SSC Film Studies

Most films will encourage the spectator to align with a central character so a preferred reading of a film can be taken?

 

This is not true of Full Metal Jacket and this is all done to the amazing directing skills of Stanley Kubrick.

 

 

At the start of this movie all of the soldiers have their head shaved off on a montage they are all shot the same with for the same amount of time with the same music. This shows that they are all the same and not one person stands out from the group but also the shaving of the hair is the shaving off of their identity and this is to show the audience that they are all the same and it forces us to align with no one person but instead the whole group,

 

The main part of this film that is reflected in is the first half of the movie this is because every time we see people in this film they are always in groups this means that right from the start we are not given a chance to align with anyone since everyone is together. Most of the shots through out this film are wide shots this is because if the shots were close-ups then that would mean we are getting connected to the characters as we are close to the characters which means we learn more about them and take there point of view. But because there are wide shots and we see the group instead of a single character during 90 per cent of the first half of the movie we are forced to align with the group.

 

 

When we go to the marching scene we see everyone within the group doing the exact same thing marching. This is emphasised by seeing everyone else in the background doing the exact same thing in groups and achieving the same objective and they are also wearing the same uniforms this shows that no one stands out and that they are actually all the same. Stanley Kubrick developed a lens that actually focuses on the background this is especially great because it emphasises the similarity of everyone. 

When everyone is on the obstacle course all of the soldiers are shown as silhouettes this is to show how they are all former shadows of what they used to be as they are all the same. This is because these shadows show they are all the same and are actually empty inside now and now that they are silhouettes they do not even look like humans which means that they are all the same and do not stand out.

I believe these two scenes are just the start to show us that we are going to connect with the group right from the start because this group is all we have been focusing on for since the start and still fifteen minutes through they are still the main characters.

This film has a structure to it and the main structure is of success and failure this is because the whole group always succeed but Pyle goes from succeeding to failing. Which starts to make him stand out and then there is a shot in this film that is so defining that it changes the whole cinematography of the film only for a second but it is crucial. Because when Pyle is failing the obstacle and it then switches to a handheld camera this is a little bit defining because we have gone from having a smooth camera movement  with all of the soldiers doing the obstacles. To a handheld camera when it comes to Pyle doing the obstacle this is to show that the scene and Pyle are a lot more chaotic compared to everyone else and that Pyle is a lot more shaky when it comes to be successful or not.

In the bedroom scene everyone is wearing the same clothes, the same gun, the same beds. All of this is the same. But in this scene the director uses central and a central feelings to make sure we are disconnect with Pyle as we see him getting hit by soap and here we have sympathy with Pyle because most people do not know what it feels like to be bullied. Now because we feel sympathy we disconnect from Pyle as sympathy drives disconnection. But most people know what it feels like to be held back so we feel empathy for the group and empathy fuels connection so we understand what the group is doing again driving alignment with the group and disconnection with Pyle.


At the interview scene of the second half of the film all of the soldiers have different views and in this part all of the soldiers are giving interviews about their personal feelings on the film. All of the soldiers are shot in the same way to show that they are all in a group again this scene also shows that the soldiers all have different reasons for their actions and that everyone is not the same giving the audience something to relate to but just as we think we are about to align with someone it stops it by showing the group together again in wide shots.

The sniper scene where the Joker is ready to but the woman out of her misery we start to learn about him and we start to connect with him for the duality of man we start to align with him. But just as we are start to learn more about Joker we are cut of from it as the scene ends abruptly with the whole of the group giving their views. this means that again as we are about to connect with someone the group is aligned with again instead of just Joker.