SSC Film Studies

Our emotional response to a film is determined by how we are made to connect with characters.

How far has this been true for Full Metal Jacket?

In Full Metal Jacket we start off aligning with just the group and this is because during the barber scene everyone loses their identity and this means we align with everyone as no one has an identity. 

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.