Why Full Metal Jacket is a significant film

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Here is everything you need to know about the film Full Metal Jacket, which recently turned 35 years old.

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Produced and written by Matt Beat and Jared Bauer. All images and video used under fair use guidelines.

Sources/further reading:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220623-full-metal-jacket-and-kubrick-the-ultimate-anti-war-films
https://tilt.goombastomp.com/film/full-metal-jacket-misunderstood-masterpiece-30/
https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57623
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093058/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Metal_Jacket
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19870705&id=__khAAAAIBAJ&pg=4108,3337251
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/062687kubrick-jacket.html
https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/jan-harlan-the-man-behind-stanley-kubrick

#filmessays #stanleykubrick #warfilm

Here's an annotated script with footnotes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G_cu8km7d8YROE9t1EA8CC5G2481Ym-I00RBncZNOfY/edit?usp=sharing

The Vietnam War is arguably the most controversial military intervention in American history. It was objectively disastrous for everyone involved, and ever since, nearly every film about it has been at least somewhat critical of it. Even We Were Soldiers (2002), which offers a more nuanced view of the war, does well at portraying the futility of it. But while most films critical of it use drama to expose its moral quandaries (Platoon clip), one film stands out for often using humor instead (clip). Really dark humor. Here’s everything you need to know about the classic anti-war film, Full Metal Jacket.

Not only are there so many freaking war movies out there, but there’s A LOT of actually pretty good ones. Full Metal Jacket definitely stands out as a good one. Strangely, though, other Vietnam War films continue to get way more love from critics and just are more popular over all. And yet, while Full Metal Jacket seems to become increasingly overshadowed by other great war films in recent years, it has still had a long-lasting impact on how many people view not just war, but joining the military.

35 years later, we still laugh at this film…even though we might feel guilty laughing. Hartman’s rants, in particular, continue to provide countless opportunities for memes, despite being pretty offensive today. Full Metal Jacket, in fact, may be a big reason why we still accept the brutal nature of boot camp, strangely enough. There is even evidence the boot camp scenes may have even inspired more Marines to enlist. The line “Me love you long time. Me so horny.” ultimately became a catchphrase and was sampled in rap songs.

But we all still recognize that this is a serious film. Full Metal Jacket managed to not only raise awareness of the brutality of combat, but the harrowing nature of abuse recruits can endure. It doesn’t have a “happy ending.” There is not much of a resolution other than just being alive.

And while the film is technically an “anti-war” film, Kubrick never referred to it as such, and today it’s one of those rare war films that both pacifists and veterans respect. Indeed, it’s probably the best war film ever made to capture the collective doublethink we tell ourselves about war. War is evil and absurd. War is necessary and noble. It’s a constant contradiction that this scene in particular captures. (peace button clip) Simply put, no other film seems to have captured the absurdity of war quite like Full Metal Jacket.