Masculinity In Full Metal Jacket

The film “Full Metal Jacket” directed by Stanley Kubrick is an excellent example of the rites/crisis of masculinity. The rites or crisis of masculinity has been shaped by society and our definition of what it means to be masculine. The film “Full Metal Jacket” is set during the time of the Vietnam war. The movie examines the lives of marines during this time. The first half of the movie shows the lives of the soldiers throughout training camp until they graduate. The second half of the movie follows Joker as he works as a military journalist.

The film begins with the sergeant drilling the soldiers. Joker stands up the drill sergeant and becomes the platoon leader for his bravery. Pyle is assigned to follow the joker and learn everything from

You begin to notice that there is a particularly crazy look in his eyes. Joker notices that Pyle begins to talk to his weapon. Joker believes that Pyle might be in the beginning stages of losing it. Pyle becomes good a shooting and earns a small amount of respect for the sergeant. Pyle grows to really dislike the drill sergeant. Soon thereafter the men graduate and are given their assignments. Pyle is assigned to go to war while Joker is assigned to be a military journalist. The last night at the training camp, Joker is assigned to keep watch, during this time he finds Pyle alone in the bathroom with his gun. The term for Pyle’s gun is a “full metal jacket,” hence the name of the movie. Pyle begins to talk crazy and soon the sergeant walks in on the two men and tries to diffuse the situation, but to no avail. Pyle shoots the sergeant then himself. After this scene the movie changes pace and follows Joker as a military journalist. At one point he is out on the

When the sergeant is looking down on Joker the camera zooms in on his face which shows his power, and helps to depict him as a villain. The camera goes back and forth onto the face of the sergeant and the man he is talking to. This scene has a lot of yelling. The sergeant yell insults, commands, and questions at the men and they yell back. There is no music playing in the background, all you hear is the sergeant and the men yelling. The men never make eye contact with the sergeant but he stares them straight in the eyes. There is a moment of silence before Joker makes a joke. He uses a different voice than his regular voice. Most of the camera angles only allow you to see both the sergeant and the soldiers from the side of their face. It isn’t until the sergeant first makes contact with Joker and punches him do we see Joker’s full face along with the sergeant. We also get to see Pyle’s full face when the sergeant interacts with him. In his interaction with both of these men, there is point when they are on the ground kneeling in pain, and the sergeant is standing over them yelling. There is a close up of his face and the way the light is cast on his face makes him look intimidating, powerful, and devilish. The film is monotone in color, many greens, greys, and browns. The film is not very colorful; it isn’t until the second half we see more color. Also he only really makes contact with Cowboy,