Full Metal Jacket Symbolism
An Analysis of Background Movement, Symmetry in Full Metal Jacket
A Study of the First Half of Kubrick 's Stanley Gruesome Anti-War Film
Jason Cangialosi
Jason Cangialosi, Yahoo Contributor Network
Nov 15, 2005 "Share your voice on Yahoo websites. Start Here."
More: Full Metal Jacket Squad
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There are two elements in the first half of Full Metal Jacket making it undeniably Kubrickian. One is the symmetrical background imagery and it 's use through movement to create underlying meaning. The second is a fluid editing style that overlaps shots, using symbolic imagery and subtext to transition scenes.
These elements are used to emphasize the contrasting styles of training that a marine, Private Pyle, …show more content…
On the surface these are just other marines training in the background as Pyle and Joker are seen in the foreground. Upon close inspection a pattern can be seen in how at certain moments the background marines are moving left to right and at others from right to left.
The left to right movement can be seen as the traditional way a character processes information. In the case of Full Metal Jacket it is the traditional way of military training that Drill Sergeant Hartman forces upon Private Pyle. The right to left movement is representative of the non-traditional way that Private Joker embraces to train Private Pyle. The left to right/right to left positions and movements of the characters are all in relation to how the viewer sees them on screen as Kubrick "puts his audience through its own training course"{Nelson, 241}.
Drill Sergeant Hartman makes this distinction literally when he slap Private Pyle 's face. Pyle confuses which shoulder to place his gun on as Hartman orders out "Left shoulder," then proceeding to slap his left side then right demanding Pyle to distinguish which side is which. Prior to the slap, the squad, on the far left side of the screen does their first cadence march towards the camera as it tracks backward. We see from the left side of the frame another squad march from left to right behind …show more content…
In a shot where the squad is lined up on the left side of the frame, we see another squad in the background run from right to left. It is here that Pyle and the rest of his squad affirm their duty to be killers, and the background movement reminds the viewer that Pyle was trained in a non-traditional manner. This concept is emphasized as the camera moves in for an extreme close-up of a silent Pyle, as the squad yells "kill, kill, kill." In another editing sequence using overlapping shots, the close up of Pyle moves into a shot of the full squad sitting for a lesson on famous assassins. Connecting these two scenes by overlapping them is a symbolic representation of Pyle 's training. Hartman and Joker have taken the time to train Pyle to be a killer as if it were a school lesson for assassins. This fluid editing style is used to mark a pivotal point of Pyle 's development, just as the sequence with the
A Study of the First Half of Kubrick 's Stanley Gruesome Anti-War Film
Jason Cangialosi
Jason Cangialosi, Yahoo Contributor Network
Nov 15, 2005 "Share your voice on Yahoo websites. Start Here."
More: Full Metal Jacket Squad
FlagPost a comment
There are two elements in the first half of Full Metal Jacket making it undeniably Kubrickian. One is the symmetrical background imagery and it 's use through movement to create underlying meaning. The second is a fluid editing style that overlaps shots, using symbolic imagery and subtext to transition scenes.
These elements are used to emphasize the contrasting styles of training that a marine, Private Pyle, …show more content…
On the surface these are just other marines training in the background as Pyle and Joker are seen in the foreground. Upon close inspection a pattern can be seen in how at certain moments the background marines are moving left to right and at others from right to left.
The left to right movement can be seen as the traditional way a character processes information. In the case of Full Metal Jacket it is the traditional way of military training that Drill Sergeant Hartman forces upon Private Pyle. The right to left movement is representative of the non-traditional way that Private Joker embraces to train Private Pyle. The left to right/right to left positions and movements of the characters are all in relation to how the viewer sees them on screen as Kubrick "puts his audience through its own training course"{Nelson, 241}.
Drill Sergeant Hartman makes this distinction literally when he slap Private Pyle 's face. Pyle confuses which shoulder to place his gun on as Hartman orders out "Left shoulder," then proceeding to slap his left side then right demanding Pyle to distinguish which side is which. Prior to the slap, the squad, on the far left side of the screen does their first cadence march towards the camera as it tracks backward. We see from the left side of the frame another squad march from left to right behind …show more content…
In a shot where the squad is lined up on the left side of the frame, we see another squad in the background run from right to left. It is here that Pyle and the rest of his squad affirm their duty to be killers, and the background movement reminds the viewer that Pyle was trained in a non-traditional manner. This concept is emphasized as the camera moves in for an extreme close-up of a silent Pyle, as the squad yells "kill, kill, kill." In another editing sequence using overlapping shots, the close up of Pyle moves into a shot of the full squad sitting for a lesson on famous assassins. Connecting these two scenes by overlapping them is a symbolic representation of Pyle 's training. Hartman and Joker have taken the time to train Pyle to be a killer as if it were a school lesson for assassins. This fluid editing style is used to mark a pivotal point of Pyle 's development, just as the sequence with the