Blog 5- RR

The movie Full Metal Jacket shows the intensity of war, and how each soldier progresses from basic training to the front lines. We see how much of a drastic change each soldier goes through during this progression. There are three parts of this film that are quite symbolic that show these stages.

The first part of the film shows Sgt. Hartman and his soldiers at boot camp. This part shows the change of a boy into a soldier. It also demonstrates the transformation of the soldiers from individuals to groups, when a soldier loses his individual identity. I think this is very important and symbolic because regardless of what war is being fought, if the soldiers are not working in a group, the mission is hampered. It also shows the different effects that joining the military has on people. We watch Joker become a leader, and at the same time watch Pyle drift slowly into a depression, then committing suicide once he murders Hartman. This specific scene puts military life and war into perspective for the viewer, showing how soldiers are transformed so drastically, for the better or worse.

The second part of the film is when we follow Joker and Rafterman, who work for the military newspaper "Stars and Stripes." This part of the film is significant because it shows the part of war that was not on the front lines. Joker and Rafterman beg to go into the battlefields, not really knowing what they are asking themselves to get into. This shows that although they are trained to kill, they are unaware of the brevity of the actual war. This shows how naive young soldiers can be, and shows their immaturity.

The third part of the film is when Joker and Rafterman finally are allowed into the battlefields to interview soldiers who are fighting. They realize that the frontlines are much different than they imagined, but are soon transformed from desk soldiers to battle soldiers. They become less sympathetic to death, and begin to mesh into the squad. This part shows the transformation of soldiers from boys to men, from trained fighters to actual killers. This also shows how soldiers can lose regard for human life when faced with so much death during wartime. This is shown when Joker shoots the woman sniper point blank toward the end of the movie to kill her. Before he was assimilated into the squad, he had trouble looking at a corpse.

I believe the Mickey Mouse song had a couple of connections to the film. One connection I made was the main idea of a group. When we think of the Mickey Mouse song, we think of the Mickey Mouse Club, a group of children, etc. At the end of th movie, they are singing the song together, as a group, not as individuals. This symbolizes the strong, undying bond that soldiers have with their squad and platoon members. The song could also symbolize that although they are killing machines and have transformed from boys to men in the battlefield, they may still be young and too naive to understand that gravity of the situation that faces them.