To kill or not to kill, to be a masculine man or to be an innocent soul, and to seek out the words “Born To Kill” on the helmet or to follow the peace symbol on the neck is the perfect portrait of the duality Private Joker is facing in the film Full Metal Jacket.

From the very first minutes of the film, Stanley Kubrick portraits the hardship of being in an army. A group of young men, fresh to the sort of violence they were about to face, got their head shaved, followed by forceful methods implanted by Sergeant Hartman. The purpose of the army training was, and is, to break you down so they can build you up, exactly the way they wanted: puppets without identities, serving the purpose of only their commanders regardless of methods. Killing works, perhaps because it is proof for the more powerful, at least physically, being, thus confirming the idea of masculinity which has existed since the Stone Age when men were hunting and killing for food and existence. In these final scenes, we get to see a group of men rounding up, with the commander rooting for punishing the sniper with something worse than death (to leave her to the rat). Private Joker was against the idea, seemingly putting himself in the me vs the world situation when tried to fight against what his teammates might perceive as masculinity. The situation his commander, Animal Mother put him in was even harder. Animal Mother was willing to allow a mercy kill only if Joker was the one to pull the trigger. Doing so would mean Joker, for the first time, took away someone’s life. But if he decided not to do it, the poor, suffering sniper who kept whispering “đau quá” (“it hurts so bad” in Vietnamese) will die in one of the most painful and cruel way. Ultimately, Joker chose the former, perhaps the better option in the two horrible plan for him. As he pull the trigger, his eyes displayed the stares into the distance, displaying the thousand-yard stare he was told lacking. His comrades were rather happy, as Joker finally stepped into the world of their “manhood”. That is what a war can turn a person into: cold-blooded killing machine, encouraging more killings. Every second a soldier has to make a decision that ultimately could be a dead or alive one, not only for his enemy but for himself. He might be physically living after taking down an enemy as he was ordered, but a part of him dies as well. The survivors are likely to suffer from PTSD from what they have been through; Joker might be too, from how he had to decide to step over the line of no return, a decision that will change him forever. Each soldier was in the camera frame for a few moments, with a couple of lines to show his characteristics which were heavily influenced by the war. The shot vs shot camera focused on Joker, on his lines of before and after making the big decision. And after giving the viewers a taste of humans of the war, Kubrick made Joker into a narrator, ending the film under his eyes, the eyes of a newly transformed person: “I am so happy that I am alive, in one piece and short. I’m in a world of shit… yes. But I am alive. And I am not afraid.”

What did the final scenes say about war? It never actually glorified nor critiqued it, but rather leave it to the viewers to interpret. Some see a war as a necessary cost for greater goods, some see it as the proof for the insecurity and obstructive mind of mankind, and some see it as the hell of all evil. One thing the final scenes did highlighted though, as noted previously, was the transformation of a man, based on the decision he made. Each and every one of those other soldier could pull the trigger, but they left the decision to Joker, pushing him towards crossing the line that they believe in. In the end, it was the Joker who made the call, it was the Joker who had the transformation, and it was the Joker, the one we saw slowly progressing into the person he was by the end of the film, who can tell us what it was like fighting not for what he believed in, but for something that he, his teammates, his people, his enemies weren’t even sure about. It was the big men behind the curtains that made the call. Joker was merely a puppet, but a puppet that we can relate to.

The film ends with what appeared to be a weird scene, the Marines march toward their camp, singing the “Mickey Mouse March” song. Taking place in 1967 during the Vietnam War (or the American War, as described by Vietnamese), all that happened in Full Metal Jacket was only around 10 years younger than the Mickey Mouse Club House TV show, aired in the U.S. from 1955 to 1959. The majority of these soldiers, though never clearly stated, were in their 20s, meaning just a decade ago, they were still young boys watching Mickey Mouse through their innocent eyes. The eyes they have now, those are the eyes with the thousand-yard stare, blank, perhaps lifeless of murderers. What a contrast that was, and it happened because of the war. In a way, singing the marching song can helps them remember the person they were, to hope that one day they can be, or can try to be, that person again, wearing a peace sign, having an innocent soul. It was also symbolism, the Mickey song. As kids, we do what we are told to do. We listened to and learned from this TV show without fully knowing why it needed to be done, who were these people that showing us the way, or even if this “Mickey” was even real. 10 years forward, as a young adult you thought you were in control of your life. Well, you’re not. You follow orders, not sure about why you are doing this, which explains how soldiers after the war can give such superficial interviews like “We hate Vietnam”, “We were stronger”. Soldiers were told they are fighting to bring freedom. Unbeknownst to them, they are helping the U.S. conquering lands, an action that will lead to the implant of American culture to whatever land they’ve gotten. What’s more American (back then) than a certain talking mouse? The soldier marched back, singing a song for kids but somehow resembled them so much. “Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?” can be seen as an indictment of the U.S. presence in Vietnam, as well as a call towards the politics people who made the world as it was then, chaotic in war. “Forever man has held a banner. High, high, high. high!”, banners held high throughout the world as the US spreads its influence through military interventionism. “We’ll have fun, we’ll meet new faces. We’ll do things and we’ll go places.”, soldiers had travelled, had their fun with booze and prostitution, as well as seeing a lot of new faces, some of which are later murdered in the war. “All around the world we’re marching.”, a little ominous, like the US is becoming a global superpower through its military and cultural imperialism, which matched up in the original song as the cartoon characters march atop the globe. And finally, “See you real soon”, as a likely scenario Kubrick have predicted: the U.S. army won’t be stopping in their quest for global domination any time soon. By 1987, when Full Metal Jacket was released, the U.S. had already been involved in the affairs of many countries, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, El Salvador, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt and Bolivia to name a few.