Full Metal Jacket's Foreshadowing

The film “Full Metal Jacket” by Stanley Kubrick drags us through the Vietnam War and governmental control. Throughout the film, there are various times that events can be foreshadowed based on different aspects such as gestures or words. This isn’t an effect of Kubrick being a terrible cliché director; this is done purposely to emphasize the control the government has over the common soldier.

One of the most evident moments of this is the speech “this is my rifle...” (10:35- ). During the scene there is a zoom in Private Pyle’s face as he says the words “we are the saviors of my life, so be it until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but peace“(11:30). In the end, Pyle arrives to the realization that the true “enemy” is Sergeant Hartman and he must kill him for then there will be “no enemy, but peace”. After he does the deed, he feels his purpose has been served and takes his own life. The oath Pyle “prays” ends up becoming the actions that he follows through with, while in our perspective he may not be following the oath in his he was. This acknowledges the power that this higher official and government itself had over him; despite utilizing his agency to kill Hartman, he follows the oath by word.

This isn’t the only time that Foreshadowing is presented towards Pyle, earlier in the film when Hartman talks about Oswald and Charles Whitman (31:00). He mentions how they both learned how to shoot in the marines and their outstanding accuracy, despite their ill-intended actions. The moment Hartman claims, “Before any of you ladies leave my island you’ll be able to do the same” there is a zoom in Pyle’s face where we are assured that Pyle is about to pull off a similar action. Pyle is guided towards becoming a murder; they shape him to be one, what the army says they make happen. The last example I will use, but not the last that can be found is the event discussed during the “stars and stripes discussion” (10:38). Here Joker presents a story of a fire team attacking an enemy. Though the dialogue it is noted the fire team continually attacked the enemy and failed to kill them as they fled. The editor then suggests to make it “one kill” in order to “capture the hearts” of their readers. This description is exactly what happens at the end, where they are under sniper fire (1:36:29), we can see as the whole squadron decides to shoot the building and even run and gun up to it only to not score a single hit. When finally infiltrating the building and confronting the sniper they fulfill the “one kill” that was described earlier. What I believe Kubrick is attempting to do, is convey just how malleable conflict becomes to the U.S. Government and army. They mold the soldiers in order to achieve their desired results and disregard any conflicts that have a possibility of arising. The best soldiers to them are the ones them are the ones who are easily manipulated, they brainwash them to acquire their definite agency.