Full Metal Jacket, Humanity Torn Down

Full Metal Jacket looks at the United States Military in a very pessimistic and dark way. If it only focuses on the negatives it is only due to being a direct counter point to the propaganda military movies that had come before it. Joker’s John Wayne impressions are a direct allusion to this as John Wayne was popular actor who was in pro military movies such as the Green Berets. The movie shows the gritty and disgusting side of war and military life. Not surprisingly it is set in the most unpopular war in United States history.

We are many scenes of American soldiers doing things that would be undoubtedly immoral to the American audience. Most importantly in these scenes we do not see in almost any character a moral struggle. Take for instance the helicopter gunner firing on was is clearly innocent civilians. He has made it a game and justifies his horrible actions with a clearly backwards and absurd reasoning.

The movie also shows that the soldiers do not feel like what they are doing is worth anything as the south Vietnamese seemingly hate them and their involvement. The soldier’s motivations end up being are center point of the movie. The strongest motive doesn’t isn’t a belief in the cause of the war, hatred for the enemy, or even a desire to finish the war and go home. Ultimately it is that they have been conditioned and broken into killing machines. This is why the movie beginning with the marine training camp is so important. We see exactly the type of conditions that these men are subjected to so that they will be ready to go to war.

Nagel talks about how most people find themselves have morals determined by a mixture of Utilitarian and absolutism. The mixture of absolutism into utilitarian allows for draw a line when it comes to what they feel are important exceptions the utilitarian beliefs. For instance, it is clear that Joker when talking to the helicopter gunner draws a line when it comes to killing women and children. The gunner however no longer cares, he justifies his cruelty and treats himself as a war hero. He views his actions as a great aid in ending the war, bragging about how many “gooks” he has killed. Yet Joker being pushed into the front lines and seeing his friend killed. His views are very conflicted by the end of the movie while all the soldiers around him have completely forsaken ideals and morals. He in the end is willing to kill a female child who sniped and killed three of his fellow comrades.

The turmoil and trauma of the soldiers’ lives tears down the previous belief systems and leaves them as their drill instructor calls them, killing machines. They lack will and strive for little other purpose other than killing the “enemy”.