How is the military presented in Full Metal Jacket?

How is the military presented in the opening scenes of Full Metal Jacket?

Full Metal Jacket is a war film based on the novel The Short Timers by Gustav Hasford. The film follows a squad of U.S Marines from their basic training through their participation in the Vietnam War.

At the very beginning of the film we are introduced to the new recruits of the United States Marine Corps who await the beginning of their basic training. We are also introduced at this time to the drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. From the very first shots we can recognise that the drill instructor is superior to the recruits as he is wearing full uniform, hat and has a number of badges on his jacket, highlighting his achievements and experience. This presents the military as having a hierarchy and that men have power over others.

The drill sergeant is foul mouthed and throughout this opening sequence shouts and screams at the recruits ‘welcoming’ them to the U.S Marines. The recruits stand upright in attention, wearing plain uniforms. This highlights that as recruits they are all the same, they are all fresh ‘bodies’ and the drill sergeant represents what they will become. They will go from ‘clean’ and obedient young men to stern and powerful leaders. This could be the director highlighting that he believes the army changes people for the worse. It is almost like a factory that produces machines; they take normal men and produce killing machines. Having the Gunnery Sergeant shows two generations of marines, the old and the new, and as the new become the old they in turn may train new recruits.

This first scene takes place in a plain room, the only furniture being bunk beds, there is no comfort. The windows are whitened out, this presents the military as being like a prison, and you cannot see anything of the outside world and nothing can see in, they do not want anybody to be distracted because it may stop them becoming what the army wants the recruits to become.

The drill sergeant walks round the square room addressing the group as a whole as he walks; he stops to talk to some of the recruits. The first, a ...

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The drill sergeant walks round the square room addressing the group as a whole as he walks; he stops to talk to some of the recruits. The first, a young black recruit, he makes racist remarks to, saying “there’s no watermelon or fried chicken here” he wants to get a reaction out of the man and then make further example of him, but the soldier ignores the comments. As he barks to recruits directly they back away, this shows they respect/fear him, again this highlights that the military is not a friendly environment. Also, the director uses camera angles that look up at the drill sergeant; this presents him as being above everyone else and shows that the recruits must look up to him.

Gunner Sergeant Hartman gives some of the recruits nicknames. The protagonist of the movie is nicknamed ‘Joker’ after attempting to make a joke during the opening scene. An overweight recruit is named ‘Gomer Pyle’ and a recruit from Texas is named ‘Cowboy’ because of his origin. Having these nicknames shows that the military takes away everything the young men had and dehumanises them, they now don’t even have the names they were given, in essence they are reborn as soldiers.

The drill sergeant is tyrannical and repellent, his language is just one example of this, but we can gain more from what he says. “I'm Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor, from now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and the last word out of your filthy sewers will be "Sir". Do you maggots understand that?! They are further dehumanised through is words, calling them ‘maggots’ and calling their mouths ‘dirty sewers’ this further presents the military as a conveyer belt taking a blank slate and turning it into a killing machine. “You are not even human, fucking beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit. Because I am hard you will not like me. But the more you hate me the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless” He describes them as ‘not even human’ and as ‘all equally worthless’ this shows that the military was not hard on people they looked down upon, but on everyone, they were all equal.

The way the drill sergeant walks around the recruits in the bunk house highlights the repetitive nature of army life. It is mundane and continuous, he walks round and round addressing the recruits until one of them says something, he then breaks the pattern and walks across the room to make an example of the man, who he nicknames ‘Joker’.

The entire environment of the military is founded upon discipline and repetition; we get this impression from the very start of the film. His first words, after introducing himself, are commands. He does not attempt to greet or welcome the recruits as you would expect in most social environments and when meeting new people. Throughout the first scene he barks orders, no questions are asked of him by the recruits, except one, which is rejected in an aggressive fashion. “I’m asking the fucking questions here private, do you understand?” this highlights that the military is not a welcoming profession and if you step out of line you are fiercely punished. In the opening scene alone he punches a recruit and strangles another, not something you would expect of other professions. But the military is not portrayed as a profession in these scenes; it is shown as a new life. They are now property of the U.S Army, “If you survive recruit training you will be a weapon”, this shows that the training will mould the recruits into weapons, further dehumanising them.

Finally the military is presented as efficient. Everything is as it should be, everyone has immaculate uniforms and the same shaven hair style, and they all stand in the same upright position giving the same answers in the same way. The beds are all neatly made in the same fashion and the floors are perfectly clean highlights the way that the military is disciplined and that everyone and everything must be precise in order to force this discipline. The only thing that separates the men is their names, but for some even these are replaced.

In conclusion, the opening scenes of Full Metal Jacket present the military as disciplined, mundane, repetitive, dehumanising, aggressive and that it is a mechanical environment, where everything is ordered.

Dom Ansell

L6P