marines. But order and discipline is the military way, and Sergeant Hartman is not afraid to call Leonard out for it. He exclaims he can’t help it, a clue into his lack of discipline I believe.

            As the training camp scenes move forward, we repeatedly see the failure of Leonard, now nicknamed Gomer Pyle, and notice how incapable he is at even the most minute tasks. He needs help knowing left from right, lacing shoes, dressing appropriately, climbing obstacles, and running. No matter how hard Sergeant Hartman yells at him, he never seems to get better. The only thing Private Pyle takes pride in is his rifle, but I’ll discuss that later. Private Joker is assigned to help out Private Pyle. Joker’s techniques of encouragement help Pyle accomplish many different things. Their relationship as fellow marines grows in their montage. Through their relationship, Pyle starts to become less of an individual, just what the marines want. He doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb anymore; he gets the idea of the big picture until one tragic event. Things take a turn for the worse when the donut is found in his footlocker.

            This event is his downfall because now, instead of being punished for his own actions, Pyle’s fellow soldiers must take the punishment for Pyle’s actions. The relationships Pyle has made tear as more and more screw-ups cost the group more punishment. One night the platoon holds down Pyle as they beat him with soap and the next scene is where we see the changed Private Pyle. He does not participate in the responses to Sergeant Hartman’s questions; instead, he only stares off into space. He prefers not to be part of the group and refuses to shout the responses. Alone, a misunderstood, individual again, this scene is the beginning of the end.

            We next learn about the marine who killed twelve people in Texas (Charles Whitman), and Lee Harvey Oswald, the marine who killed President Kennedy. These killers learned how to shoot in the marines and show ‘what one motivated marine and his rifle can do.’ The end of this scene shows a distant Pyle staring off again, this time we get the feeling - not of sympathy for Pyle - but the feeling of terror when looking at him. He takes to heart Hartman’s final words in the scene, “and before you ladies leave my island, you will all be able to do the same thing.”

            We see in the final scene with Private Pyle how all this has affected him. He is a crazed gunman by his own sergeant’s design. Pyle succeeds greatly with his rifle. He even talks to his rifle. Joker doesn’t think Leonard can carry on with much more of this. Claiming he is a ‘section 8’ he is referring to a soldier being mentally unfit to serve. I think it is interesting that the viewers already know what that means before having to look up the term. We are all aware that Pyle is starting to lose it. Back to Leonard’s rifle skills though, Sergeant Hartman tells him, “I think we’ve finally found something that you do well.” And tells him later that he his ‘born again hard.’

Like we talked about in class recently, one of Kubrick’s signature shots in many of his films is the close up of a character staring. He does this often so we can get into the minds of the characters, without being told what they are thinking. In this film, the stares of Private Pyle make us think psychopath, animal, killer. We see his stare a few more times before he commits suicide. One comes when we find out he graduates. This stare is an evil one but doesn’t even compare to his final stares in the bathroom. We see him go from bad to worse.

Private Pyle changes many times throughout the film. He starts as young, naive boy, turns into a disciplined soldier, and finally a psychopathic killer. To say Pyle’s character is dynamic is an understatement. I’m glad Mr. Kubrick lets us track Pyle’s changes by facial expressions and stares, along with his actions in frame.