SSC Film Studies

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

How far is this true for 'Full Metal Jacket'.

I believe that Kubrick manipulates us to have specific emotional responses to varying characters. During the first sequence of the film, the bootcamp, we see a reoccurring character continue to make mistakes. Private Pyle makes many mistakes, with few successful tasks between them. These many fails, no matter how trivial them may be, see that Pyle is physically beaten or assaulted by the Drill Instructor, Hartman. Hartman's humour covers up most of this abuse, like when Hartman makes Pyle choke himself using Hartman's hand, making the audience overlook it as part of the process in the marines - as many of the other marines are also treated badly, but none to the extent of Pyle. Although this is the case, the audience seem to align with the rest of the group than with Pyle. This is because he continuously fails to meet the standard and begins to drag the rest of the group down with him. This is physically shown in the next sequence of shots where Pyle is dragged through mud by Joker and some of the other group. He is exhausted, clearly un-fit, and need help from the rest of the group. A slow motion effect is used here to keep this shot on for longer, it also makes us see physically that he is holding down the group. The audience may have an 'Central' response to the rest of the group, and may feel empathy due to similar personal experiences in their lives - like one member in a group holding you back. Empathy fuels connections between two sources, as we can directly relate as we have been in a similar position. Furthermore, the audience may feel sympathy for Pyle. We realise that his situation is bad, but we can not directly relate to his situation, this is called an 'A-Central' response.