Blog#6: FMJ RGV

The first part of Full Metal Jacket takes place on a military base in Parris Island, South Carolina. This portion of the film follows a group of soldiers through the rigorous process of basic training through which all new recruits must pass in order to become marines. The first scene of the movie displays a military barber repeatedly shaving various heads of new recruits. This initial experience of incoming soldiers to boot camp is largely representative of a theme present throughout a soldier's basic training. The shaved heads of new recruits symbolizes the dehumanization process the military utilizes with its members in order to create an effective fighting force. Recruits are forced by their instructors to act, talk, and dress in identically the same manner. Soldiers are stripped of their individuality and uniqueness so that they can be viewed as one collective body with a composition that is the same throughout. This process allows combat troops to view each other more objectively with less emotion in order for quick decisions on the battlefield to be made more easily.
At one point in the first part of the film when the recruits are in their barracks, the drill sergeant tells them that the Marine Corp. does not want robots - it wants killers. The dehumanization process the military employs in training its recruits successfully accomplishes this goal. Drill instructors similar to the one portrayed in the film perpetually demean soldiers physically and verbally. These actions merit considerable emotional repercussions amongst recruits that, in many cases, last for years. In Full Metal Jacket, Private Pyle continuously performs inadequately throughout basic training. As a result of his actions, Pyle receives increased ridicule from his drill sergeant and alienation from his comrades. His fellow recruits eventually beat him in the middle of the night because of the punishment they receive for his mistakes. Pyle begins to appear as though he is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, depression, or insanity. He ultimately fulfills his role as a killer when he kills the drill sergeant and subsequently commits suicide with the rifle that the Marine Corps. demanded he spend so much time with.
The second part of the film is set in Vietnam where the protagonist, Joker, is stationed as a journalist for the patriotic newspaper Stars and Stripes. At first, Joker writes articles by accurately depicting events as he understands they happened. He experiences conflict with his boss, though, when he portrays a company of Marines as unsuccessful in finding and killing enemy troops on a particular night. His boss explains to him that people want to read positive stories concerned with success that "win hearts and minds." Joker's boss also asks him and his fellow journalists to use the phrase "sweep and clear" rather than "search and destroy" in their future articles. Joker is forced to dedicate himself to promoting a positive image of the Vietnam War to the American people rather than reporting facts accurately. The American government relied on the misrepresentation of the events that took place in the Gulf of Tonkin in order to acquire a reason to conduct the war in Vietnam, and it convoluted information and facts to paint an optimistic portrayal of the war so public opinion could remain positive.
The last part of the film is composed of Joker's combat experiences in country. Joker witnesses firsthand the horror and cruelty of war when his platoon is under heavy sniper that it cannot locate. The Vietnamese sniper wounds a member of his platoon that is standing in a clearing with no cover. The platoon must decide whether to attempt to save this man and risk further casualties, or move on and leave the man behind. The emotions of the men are evident through their angry and confused yelling and serve as a prime example for how the best military training in the world cannot prepare a soldier to react objectively in every situation. The platoon makes several attempts at rescuing its wounded comrade, but they only succeed in finding the sniper and identifying her as a woman. The sniper is shot and wounded by a member of the platoon, and Joker is confronted morally again as he deliberates over whether to put her out of her misery or "leave her to rot." Joker kills the girl in a representation of the severely savage conditions of war and the killer instinct instilled in soldiers.
The singing of the Mickey Mouse song by the soldiers in the conclusion of the film relates to the irony of a particular aspect of the Vietnam War. In many cases, the eighteen year old men that compose the American military during the war are barely high school graduates but have witnessed atrocities that most people do not witness in a lifetime. These soldiers are essentially boys at heart, but they are forced to kill and destroy life in order for them to survive. The Mickey Mouse song symbolizes the youth of the soldiers and the innonence that they lost through their participation in the Vietnam War. In addition, the singing of this song can be viewed as a club singing its anthem. The soldiers use the song as a sort of rationalization for the horrible things they have to do to survive.