MW

There are three distinct parts in the film Full Metal Jacket. This first part takes place on Parris Island. A group of you men come together and are put through rigorous training and are tested both mentally and physically. They are taught to be killers and are essentially brainwashed in preparation for the war. These men are commanded by Sergeant Hartman who is often times rude and direct. In this section, we follow a soldier named Joker who is becomes head of his squad. Partway through this section Joker is assigned to work with Pyle, a struggling company member. After a while, Pyle becomes stronger and better at the daily tasks at hand. At the end of this section however, Pyle cracks and kills the sergeant and himself. This part of the film shows the lives of young soldiers going through boot camp preparing for war and becoming killers. It shows how mentally draining and physically tough it really is.
The second part of the film follows Joker into Vietnam where is he a journalist for the Stars and Stripes. Jokers job is to write about the good things that happen in the war and all the positive events that happen. My doing so he is deceiving the Americans into thinking that things are going well. He never see’s the front lines but expressed interest in doing so. Joker wore a peace sign on his vest, and on his helmet is said “Born to Kill” This is ironic and shows that most of the soldiers didn’t really understand their position in the war. He wanted peace and would be happy with peace, but he was taught to kill and that is his job.
The third part of the movie takes place on the front lines. Joker meets on of his buddy’s from boot camp , Cowboy. He joins Cowboys platoon and they go out on patrol. Now Joker is experiencing everything he was writing about, but it’s real. He’s seeing people die all around him. A little while into their patrol, Cowboy is shot by a sniper and he dies. Joker and the rest of the platoon go on a search for the sniper and it turns out it was a woman. When they find her, they shoot her many times and is essentially killed by Joker, who takes the last shot.
Although each section is important in and of itself, they tie together to show how gruesome and challenging war is from beginning to end. It’s mentally and physically draining and hard from day one of boot camp until the solders get home.
In the last scene of the movie, the soldiers are marching toward to enemy while singing the Mickey Mouse song, which is a well known childhood song. This reminds us that the war is being fought by 18, 19 and 20 year olds who lost their childhood because they’re out there fighting.