The Duality of Music in Full Metal Jacket

The music played behind visuals in film help connect viewers to themes and motifs in the film itself. Music can help set moods and even change moods. Music can work sarcastically against what is happening visually, or it can work as a parallel to what is happening. The soundtrack from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket does all of this. His choices he makes for the soundtrack are brilliant and work very well with the themes he creates in his film. I have posted on the duality of man before, and I believe that the musical selections in Jacket somewhat hint at that theme, directly or inversely to what is shown on the screen.

Music sets the mood in every scene it is present in. When you hear a song, you make connections with what you hear to you see. The first music we hear is the song “Goodbye My Sweetheart, Hello Vietnam.” This first helps us because we immediately learn the setting from this song. We also infer a direct meaning from the lyrics in the song. It relates to the characters that are saying goodbye to what they once knew, what they loved, their sweethearts, and hello violence, warfare, and Vietnam. More indirectly, the simplicity of the song also hints somewhat to the simplicity of the characters at the beginning of the film. They have not had any experience and they are simple people.

When Kubrick wants to present a mood, he thinks about many ways to do that. He does it with lighting and shot angles but he also does it with music. One of the original scores of the film is very dark and quiet. It is used in the dark scenes of the film - the scenes where we feel suspense and fear, even sadness for characters. The score is pretty much silence with a repeating noise, almost as if a pin is dropping. The score helps us focus on what is happening in frame by not being too over the top and overdone. Nothing flashy or too dramatic is needed to distract us from what we are seeing. The first scene it is used in is the scene where they beat up private Pyle. The next scene is the bathroom scene, where Pyle commits suicide. In this scene, we hear the music and relate it to when we heard it earlier. The two scenes can be related through the music. This music represents the darkness inside people. The music feels cold and on edge, which can arguably describe human nature. In these scenes in particular, we see human nature in its worst form. Revenge is made in both scenes. First, the soldiers get revenge on Pyle for screwing up and making them work harder. And secondly, Pyle gets revenge on the drill sergeant who has cause him much embarrassment over the last 8 weeks. This music suggests one part of the duality of man, the violent side. The music in these scenes helps relate the scenes to each other. We get a shared meaning out of both scenes because of the score behind it.

When we get to Vietnam, Kubrick decides to start using modern music to play a role in his film. Like I discussed earlier, Kubrick uses the music both directly to relate to the action in scene, and inversely to imply some sort of sarcasm. One example of when a song is used inversely and directly is when the song ‘Surfin’ Bird’ is played under a scene during combat and such. This song is an odd choice to put into a film like this, but I believe Kubrick understands its playfulness and uses it to contrast the brutal ways of war, and it also helps directly relate to how the soldiers are still easy going and somewhat childish. We see a tank blow up a building, not something we would typically associate with an upbeat goofy song. But it does work perfectly with the jokes the soldiers make when the film crew walks by them. Immediately after the song ends, we are hit with a totally opposite mood when we see two dead soldiers in the center of the soldiers, giving short eulogies, both sarcastic and sincere. We can immediately make the connection that the duality of man goes from playful innocence, right back to harsh violence.

Kubrick uses music to do a lot of things in his films, and I think its pretty fun to try to interpret why. We make meanings, and tie meanings together with certain songs, and we see that the songs also work with what we see in frame. Whether inversely or directly, the music works to present a meaning, and it certainly accomplishes it. 

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. 

Full Metal Jacket: The edits

In Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, editing is used quite often to move time along, and he uses montages to tie events together. His use of continuity editing stays constant throughout the film. Kubrick also uses many long takes in order to portray realism. Editing plays an important role in this film, as it helps us intensify events and connect with certain characters.

First, lets talk about the montages Kubrick uses in his film. Two specific scenes come to mind. The first is when we see Leonard Lawrence, or Private Pyle, continuously fail obstacles on the training course. It starts out as a montage showing the tasks the soldiers have to complete, but then it starts to focus on Private Pyle’s failure. From climbing, to pull-ups, Pyle can’t seem to do anything right. This montage helps us to understand how much Pyle is separated from the rest of the platoon. This series of shots starts to get us to feel kind of bad for Private Pyle. But the second montage is one that connects two characters, Pyle and Joker. This montage is shorter but it is very effective in getting the viewer to make connections between Joker and Pyle. We also see Pyle start succeeding and overcoming obstacles. (Literally and figuratively.) Through this montage, we see Private Pyle accomplish things we never thought possible and we see Joker’s leadership abilities. He is able to reach Pyle like no others could. We even see Pyle smile multiple times in the montage – something quite different from what we see in the earlier montage.

Another editing technique we see in Full Metal Jacket is the long take. Multiple times we have shots that last over 30 second without a single edit. We first have the introduction shot in the barracks, but one of my favorite long takes is the shot where Private Pyle climbs the obstacle and climbs back down. In all of the long takes, the viewer gets the feel of realism. If we were actually there, we would only have one angle of the scene, so I believe that is why Kubrick uses the long take. He wants us to feel like we are at camp too.

One particular way Kubrick edits in the film is the use of the fade. Scene to scene Kubrick uses the fade to move from one to the other. Sometimes he even fades to black. But I believe that the use of the fade also helps Kubrick achieve a sense of continuity editing. The shots and fades do not over intensify scenes, and there aren’t hardly any jump cuts in the whole movie. We stay with one action and we move chronologically to the next. Sure, we may skip events in between, but the order of the film is never too complex. Complexity editing is not really used in this film as much as continuity editing is.  In my field production class, we discussed what the differences between the two types of editing are. In class, we defined continuity editing as, “Used for the clarification of an event. Works to develop a clear and understandable mental map…Situated in the realm of realism.” So by using this definition, we can see why Kubrick would use continuity editing in order to make his film more realistic. Complexity editing was defined as, “ Used to intensify an event and reveal its complexity…probing the depth of an event…situated in the realm of expressionism. Arguably, the sniper scene is one that does use some complexity editing techniques.

First, we take on multiple perspectives in the scene. We take the perspective of the sniper in the building looking down at Eight Ball. Time even slows down as the shots hit Eight Ball. We then go to the American soldiers hiding out. Then, once again, we take the perspective of the sniper. We even zoom in the sights and take out another soldier trying to help Eight Ball. And then slow motion again as the bullet hits. The use of this complexity editing here probes the depth of this event, and helps us connect to the situation better. It is used to intensify the event.

Editing plays an important role in this film, as it helps us intensify events and connect with certain characters.

Graycon, David. CMN 2575. Lecture September 12, 2011. 

Full Metal Jacket: Mise-en-scene

            What’s in a scene? How does the scene tell its own story?  These are questions we ask when dealing with mise-en-scene. I like to think of it as a way for viewers to make extra connections to characters and the plot. In class, we discussed how mise-en-scene shows casual relationships; it creates parallels, manipulates story and plot, and sustains the narrative’s flow of information. In Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, there are many elements in his scenes that give us insight into the narrative further than just the action in frame. Through this, I believe we get a good feel for characters’ relationships with other characters.

            Kubrick brings his creative shots and styling into his film, and he also creates meaning within every scene. From the first scene we can infer a lot about the time and setting this film will be taking place in.  

The music, saying ‘Goodbye Sweat-heart, Hello Vietnam’ gives us an obvious sense of the time period. But the longhaired soldiers also give us clues into the time period. It also clues us into what types of soldiers the army was getting. Young kids with long hair, in my opinion, seem to be ‘hipsters’ in the 1970’s and maybe we can relate this to characters’ attitudes before going through camp. If we relate it to their hair, the soldiers are free and whimsical before, and once their hair is buzzed, they are regimented and rough.

            Another scene we can look at is the scene where Private Pyle is eating a donut in the center of the frame while all of the soldiers do push-ups around him. 

Many interpretations are taken from what we can see in the frame. First, we can look at how orderly and uniform the barracks are behind and around him. Everything is in perfect order, the bunks, the trunks on the floor, the soldiers evenly spaced between them, the pillars in frame, the clothing, etc. Perfect symmetry is a way to describe the scene. The only unregimented thing in the scene is Private Pyle himself and the contents of his footlocker spilled on the floor. Zane Phipps, author of an article called ‘Questioning Reality in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket,’ relates the scene to how the marines view individualism. “Pyle is set apart from his platoon in an absurd and suggestive manner, indicating that individuality is undesirable in the Marine Corps.” In many of my posts, I have stated that individualism is looked down upon in the military, and this scene demonstrates it. Pyle is singled out and chastised in front of his whole platoon. Placed dead center of the frame, we focus on him like the soldiers do in their minds. Now, if he fails, they all fail. He is the main reason they fail, which is why he is in the center of the frame. The way we feel after seeing the others punished for what Pyle does makes us feel sad for him. We know that it’s hard for Private Pyle and the challenges he fails begin to stack up. So when we see him disappoint again, we sympathize with him. And we also feel bad for the others having to the push-ups because in our minds, they didn’t deserve it. We start to imagine tension now between Pyle and the other soldiers. Even though we don’t see confrontation in the scene, we feel the tension now because of where we are. The low angle shot gives me the feeling of being on the ground. We are eye level until the command ‘exercise’ is given, making us take on a role as a soldier.

            We can also look at the two scenes where Private Pyle gets beaten and commits suicide. Both scenes are dark and blue, making the viewer connect with Pyle’s, and the others’ emotions. The darkness symbolizes the darkness that is inside humans and the blue, sad feelings of Private Pyle.

            Overall, the scenes in the first section of the film make us dislike Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, and we sympathize with the soldiers and especially with Private Pyle. We can see tension build not only through action in scene, but also in the composition of the scene. We notice many times how scenes portray a loss of identity for the soldiers at training camp. We are constantly seeing the order, uniformity, and blandness of training camp in the first section, which ties in with the loss of the individual. The beginning of the film, and considerably all of the film, deals heavily with mise-en-scene. These elements help the viewer make conclusion and move the story deeper into their minds, and further down the plot line.

Phipps, Zane. Questioning Reality in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Online http://mason.gmu.edu/~ zphipps/fmjpaper.html

Full Metal Jacket: View of the Vietnamese

FMJ Clips of Vietnamese

In the films about the Vietnam War, it is common for the Vietnamese to be portrayed in ways that only put them down. Not often do we see Vietnamese people do something good or something respectable, in fact most of the time, they are disrespected and often disrespected characters. The films that are about the Vietnam War never really dive into the problems the Vietnamese people had to go through. The only problem viewers see is the Vietnamese get shot at by soldiers. We also see, specifically in Full Metal Jacket, that there isn’t a lead character that is Vietnamese. Sure the female sniper in the final scene is important, but she’s just an enemy that is killed. Mike Felker of Jump Cut discusses the role of Vietnamese in films. “In U.S. films, the Vietnamese merely provide a backdrop to our soldiers' macho posturing and ethical questioning,” (Felker). The role of the Vietnamese in the films only made our American soldiers look better. The Vietnamese people we see in this film are thieves, prostitutes, and villains. None of those roles help the image of the Vietnamese.

These themes and motifs connected with the negative portrayal of the Vietnamese are connected to how people in America actually viewed them. First of all, the idea that all of the Vietnamese were a sneaky and evil people, stemmed from something seen through American eyes at the time, and most of the time, this view was fabricated to get a unified America against Vietnam. In my genre analysis paper for class, I talked about the way the news and media shifted the eyes of America in whatever way they pleased. And journalists sometimes went out of their way to make the Vietnamese seem worse than they actually were. A New York Times article from 1966 describes the people in the city of Saigon:

Saigon’s workers live, as they always have, in fetid slums on the city’s

outskirts ... Bars and bordellos, thousands of young Vietnamese women

degrading themselves as ... prostitutes, gangs of hoodlums and beggars

and children selling their older sisters and picking pockets have become

ubiquitous features of urban life.

(Sheehan qtd. in Chomsky qtd. in Williams p 217)

Chomsky reveals that this article was not accurate and was somewhat fabricated to make a statement, but this is not to say that the negative view of the Vietnamese was fabricated.

The soldiers fighting did have their opinions and they weren’t shy to tell the media what their opinions were. In Full Metal Jacket, there is a sequence where television and film journalists interview the soldiers addressing issues of the purpose and cause of the war. In the scene, there are quotes about fighting for people who don’t want to be fought for and shooting the wrong ‘gooks’. They were told the Viet Cong were the enemy, but if the soldiers in the war, and in the films didn’t know which Vietnamese were which, how was the American public expected to interpret them either? This is why the soldiers didn’t really have any problem killing random people like in the helicopter scene. They also did always respect the dead, Crazy Earl even takes a picture with a dead Vietnamese soldier who they are ‘throwing a party for.’

The Vietnamese people are much more than what we see in films. Obviously, not every Vietnamese person was a thief or a prostitute. Directors chose these portrayals to make viewers more comfortable with the issue at hand. Fighting a war against a people who aren’t necessarily good people is easy to justify and I believe that is why the Vietnamese people were made out to be bad people film and media. As Crazy Earl says, “After we rotate back to the world, we’re gunna miss not having anyone around that’s worth shooting.”

Felker, M. (1988). “Platoon. Full Metal Jacket. Back to Vietnam.” Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media. From Jump Cut, no. 33, Feb. 1988 pp. 28-30. Retrieved from Web 03 Oct. 2011. http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC33folder/platoon-FmetJacket.html

Williams, P. (2003). “What A Bummer for the Gooks: representations of white American masculinity and the Vietnamese in the Vietnam War film genre 1977-87.” European Journal of American Culture Vol. 22 Issue 3, pp.215-234. Retreived from EBSCO web database 03 Oct. 2011

Full Metal Jacket: The Shot

Video Clip 1


Video Clip 2

            Auteur Stanley Kubrick is known for his stellar camera work and in Full Metal Jacket, he has many shots that really envelope what he is all about. In the film, he uses the long take many times, and uses many shots that follow characters throughout their landscape. Constantly moving, Kubrick’s camera captures action in frame and the following movement makes the film feel more realistic. A contributor to Time magazine, Richard Corliss describes the way Kubrick’s camera moves throughout the film. “Kubrick's majestic camera tracks across the barracks, it ascends obstacle courses, it glides past the soldiers, then abruptly cuts to close-ups, to study their pain head on.” The camera doesn’t move on its own without purpose, it follows characters as if we are watching them with our own eyes, and it helps us understand them too. 

            The first shot is a long take that lasts over a minute long. This scene moves with Sergeant Hartman as he circles the barracks, giving his welcome speech to the ‘maggots’ just arriving to boot camp. Kubrick’s shot stays with Hartman as he walks down one row, rounds a corner, and walks down another row of soldiers. Hartman doesn’t walk down the middle of the frame either; he is staged in the right third of the frame to balance the soldiers he passes that are staged to pass through the left third of the frame. Kubrick uses the ‘rule of thirds’ to balance the frame and make it appealing to the viewer. I think Kubrick uses the long take here to keep us focused on our drill instructor, to keep us from being distracted and focused as the soldiers were in the scene. Alison Nastasi, author of an online film journal, Framed, discusses the way Kubrick shoots the scenes during training camp. “It's a very deliberate decision on the director's part in that it highlights how formal and regimented the process of basic training is… Even the men themselves, all with the same shaved heads and white undergarments, make the point that there's no place here for the individual.” 

               Another scene that uses moving cameras is a scene where the squad is patrolling a warzone and we follow soldiers’ movement laterally throughout the scene. We pass through walls, or broken buildings to keep up with characters. The way Kubrick shoots it makes me think I was there, patrolling from a distance and watching my squad mates move throughout the landscape. The beginning of this scene moves faster than specific soldiers. This is to make us aware of the number of soldiers and put us in the patrol with them, as if we are scanning the area along with them. A fade to Joker ties us to his narration and then we are back to following one character. Crazy Earl (Kieron Jecchinis) is patrolling and we watch him move through a building and closer towards a stuffed animal on the ground. We first track his movements up close, keeping him central in the frame. Keeping continuity, we jump to a farther out long shot so we can see the environment he is in better. The camera, tracking laterally, moves outside of the building setting up the action in the scene. The camera is low, like a crouching soldier running. This becomes evident when we see a crouching soldier run to Earl’s aid. The camera even gives us the sense of running as it shakes up and down, with handheld motion. 

              The end of this scene is a masterfully crafted shot. The colors and composition in frame is exceptional and it’s a beauty to watch. First of all, I feel this way because of the way the characters are moved into frame. We follow the first two soldiers in, (the medic and Cowboy) and then Joker moves in from the right. The four bodies are positioned to take up most of the frame and their movements balance out the frame. Joker takes position dead center to fully balance the shot when he enters. The angle of Earl’s body makes room for the medic to block the other characters and also leaves room for him to be almost fully in frame. I really like the way this shot is set up with the balance of characters and the setting around them. Through the hole in the background, we see the bright orange flames contrasting the dark tones of the soldiers and the ground. And the lighting of this shot is impressive because the lighting really grasps the idea of fire lighting the characters. The glow of their skin against the darkness of the setting behind them sets them apart beautifully in my mind. 

                 In all of Kubrick’s films, shot composition is taken very seriously for every shot. Kubrick is known for thinking through every shot and making sure it is just the way he envisioned it. This is what makes Kubrick’s films so fun to analyze. The knowledge and meaning behind every shot is left for interpretation of the viewer. It keeps us involved in the film and makes me excited to see what kind of shots he will use next. 

Corliss, R. (1987). Welcome to Viet Nam, the Movie: II FULL METAL JACKET Directed by Stanley Kubrick Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. Time, 129(26), 66.

Nastasi, Alison. (2010). Framed: Full Metal Jacket