Full Metal Jacket by Christiane Butler

Title/Year: Full Metal Jacket/1987
Director/Birth Country/Year Born: Stanley Kubrick/USA/1928
Budget: $30 Million
Gross: $46.3 Million
Synopsis: We follow a marine through boot camp and experiences during the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War
Narrative and Visual Keywords: Marines, basic training, PTSD, “thousand yard stare”, journalism
Random Fact Etc.: Based on the book The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, who based the book on his own experiences during the Vietnam war.

Is the soldier/veteran depicted as being in control of his destiny? Give examples.
After basic training, he makes the choice to go into journalism. Once he is over in Vietnam he decides that he wants to be in with the action & eventually is allowed to go out to make a story for an infantry group. There he then loses most control of his destiny as he now has to follow this platoon wherever they go.

How are masculinity and patriarchy displayed through the main character(s) -- broken and dissociated or reinstated and productive. Please give examples

The soldiers discuss who knows more and who is better by who has been in the field in combat. Once the main character is out starting his adventure with the platoon he follows he has a joking argument with another marine who basically plays him down because he hasn’t been in the field and seen combat.