The Shining - Film Element

Text: Full Metal Jacket

Element of Media language: Visual & dialogue Symbolism

In Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick uses certain dialogues and visual objects to symbolize the afterlife and rebirth. A war film, many of these observations can be drawn from the symbols of dead soldiers and the surroundings.

During a scene in Full Metal Jacket, audiences see the lime covered corpses of Vietnamese soldiers and Crazy Earl’s dead North Vietnamese Army (NVA) “bro”. These corpses are not just symbolic of the shadow of the self, but also of an afterlife theme.

‘Today is his birthday”, Crazy Earl tells Joker. This statement and corpse of the soldier, made to look alive, is a symbol to this effect of the afterlife. The NVA soldier is ‘reborn’ through his death and will never really be dead. This is further evident during the rifle training, Hartman tells his recruits “You will become dead marines, and then you will be in a world of shit”. Here again we see the representation of death and the afterlife. Also mentioned by Hartman “The marine corps lives forever and that means you live forever.”

The symbolism of the afterlife can be seen through out the entire film with relative relations to both before the recruit’s transportation to Vietnam and at the training camp.

At the training camp, Pyle wakes the recruits in his platoon by his shouting and screams. As they awake the recruits creep about the barracks like the lime covered dead rising from the graves. Sleep in one way or another can be seen as a temporary form of death as it is to being really dead. The representation of them creeping like the dead is done by Kubrick on purpose to show audiences that there is an afterlife and the dead with walk again.

Probably the most apparent and visually significant symbol of the dead and afterlife is seen when the Lusthogs are hiding behind the concrete rubble as a camera crew proceeds to film them with the wreckage caused. Medics can be seen carrying injured marines on stretchers hurriedly from left to right. A dying soldier is carried past followed by an unusual marine who happens to be casually strolling in the midst of a potential sniper shot to the head! This marine has his head covered in white bandages and so are his hands. It is at this very point that the audio we hear changes to a babble of some sort, very much ghostlike. The film crew points the lens up at this soldier’s face, at which point a yellow flash can be seen in his camera. This ghost soldier waves at the camera; it is unknown whether he is acknowledging the camera team or the audience.

Kubrick not only used this theme of an afterlife and spiritual rebirth in Full Metal Jacket but also in his sci-fi ‘2001: A space Odyssey’. At first glance and as narrated in the movie the black monolith was a mysterious alien artifact. But pondering on it, some audiences happen to see it as doorway out of the universe. Upon rotation of the monolith it looks as if it is a cinema screen or at least a symbol of a screen. Those who were able to recognize it in some way were able to overlook the whole ‘alien artifact’ and focus on the fact that they have been reborn as a God or a director with their ability to control the movie and understand it through the monolith, much like an after life or a rebirth.

We now see the black monolith as a symbol for rebirth/afterlife and this can be traced back to Full Metal Jacket. Upon being fired at by the NVA sniper, Cowboy starts to die slowly from his wound. The camera here is positioned in a manner in which the building at the back appears to be black very much like the monolith. Furthermore with the Marines standing around Cowboy’s dead body, viewers can draw a conclusion that the composition is identical to that of the apes in 2001 huddling around the monolith. Cowboy is going through a ‘rebirth’ process and the symbol of the afterlife again here is evident. Just like Dave in 2001, Cowboy’s death has made him exit the film and into an afterlife dimension.

Upon initial viewing of Full Metal Jacket, one would find that it is conceptually simple and easier to understand as compared to other films made by Kubrick, however it is not! The Visual and Dialogue symbolism that were subtly inserted is vast with ranges from that of the child; Pile, Mickey Mouse; Senseless nonsense and stupidity of war, and Hell on earth /rebirth/ afterlife.

The symbolism left behind my Kubrick will not be apparent to the common moviegoer but like all of his other films, they were never meant to be easy to spot and understand. His artistry will forever live on in his films and those are a testament to his greatness.

Mohamed Sahdique Caubang

Words: 829