Full Metal Jacket

This film is usually digested in two ways, either an anti-war film or pro war. The first 20 minutes show the privates in boot camp, and something about seeing them together, in unity makes you think about the army being sort of a brotherhood. That’s what the military does, it unifies men through this process, but at what cost? The second portion of the film which is the majority, shows a very raw portrayal of the marines in Vietnam and some of the gruesome consequences of war. This theme of the “duality of man” becomes most apparent when the marine James (nicknamed joker) is told off about wearing a peace symbol pin along with his helmet which says born to kill by Pogue Colonel. Kubrick himself has said that there is no such thing as an anti-war film. and I agree, because every film portraying war and soldiers who we have been brainwashed to see as “martyrs” will make a person feel a sense of pride despite the cause they’re becoming martyrs for. “You write "Born to Kill" on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What's that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?” “I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.”