Full Metal Jacket

Ashley Estrada
07.29.10
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal jacket

The majority of war movies and stories have a deeper meaning that is conveyed throughout the events in it. The first few scenes in Full Metal Jacket have several underlying messages that if you really stop and think about them, shed a whole new light on the movie. The impact that bootcamp has on soldiers is one that not only effects them during it but for the rest of their lives. In some cases it alters their lives beyond repair. Obviously, Private Pile goes through a lot during these scenes, and analyzing this would be very informative considering other soldiers could be going through the same things right now. This part of the story with Private Pile can also be related to The Handmaid’s Tale.
I have seen this movie several times, and I can say that without looking for the underlying messages, they really aren’t there. Upon looking into these messages, it is like watching a whole different movie than the times prior that I have seen this. For one, you will notice that Private Pile was the only one in the beginning of this movie that was smiling. This is giving us the personality type he was going in to bootcamp. Going in to bootcamp he was obviously a happy person, and content with himself. It is easy to see this change throughout these scenes. This is due to the way he is treated and started to feel about himself.
Relating this to the Handmaid’s tale is a little bit off the wall here, considering we read other war stories throughout this semester. There is a reason that I believe this will make sense though. As I stated, Private Pile was happy and content when he entered bootcamp. Whatever happened and went wrong in his head happened during his basic training. It is in their first meeting that the drill sergeant gives some of the men names other than their real names. Private Pile’s real name is Leonard for example. He also gives out some ‘nick names’ such as Joker and Snowball. This related to the Handmaid’s tale because I feel that giving someone names other than their own is an easy way of tricking yourself into thinking they are not real people with real feelings. This is the same thing as in The Handmaid’s Tale where the women are called ‘handmaids’. They both were treated as though they have no purpose, that no one truly cares for them, and that they are basically worthless.
You can see at which point Private Pile changes into his ‘crazy’ state of mind. This is the point in which he is beaten by bars of soap in socks by everyone else in his platoon. He watches the only ‘friend’ he has made while in bootcamp beat him worse than anyone else in there. I call Private Joker his ‘friend’ because he is the only one that we hear calling him by his real name. I feel like Pvt. Pile believed the same thing. I believe that this is the point in which he changes because the very next day is when Pvt. Pile no longer chants with the rest of his platoon, while he also begins talking to his rifle. It is clear by the looks on his face that he is no longer sane.
The difference in the Handmaid’s Tale is that in that book, Offred finds a way to cope with what she is going through. What she goes through is just as terrible, if not worse than what Pvt. Pile faces every day. Perhaps if Private Pile were to ‘pretend that he was telling himself a story in which he controlled the end’ things would have been a little different for him. It is all about mind games and what people will try to do to you at some points in your life.
Watching this movie while looking for signs of Private Pile’s signs of change during bootcamp will recreate the movie and its purpose in your eyes. Unfortunately you watch Pvt. Pile end things in his life, as well as affect the lives of others such as Pvt. Joker and their drill sergeant. There is two ways that corruption of your mind can affect you. In The Handmaid’s Tale this shows the side that makes you stronger. In Pvt. Pile’s life however, it broke him down because he did not find a way to cope with those hard times.