Transition in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket "These are great days we're living, bros. We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns. These people we wasted here today are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting." In Full Metal Jacket, Stanley Kubrick's portrayal of the Vietnam War and the US Marines is immense. His "Boys to Men" theme brought forth the transition these young men had gone through in order to achieve that "Man" status. The beginning of the movie takes place at the Marine boot camp on Parris Island in South Carolina. The Marines, as always, were looking for a few good men. On this day, they …show more content…
Everyone has Private Joker inside of them. He is our doubt. Our naïve braveness. Our curiosity. Our qualm as some may call it. He sees Hartman as I see my coach. He can see beyond the Marine boot camp and perhaps even Vietnam. Joker, played by Matthew Modine, is the person inside of us that is self-disciplined. The one that tells us we have to do it on our own, find our own way. He is going to learn whatever it is that the teacher is teaching but will attempt to garner his own understanding before he accepts another. While Sergeant Hartman is giving his introduction, he mumbles in his best John Wayne Voice "Is that you John Wayne. Is this me?" Extremely upset with this disruption, Sergeant Hartman accuses Cowboy, Joker's future friend who happens to be standing next to him in line. "I did sir," Joker tells his Drill Instructor. "Private Joker...I like honesty. I like you. You can come over to my house and fuck my sister." Sergeant Hartman sarcastically states seconds before punching the private in his stomach. I am sure Private Joker was not expecting the drill instructor to strike him but his courageousness showed when he admitted to his fault. I believe that despite Sergeant Hartman's sarcastic remark, he was impressed by
In Kyle Longley’s, The Morenci Marines, nine young Morenci boys took the call to duty, not knowing that only three will return from the warzone of Vietnam. These boys, some Native American, Mexican American, and Caucasian, joined the fight in Vietnam despite their social, racial, and economic differences. Although the nine men are from a small mining town in Morenci, Arizona, the Vietnam War consisted of, in the words of Mike Cranford, “a lower middle class war,” fueled by small towns all around the United States (Longley, 246). Many of these men felt the call to battle and the will to fight, which had been engrained in their heritage and gave these men the right to be Americans. Aiding the war effort came from countless small American town
During boot camp, we were taught about the Battle of Fallujah, but after reading this book, I was able to understand so much better. I was able to picture their tactics, strategies, their emotions, and why the Marines were called the “Greatest Generation.”
What is horror? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary definition of horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." It stands to reason then that "horror fiction" is fiction that elicits those emotions in the reader. An example of a horror film is "The Shining", directed by Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick was a well-known director, producer, writer and cinematographer. His films comprised of unique, qualitative scenes that are still memorable but one iconic film in his collection of work is The Shining. Many would disagree and say that The Shining was not his best work and he could have done better yet, there are still those who would say otherwise. This film was not meant to be a “scary pop-up” terror film but
What I learned from this book is that although we’ve all earned the title marine, our core values and ways doesn’t just end at the conclusion of boot camp, we have to bring it with us to the fleet and eventually use our military teachings back with us as citizens. We can contribute good into our communities because our customs and curtsies, respect, core values, adaptation abilities, leadership traits, etc., would be what sets us out to be different than the general population.
60 veterans were interviewed threw out this story , so the author gets all of the experiences in their own words. we learn about their reasons for enlisting; their arrival at Montford Point and the training they received there; their lives in a segregated military. A very great bio of one of the characters was the one of Herman Darden Jr. He begins to talk about the reputation of the marines at the time which was marines were rough and ready to go. He then talks about his reason for joining which was "because marines are supposed to be the first to battle and the first ones home, so I don't want to stay out that long". Even though the racial barrier between the blacks and whites was big alot of these black men still found it in them to join the marines and fight with honor.
The Marine Corps Experience, pp. 12 – 31 The Corps today, pp 318 – 335
I believe that the mission of the author, Victor H. Krulak, Lieutenant General, USMC (Ret.), in writing this book was to describe how vital the United States Marine Corps is to our nation and that through the extensive preparation and training we receive, we have become the leading fighting force on and off the battle field. The purpose of this book was to inspire readers about the Marine Corps and to explain stories about how different equipment came into the Corps and how we perfected them. The author’s goal was the educate readers based on his personal experiences
Although perceived by the author as a terrible thing, the Pacific Campaign showed Eugene Sledge several things a normal man usually wouldn’t notice. Throughout the book marines are seen on litter duty; volunteering to run into the midst battle with a stretcher to carry out dead or wounded Marines. This mindset of never leaving someone behind is still taught today. What it comes down to at its basic level is the love and loyalty that brothers in arms share with one another. Examples of such selflessness can be seen today still, with the
In Kyle Longley’s, The Morenci Marines, nine young Morenci boys took the call to duty, not knowing that only three will return from the warzone of Vietnam. These boys, some of who were Native American, Mexican American, and Caucasian, joined the fight in Vietnam despite their social, racial, and economic differences. Although the nine men are from a small mining town in Morenci, Arizona, the Vietnam War was, in the words of Mike Cranford, “a lower middle class war,” that was fueled by small towns all around the United States (Longley, 246). Many of these men felt the call to battle and the will to fight, which was engrained in their heritage and gave these men the right to be Americans. Small town America, mostly lower class, was looked upon to aid the war effort with countless men, where as the rest of the nation, the upper to middle class college educated students, were protesting the war and they believed that it was unjust.
This disassociation allows for the whole sale slaughter of people with moral justification. The unforeseen byproduct of this disassociation, as Cameron points out, can be seen in the 1950’s and 1960’s, when many veterans consigned their wives to the kitchen. The intended product of this disassociation, however, was to kill Japanese soldiers. The Marines would reap the benefits of this first in the Guadalcanal campaign of 1942. With the U.S. Marines of First Division engaged in a life or death struggle against their Japanese opponents, the cartoonish portraits of four-eyed, slow Japanese soldiers burned into the American Marine’s mind kept them from thinking about the enemy as men who are carrying pictures of their families eerily similar to the pictures that were carried by Americans. Using the invasion of Peleliu as a backdrop for his analysis, Cameron expands upon his analysis of the individual Marine to the collective thought of the organization. The U.S. Marine self-image caused Marine units on Peleliu to charge head-first into the waiting Japanese defense with foolhardy, head on assaults which they stubbornly pressed. The Marine Corps, even through their hyper-masculine indoctrination, had not prepared their Marines any better than their U.S. Army counterparts on the island. Before Peleliu, the perception of combat had been that of a clean affair due to the romanticized images of World War I. After, due to Tom Lea’s reporting of events, the
Wright describes the Marines as tough human beings and he draw lines back to the cave-man when he tells about the Marine soldiers motto “Get some!”. He displays them as testosterone filled meatheads who are searching for an adrenalin kick. They are ready to kill and are having an urge to experience combat.
One of my guys, “Joker,” was the funniest man in the outfit. His stupid wise cracks kept us all sane in a desert of madness. I wish I could remember only his wise cracks and forget all the rest of it. Believe it or not, there are some fun times in war.
Stanley Kubrick the director of Full Metal Jacket, left many classmates speechless, including me. Throughout the movie Full Metal Jacket gives us a meaningful experience of the Vietnam war. By using our critical thinking and media skills we can often evaluate what the director is demonstrating and what message he’s trying to project. The way the scenes and scripts are structured can often give us a grip of what Kubrick wants us to perceive. By analyzing this production it is obvious that he tries to notify the audience about the drawbacks of Vietnam and any other war; where casualties involve.
Before watching the movie Full Metal Jacket, I thought it would be more of a comedic type of war movie. This movie portrayed the sad part of war, where you lose your closes friends, and shows how gruesome and cold war could be. In today’s society, video games only portray the positive stigma of war instead of showing the negatives and dark part of it.
There are two basic ideas that can be taken from any war: war is expensive and war is hell. The second of these ideas is the premise of countless media adaptations; the violence of war has been captured, reenacted, and even created for the silver screen for viewers all over the world to enjoy. Although war is a treacherous event, the general public enjoys viewing all of the gory details that entail. The American public’s fascination with war dates back to the Civil War; at the battle of Bull Run, northern citizens watched the battle while picnicking on the sidelines. During the Vietnam War, Americans could watch the war on the nightly news. Today, the American populace has war films and among those films is Full Metal Jacket. A war film can be educational, entertaining, dramatic, and even comedic, yet all war films meet the same basic standards. Although a film may meet the criteria, the quality of the film itself may be questionable. In the case of Full Metal Jacket, it is not only a genuine war film but a fine one at that. Full Metal Jacket is the tale of a utilitarian Marine who witnesses the dehumanizing effects of the war in Vietnam; from the ruthlessness of boot camp to the sanguinary streets of Vietnam, Private Joker realizes the true reality of war. The 1987 movie Full Metal Jacket is a primary example of a quality war film, for it references actual war combat, is historically accurate, has a seamless combination of the common war movie themes, and aids the viewer