Full Metal Jacket: How it diverges from classical Hollywood
1987. Warner Bros. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Written by Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, Gustav Hasford. Photographed by Douglas Milsome. Film Editing by Martin Hunter. With Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey.Upon first glance, Stanley Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket, may seem as if it conforms to a classical narrative form; it touches upon some elements of the classical form, yet a large part is constructed in such a way that it fails to conform in most ways to the dominant model.Full Metal Jacket is essentially a film without a hero. Joker is the obvious choice for the protagonist for the film, but he takes back seat to the larger protagonist who truly pushes the film forward - the group mind. Nothing Joker does throughout the film has any real impact on the world around him. He merely acts as an observer to the killing machine in front of him. Joker is a character without goals and desires; he is content with surviving the war and trying to make too many enemies in the process, for he is wise enough to know that he is not the one moving the story forward, but it is the group that is. Even the films opening sequence of the film subtly shows the central driving for
This is especially true in the latter half of the film. We soon learn that it is not people like Joker - the individuals - who are in control in Vietnam, but those who follow the status quo. The war goes on and we learn the only way to survive is through conformity. We cut to Da Nang, where Joker and Rafter Man hang out in a coffee shop - they have drawn easy duty as correspondents for the Marine newspaper Stars and Stripes. At this point the narrative structure loosens and the story jumps from one set of unrelated events to the other. Pyle who has the misfortune of being a clumsy oaf who constantly screws up, thereby making him Hartman's favorite target, and eventually the target of his fellow soldiers until he turns his gun on his persecutor and finally on himself. ce to the film: somber, mute faces stare into space as they get their haircut illustrates to the audience that this is not a film about individuals. The major turning points of the film occur when the group mindset has taken hold - Pvt. Each section is able to function alone, not needing the other to make sense. Within a classical narrative structure, it is the protagonist who moves the story forward. For the point of this film is not to tell a story with a definitive beginning, middle and end, but it is to inform us about what lay within the true souls of man.
Common topics in this essay:
Metal Jacket,
Hartman Hartman,
Overrun Vietcong,
Paris Island,
Pvt Pyle,
Mouse Joker,
Animal Mother,
Stripes Capt,
Sgt Hartman,
Joker Rafter,
metal jacket,
classical narrative,
half film,
narrative structure,
pvt pyle,
classical narrative structure,
sgt hartman,
hartman unable,
stars stripes,
film essence,
goals desires,
film metal jacket,
|
Acceptance Essays
