SSC Film Studies

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


This not very true of FMJ as the film encourages us to align with a group of people (The Core) rather than a singular person (Pyle) My empathy for the group drives my connection with them due to me being able to connect with them through a shared experience of someone 'dragging' me down, this then creates a stronger connection with the group for me as I know how that feels. However on the other hand I do not empathise with Pyle I sympathise with him which leads to a disconnection with him. This is due to me not fully knowing how it feels to be in Pyle's position which then leads to me not fully understanding his motives and actions. To put it simply, empathy drive connection and sympathy drives dis-connection. In many ways the film drives us to connect with the group rahter than Pyle (or any other character). An example of this are the bootcamp scenes. In these scenes we see Pyle stuck in a cycle of succeeding and then failing. The fact that we are first show him succeed then only to fail drives us to dislike him as he is capable of succeeding in his actions but somehow doesn't, also the way in which the group is punished for Pyle's failure and he is not also drives us to view him in a negative way. Another example of the film driving us to connect with the group rather than a central character is the scene in which some members of the group are being interviewed. The camera is mixed in the same position throughout and each character is on screen for the same amount of time. These two things force us to align with the whole group as it means that none of them visually stand out to us as they are not shot in different ways and the camera does not focus on one particular character. Even thought we are not driven to connect with a singular person you could say that we are made to view the group as a person as one action can effect the group emotionally in order to drive us to make an emotional connection for them. An example of this is the sniper scene towards the end of the film. As Joker proceeds to kill the sniper in order to put her at peace we are driven to feel many emotional responses however which one you feel is fully dependant on your view of the situation. For example you may feel angry that Joker has done this much like Animal Mother who says "Should of let her rot" or you may agree with Joker who believes that she doesn't deserve to die a slow and painful death. I believe that this scene is a perfect example of how there are many different reading of the film, because much like this scene your reading of the film is fully dependant on what character (if any) you align with and what type of person you are and your personal experiences that may link with the events in the film.