Blog Six LDT

The first part of Full Metal Jacket is during the training for marines who are going to go to war. The first scene is the men getting their heads shaved; this shows what the first scene shows, the changes made to the men. The marines are taught to be machines, doing whatever their commander says and do whatever is asked of them, including dying. This request is not possible for all men, as it can be seen when Lenard Pyle snaps. The men are pushed emotionally, which is in turn supposed to give the men a common bond. However, this strategy did not include Lenard. Lenard kept messing up, in Sergeant Hartman’s eyes, which meant he was punished. Joker was put in charge of Lenard to teach him the ways except Lenard kept messing up which lead to the whole group getting punished. The group was not pleased with having to do extra because Lenard kept messing up and beat him with bars of soap one night. The next day Lenard was different, the marines controlled him. Sergeant Hartman says “marines die, that’s what we are here for.” The marines are asking for literally everything from their soldiers, which says a lot about the Vietnam War. The war became the lives of these men, not only during the war, but also long after the war. Hartman also says that: “Marines are not allowed to die without permission.” When Pyles commits suicide, it is very graphic for Joker, and questions the difference between death of a leader that someone doesn’t agree with versus the death of a leader of someone who is Vietnamese.

In part two of the movie Joker is working in Vietnam for a newspaper called the “Stars and Stripes”. The “Stars and Stripes” is supposed to be telling war stories that give reason to why men are dying. Joker is told that they only tell war stories that promote the war; ones that make people feel patriotic. When Joker is introduced as writing for the “Stars and Stripes”, he is also introduced as “the man who will get you famous.” This idea of the press not even being able to tell what is really going on in Vietnam was a huge issue during the War. The government had a large control over what was going to be said and what the people back home would hear. In one scene Joker is sitting and a prostitute walks over to him telling him how she will “love him long time”, then Rafterman takes Joker and the prostitutes picture, another man comes and takes the camera. Rafterman, whose camera was stolen, poses the idea to Joker that they are “supposed to be helping (the Vietnamese) and they shit all over us…” This paradox makes the men wonder if they are wanted and if the people do want their help.

In part three of the movie, Joker and Rafterman are sent in country to see what war is like. Joker is told: “ they are in a huge shit sandwich and everyone has to take a bite of it.” The men are constantly in a horrible state and that even when they leave they will still have the taste in their mouth. Joker does not understand what the war is truly doing to the men until he goes out on the front line with his brother from Parris Island, Cowboy. When they are out on patrol, a sniper shoots Cowboy; a doctor tries to save Cowboy but is shot as well. Joker learns fast how cruel the war can be. The group then hunts down the sniper, who turns out to be a woman. The woman is then shot repeatedly. This idea is reminds the viewer of when Joker and Raftman are in the helicopter and ask the man shooting the gun if he had another ever killed a woman, and asked how he could do that. Joker delivers the final shot to the woman, in doing so, killing his innocence and finally becoming a machine of the marines who is born to kill.

In the last scene of the movie, the men are marching along singing what is known as the Mickey Mouse march. The Mickey Mouse march shows how American the soldiers are as well as how young they are. The war takes away the youth of the men, and quickly turns them to killing machines. Full Metal Jacket embodies the cruelty of the Vietnam War. The struggles and changed made to all of the men in Vietnam was not a game that ended; the men were thoroughly changed because of the viciousness of the war.