FMJ Essay

Full Metal Jacket: Essay

Alignment is the process in which the audience identifies with a specific person within a film. This is different for the film Full Metal Jacket as the director manipulates the audience so that they identify with a group of people rather than a specific person; he does this by using certain microelements and content.

The film begins with a head-shaving scene. In this scene the audience are introduced to the group that they will end up identifying with throughout the film. The scene consists of single shots of each of the marines of the group as they get their heads shaved. Unlike another war film such as Platoon, there is no clear protagonist introduced in this scene, with every marine of the group receiving the same amount of screen time and camera angle/position. The scene introduces the idea that each marine is the same, with the  ‘head-shaving’ symbolizing their loss of identity and one unit being formed as they are made to look the same. The music during the introduction juxtaposes the usual war music used in films such as Platoon or Saving Private Ryan as it is upbeat and jolly yet it has some serious messages buried within the lyrics. This gives the sense that the film is not going to take itself seriously but may have usual war film moments such as death and loyalty.

After the introduction and for the most part of the first hour of the film, we follow the group as they are