Full Metal Jacket

Reception Theory

- Was this film provocative, throwaway or intellectually demanding?

The film is both provocative and intellectually demanding. The provocative aspects of the film consist of the horrible activities the soldiers do. The soldiers are racist to each other, the helicopter gunner shoots at innocent vietnamese women and children and says 'Ain't war hell!'' ironically, the solider's pay for a prostitute and take turns having sex with her, and the final scene shows that the solider's want the young girl sniper to die slowly in agony before Joker puts her out of her misery. The content here is intended to disgust us and is showing us that just because America is in Vietnam does not mean that they are the "good guys". The film is also intellectually demanding because it deals with subject matter like war, death and dehumanisation. It also provides morally ambiguous characters as the protagonists, it is very hard to actually like any of the characters in the film, except for Joker (possibly). This moral ambiguity means that it is up to the spectator to distinguish who is a good character or not. There are no character types in the film, instead it is a realistic portrayal of war where all the characters are killing machines.

- What is the preferred reading of the film?

The preferred reading of the film is for the spectator to dislike the characters in the film. Very few of them get our sympathy, such as Pyle. However Pyle does lose that sympathy when he kills the sergeant. Throughout the film, the protagonist and narrator, Joker is possibly the only positive character that most of the audience can sympathise for.  The audience may also associate with Cowboy, who is the leader of the platoon Joker and Rafterman join and seems to be capable of rational thought and decisions, like when he wants to retreat after the sniper kills two soldiers. By disliking the characters and showing their love for killing and war, these aspects make the film an anti-war film.

Central Imagining

- Scene 1

An example for Central imagining is when Private Pyle is insulted in front of the batch. The sergeant makes Pyle strangle himself in front of the whole batch. Kubrick has deliberately made the audience feel connected with Pyle, through cinematography. When Pyle kneels down to get himself strangled by the sergeant, the camera level goes down along with him. Therefore the audience feel like they are at the same level as Pyle, while the sergeant is stood up. This makes the audience feel for Pyle, especially they've  experienced something like humiliation or bullying, themselves. Those particular people will feel aligned with Pyle. Like this scene, any other scene with Pyle being humiliated or bullied, does make the audience feel sorry for him. As he makes a mistake and then gets punished by being humiliated. A lot of the audience including myself would feel similar or the same way because a thing like this has happened in the past.

- Scene 2

In this scene, Kubrick creates a central imagined response through the use of MICRO. The use of mis-en-scene is the blue room which is because it is dark. This darkness is reflective of the content in the scene. The props in the clip are soaps in pillowcase which are used as makeshift weapons to assault Pyle. These weapons show how cruel they are and reflect their want to punish Pyle. The sound in the scene consists of diagetic muffled screams of Pyle and him sobbing in pain. This makes the audience sympathise. The use of the non-diagetic electronic score makes the scene creepy and leaves the audience in suspense in what they are going to do to Pyle. The editing utilizes a long take and symbolises how Pyles pain is extended, the audience is there to watch every hit. The lighting uses moonlight to make the room look intimidating. The moonlight illuminates Pyle's bed symbolising that he is in the spotlight and separate from the rest of them. The camera has an high angle shot which looks down upon the scene.

A-Central Imagining

- Scene 1

Kubrick creates a central imagined response through the use of MICRO. The scene is of the sniper shooting Doc Jay and 8 Ball. The mis-en-scene in the scene represents pain through the blood and the look of agony on their faces while they are shot. The editing in the scene lingers on every bullet impact they suffer, elongating their pain in slow motion. Time slows down for Doc Jay and 8 Ball as they are dying. The sound is a diagetic loud scream of pain that is distorted and slowed down when they are shot. It is important that the sound is diagetic because we can see why are they screaming and it adds to the central imagining. There is only natural lighting in this scene, since they are outside in the day. It also creates the feeling of war, makes it look more realistic. This emphasises that the two of them are completely open and exposed, particularly combined with the camera's use of wide shots.

- Scene 2

This scene shows Animal Mother confronting Joker and having 

animosity towards each other. Its quite clear that from the start

Animal Mother dislikes Joker and threatens to beat him up.

This scene could be quite reminiscent for the audience including me.

Alignment

- Which two characters did you align with most? How did the director make you feel this way?

Kubrick makes the audience align with Pyle and Joker. For the first half of the movie, we align with Pyle and Joker, we sympathise with Pyle because he is portrayed as a character who is tormented and bullied. The first part of the film is a construct of the alienation and separation Pyle feels, the different scenes show Pyle being ostracized for the mistakes he makes, his weight, his lack of discipline and all these flaws are punished by the aggressive shouting and harassment of Hartman. The sympathetic view of the character comes from the extra-textual experiences the spectator may have experienced of bullying. The audience feel aligned to Joker because he tries to help Pyle at boot camp even though in order for him to fit in, contributes to Pyle's beating, it is shown that he is obviously reluctant to do so,

Joker is the narrator of the film and we see the second part of the film, in Vietnam through his eyes. Joker is the only member of the platoon who shows any type of compassion or sympathy for the Vietcong and the innocent people killed in the warfare. The other soldiers are just hyper masculine dehumanized monsters whose main satisfaction in the film is to kill, Joker is a figure which we can rely on because he is the character the audience can associate with the best.

- Name all the characters you felt allegiance to. What extra textual features made you feel this way?

I felt a bit allegiance with Pyle, this is because I've experienced bulling in the past. Although Pyle's bullying is maybe more extreme compared to mine, I still felt sympathised towards  him, and sorry for him. Pyle is unlike the other soldiers in Full Metal Jacket, as he is physically unfit. He does seem to be like an anti war character. This is because, he is more like a day dreamer than the one who concentrates and listens. For example, he accidentally put the riffle on the wrong shoulder, possibly due to the lack of concentration. To make all of that worse is obviously all the humiliation and bullying that he has to suffer. Which is why he ends up committing suicide, which I think is cowardice and wrong to do. That would be the only scene when I don't feel aligned with Pyle because he wrong. However, I understand the suffering he had to go through, which makes me feel a little sad for him, but that does not make me align with him, as I take those actions of his wrong. 

Alignment

Alignment With Character


 

Scene	Are we aligned with Pyle?	Construction – Reference to MICRO and MACRO
Clip One	Yes – We are aligned with Pyle because of the bullying. The scene is Central imaging, where the spectators feel aligned with Pyle. We feel sorry for him, as the sergeant insults him and chokes him in front of the whole batch. Especially if anyone has experienced any sort of bullying in their lifetime, would align themselves more.  A- Central imaging is probably also used in this scene because the sergeant makes Pyle choke himself, evoking a physical response from the audience, causing them to cringe at his physical torment.	The cinematography aligns us with Pyle, as if we’re observing from the sergeants perspective. It looks like we are watching over his shoulder. The editing works with this also as most of the scene if of Pyle’s torment, further aligning us. The diegetic sound aligns us with Pyle due to the way the sergeant speaks to Pyle. This causes us to sympathise with Pyle. This gives the spectator a preferred reading and sympathising, which is what the director may want from of his audience. Some spectators may empathise with Pyle, if they have been through the experience of being bullied themselves.
Clip Two	Yes – We are aligned with Pyle because of the insult and the bully that the sergeant done with him. Apart from that, the comrades from his batch physically bully/abuse him, which makes the spectators feel more aligned with Pyle, which is Central imaging. Some of the spectators may however sympathise with Pyle’s ‘comrades’ who experience torment due to Pyle’s greed.	The non-diagetic sound strengthens the military/army genre. The narrative  presents an underdog story, perhaps causing the spectator to believe that Pyle may begin to come over some of the obstacles, which is want the spectator might want if they are aligned with him. The mise-en-scene at the end of this scene seems to present Pyle as a child due to his costume, the doughnut Pyle is eating and the prop of the hidden doughnut itself. A child who is alone and is psychologically being tortured, as well as physically.
Clip Three	In this particular scene, we (spectators) are aligned with Pyle until he shoots the sergeant, which is A-Central imaging. The first two scenes might be preferred reading, where as this scene would be either negotiated or oppositional. The spectator could not align themselves with Pyle when he goes insane at the end, killing the sergeant. Spectators may not align themselves with Pyle because they may believe morally that killing is wrong, which it is. Central imaging is also used at the end when Pyle kills himself, the audience may align with Pyle and maybe Pyle’s comrade, as all he wanted to do was to help Pyle, rather than what the sergeant attempted to do.	The Mise-en-scene creates Pyle’s and the Sergeants death scene, bringing a clouded resolution to the narrative. This may have caused spectators to take an oppositional reading to this film if they feel themselves aligned with Pyle, believing his death was possibly unjustified.

CENTRAL IMAGINING

About Time

A- CENTRAL IMAGING

The Grudge

SPECTATORSHIP

Joseph Anderson - Film Theorist
- We all have individual interpretations and judgements
"Making sense of the film is significantly the same as making sens of the real world"


Stuart Hall - Film Theorist
- Developed the theory or "Reception Theory" 1960s
- The first time that people analysing film started to look at the way the text is recieved rather than the text itself.
- The text has put in various ideologies about the film
- The audience all accept it in different ways depending on their backgrounds

The Three Main Readings:

• Preferred Readings - The spectator goes in with an intended meaning of the film and agrees with all the messages. 

• Negotiated Reading - Spectator agrees with most of the messages but disagrees with some aspects. 
  
  
• Oppositional Reading - The viewer does not identify with the meaning at all and comes up with an alternate meaning to the film.

How the text is acknowledged from the audience as opposed to the text itself:

Film is about desire

- An intellectually demanding film
- A provocative film (controversy)
- One which is throw away, spectacular fun

-  "Kids" (1995) is an example of a provocative film

- The film focuses on the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking, and deflowering virgins. Which prohibited when it comes to contemporary cinema, especially if it is from the 90's.

- The intimacy elements of this film are explicitly presented, intending to get a reaction from the audience. As well as the drinking and smoking scenes, that are presented to be consumed by young kids. 

Central Imagining: 

FEELINGS

> Creates an emotional response

> This is translated to the spectator by the director (textual)

> Feeling the character's pain

MICRO = Mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and editing 

A-Central Imagining:

> The difference is we feel less, but imagine more

> It is an emotional response, rather than a physical response