Full Metal Jacket

Full Metal Jacket Literary Elements

Director

Stanley Kubrick

Leading Actors/Actresses

Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, R. Lee Ermey

Supporting Actors/Actresses

Kevyn Major Howard, Arliss Howard, Dorian Harewood

Genre

Drama, War

Language

English

Awards

Nominated for Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

Date of Release

1987

Producer

Stanley Kubrick

Setting and Context

Parris Island, South Carolina and Vietnam during the Vietnam War

Narrator and Point of View

Narrator and Point of View is that of Private J.T. 'Joker' Davis

Tone and Mood

Serious, Dark, Suspenseful

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist is Joker and Pyle. Antagonist is Gny. Sgt. Hartman

Major Conflict

In the first half of the film, Pyle is ostracized from his squad during boot camp; in the second half, the split between soldiers who believe they are in Vietnam to help and those who have no clue why they are there.

Climax

Pyle kills Sgt. Hartman in first half of the film and himself. In second half of the film, the soldiers confront a sniper who is slowly picking them off.

Foreshadowing

When Pyle doesn't repeat what the Sergeant is saying during training while everyone else screams, "Kill, kill, kill!" it foreshadows his snapping, and his eventual murder-suicide.

Understatement

Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques

Allusions

Joker alludes to the psychoanalyst Jung when describing his "BORN TO KILL" helmet and peace sign as an example of the "duality of man"; Hartman's nickname for Leonard Lawrence ("Gomer Pyle") is an allusion to a character on the Andy Griffith Show

Paradox

Pyle is awful at everything he does from PT to inspections, but paradoxically he is an ace when it comes to being a rifleman, as he hits his target every time.

Parallelism

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