Audience responses & alignment- Frank Boylan

'most films will encourage the spectator to align with a central character so a preferred reading of a film can be taken.' 
How true is this with Full Metal Jacket.

Even from the opening scene in Full Metal Jacket the audience are denied the opportunity to align with any characters. In this scene, we see multiple characters getting their head shaved. This process signifies the removal of the identity of the characters, making each of them look more alike. The cinematography in this scene is basic, and each shot is uniform; same shot type, same shot length. This reinforces the feeling of equality among the characters, as no one single character stands out, that the intro has - making it more difficult for the audience to align with any specific character, and begins the audience on their journey to alignment with the group as a whole.

Throughout the film, the audience lacks a main protagonist. It might be argued that Joker may be considered the main character, so the audience may align with him. However, in the first half of the film, Pyle gets more screen time and seem to be more of a focus on screen. Because there isn't one consistent protagonist in the film, there isn't one consistent ideology about their situation. Take the narrator for example. Joker is conflicted and challenged throughout the film. When asked by Hartman why he joined the core, he responds with 'to kill sir!', however, later in the film he is seen wearing a peace symbol on his uniform while on tour in Vietnam. Another example on contrasting ideologies is in the second half of the film, when each of their soldiers are interviewed they give their opinions on their situation. Each of their opinions and ideologies conflict with each other; there is no general census. Once again reinforcing the audiences struggle to align with any one character and therefore any one ideology that they present, so a preferred reading is more difficult to take.

Throughout most of the first half, we can see that Pyle becomes becomes the main focus with the cameras, and the audiences attention see to be on him more so than any other character. From the beginning of the film,  he stands out as one of the only three characters, out of a full room of privates, to have a direct confrontation with the drill instructor Hartman. As its Hartmans duty to iron out all personality in these marines, and transform them into 'killing machines', he starts by telling Pyle to stop smirking. When Pyle explains that he can't, Hartman gives him a direct order to choke himself, by leaning into Hartman's open hand. This is just one of the very first times that the audience see Hartman effectively bullying Pyle and segregating him from the rest of the group. The next time we see Pyle get alienated from the group is during weapon handling, where he gets his left and right confused. Hartman responds with physical assault - multiple slaps - and then in the next scene, we see the rest of the group march through the shot, with Pyle trailing behind, his pants down and sucking his thumb. The framing in this shot connotes alienation, and reinforces the pre-existing ideology with the audience that Pyle is different and could potentially pull the rest of the group down with his mistakes.

The next major scene where we see Pyle, who could potentially be seen as our main character, get more and more alienated from the rest of the group is during the training camp scene. In one shot of the scene, each of the character have to to as many pull ups as they can, when Joker attempts this, he fails. Hartman responds with "I guess the core doesnt get one", but when Pyle attempts to do a pull up and fails, Hartman responds completely different, with verbal abuse and physical violence. At this point, the differences between him and the rest of the group is clearly apparent - this is even further reinforced by Pyles physical difference, he is not as fit or athletic as the others, meaning he struggles during the training camp scene. For example, during the climbing frame sequence in the film, we see a few marines complete the climbing with ease, however, Pyle completely fails to complete this task. Again Hartman responds with abusive language. However, in this scene, we see our first reaction from one of the group, Cowboys reaction is plain and emotionless, no signs of guilt or schadenfreude. This could suggest to the audience that the group are finally seeing him as an outsider and a weakness in the group.