Line #44 YMMV/FullMetalJacket


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: It's based on a novel, ''The Short-Timers'' by Gustav Hartford, with some elements of Michael Herr's new journalism book ''Dispatches''. Both works are mostly remembered as sources of the film and rarely mentioned in their own contexts.
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
3	** Who bears most of the responsibility for [[spoiler:Lawrence's murder-suicide of Hartman]]?
4	*** Gunnery Sergeant Hartman was either just doing his job and honestly trying to prepare his trainees for war, or his methods were so unnecessarily extreme and brutal that they drove one of his recruits to madness [[spoiler:and got both himself and said recruit killed]]. R. Lee Ermey--a former Drill Instructor from that time period himself--[[{{Jossed}} jossed]] this by placing Hartman firmly in the latter camp[[note]]Ermey declared that Hartman's antics crossed the line into abuse territory, and thus were not only counter-productive, but would have gotten him court-martialed in real life[[/note]], but the debates still rage to this day.
5	*** On the other side of the coin, some people either see Private Lawrence as TheWoobie who was ultimately [[BreakTheCutie broken]] due to being relentlessly bullied by the DrillSergeantNasty, while others look at him as someone who ''really'' did not have the mental fortitude to make it as a Marine and who really should have dropped out for the good of both himself and everyone else.
6	*** [[TakeAThirdOption Or]], it's Joker who is unfit, since he does nothing when he finds Pyle loading a rifle in the head (a violation of at least ''three'' regulations). Instead of either taking the (unloaded) rifle away and alerting the [=MPs=], or just alerting the [=MPs=], he just stands and watches Pyle, who has clearly snapped, load a magazine and load his rifle, and as a result two Marines die.
7	*** There's also the concept that ''Cowboy'' is responsible, or at least shares some of the blame. Regardless of how you feel about the blanket party he orchestrated, he also urged Joker not to report Pyle's growing instability when the latter suggested doing so.
8	** The movie is set at the time [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_100,000 Project 100,000]] was in place. Project 100,000 was an attempt to increase the number of drafted soldiers by drastically lowering the recruitment standards (''i.e.'' recruiting people who would previously be considered as physically[=/=]mentally unfit for service, as well as people with criminal records). The movie makes no mystery that Lawrence is unfit. We don't even know if he was a voluntary recruit; while the Marine Corps has been volunteer-only since its inception, during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and Vietnam it was not unheard for Marine recruiters to meet quotas by comandeering Army draftees.
9	** At least one book on Kubrick's filmography explicitly frames Animal Mother as a [[{{Foil}} dark reflection]] of Gomer Pyle, a snapshot of what Pyle might have become had he not snapped under Hartman's abuse and the pressure of basic training, and instead lasted long enough to become dehumanised by the war itself.
10	** Does Hartman truly believe his rhetoric about war and the Marines being elite killers and warriors or is he just saying what he needs to? Considering how the events of the war that follow radically go against his claim of the Marines and war in general, it's worth asking if he's ever even seen real combat himself or has he spent much of his career as a drill sergeant with little idea of what he's preparing men for (his medal rack '''does''' include multiple service medals for Korea and Vietnam-- and being a PhonyVeteran on Parris Island would be sorted out very quickly -- meaning he has been overseas in some capacity before but likely not in a long time).
11	* {{Anvilicious}}: The '80s saw an unprecedented military buildup and lots of patriotic movies like ''Film/TopGun'' and ''Film/IronEagle'' which may have well have been recruiting videos. While there were other anti-war films (''Film/{{Platoon}}'' being the most famous) this movie definitely made many Gen-Xers think twice about whether a military career was right for them.
12	** [[spoiler:Cowboy's squad getting lost, falling for a trap designed to drag them in and waste their ammunition, receiving unclear direction from superiors, and being severely harmed by a much smaller and less technically advanced opponent]] is a very unsubtle geopolitical allegory.
13	* AwardSnub: It was nominated for one UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was not nominated for Best Picture, Best Director for Creator/StanleyKubrick or Best Supporting Actor for Creator/RLeeErmey or Creator/VincentDOnofrio, despite many people saying they felt that not only did it deserve to be nominated in these categories, but it deserved to win, too. Unsurprisingly it lost its one Oscar nod to ''Film/TheLastEmperor''.
14	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Paint It Black", by Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}, which plays during the end credits.
15	** Also "These Boots Are Made For Walking", which plays during the first Vietnamese sex worker scene.
16	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The helicopter ride with the door gunner taking shots at Vietnamese civilians is never brought up again after the scene.
17	* CompleteMonster: The [[SociopathicSoldier unnamed door gunner]] spends the entirety of his brief appearance shooting down Vietnamese civilians, [[EvilLaugh laughing]] and casually chatting with other soldiers the entire time. He has over 150 confirmed kills, including women and children. His crimes are considered loathsome even in the [[WarIsHell nightmare world]] of [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar wartime Vietnam]], [[EveryoneHasStandards disgusting even other soldiers]].
18	* CrossesTheLineTwice:
19	** Hartman's insults are meant to belittle and demean, but one could sympathize with Pvt. Pyle's giggling due to the sheer creativity of Hartman's ranting. TruthInTelevision, many Boot Camp instructors are purposefully funny, they try to teach recruits to have the mental control not to laugh, which gives mental fortitude in other areas.
20	** The Door Gunner, heinous as he is, delivers his lines in such a casual, unapologetic, and funny way that the war crime scene becomes borderline ComedicSociopathy.
21	* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Pvt. Pyle is commonly speculated to have some kind of developmental disability or intellectual disability, as he struggles to grasp even simple tasks and directions.
22	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
23	** Animal Mother has a fair following.
24	** The [[AsianHookerStereotype Da Nang prostitute]] at the start of the second half.
25	** The Door Gunner, due to ComedicSociopathy and for being a FountainOfMemes like Hartman.
26	* EpilepticTrees: WebVideo/RobAger theorizes that Private Pyle's suicide never actually happened, but that it was a dream sequence symbolizing his rebirth from a fat, slovenly moron into the brutal warmonger Animal Mother--played by a different actor to subconsciously emphasize how the military machine has transformed him. More interesting and compelling is his theory on the middle part of the movie essentially being a deliberately unrealistic, HollywoodStyle reenactment of the Vietnam war, which gets dropped the moment the characters walk into (and out of) a movie theatre into the actual war and are faced with {{Surprisingly Realistic Outcome}}s.
27	* {{Fanon}}:
28	** It's not uncommon for fans to argue that, given his improvement in basic training, [[spoiler: had Pyle made it to Vietnam]], [[TookALevelInBadass he would have been similar in combat effectiveness and general asskicking to Animal Mother]].
29	** Others argue that [[spoiler:Pyle]] would have snapped and committed something akin to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%E1%BB%B9_Lai_massacre My Lai Massacre]], which is backed up by the heavy implication that [[spoiler:Pyle]] is based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Calley Lt. William Calley]], who orchestrated it.
30	* FirstInstallmentWins: The boot camp half is better regarded and remembered due to the increased focus on specific characters than the one that actually goes to Vietnam which is more of a series of events than an intimate character study like the first half.
31	* FountainOfMemes: Hartman's insults are so creatively and hilariously profane that almost everything he says has become a meme. '''EVERYTHING''' the Door Gunner says has become a meme.
32	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Judging from all the fanart, the film seems to have a cult following in Japan. One video game, ''VideoGame/NAM1975'', even outright used still images from the film for its characters.
33	* HePannedItNowHeSucks: Creator/GeneSiskel came down '''hard''' on Creator/RogerEbert on ''Series/SiskelAndEbert'' for giving ''Full Metal Jacket'' a Thumb's Down while giving ''Film/{{Benji}} the Hunted'' a four-star Thumb's Up (both films were released the same year). This got parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic''.
34	* HilariousInHindsight:
35	** Sergeant Hartman warns Private Joker, "You had best unfuck yourself or [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck]]!" Then there's ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', where Duke not only says that to an Overlord [[spoiler:before killing it]], but he also means what he says, and [[spoiler: [[DueToTheDead he does it]] ''literally'', [[ExactWords keeping true to his word]]]].
36	** Creator/MatthewModine, who plays Joker, appears in [[Film/TheDarkKnightRises a film]] where [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the main character]]'s archenemy (and BigBad of [[Film/TheDarkKnight the last movie]]) is a character called "[[ComicBook/TheJoker Joker]]".
37	* JustHereForGodzilla: Nine times out of ten, people who haven't seen the movie yet but want to are going to be surprised when the film isn't ''exclusively'' about Gunnery Sergeant Hartman.
38	* LoveToHate: Sergeant Hartman, due to his actor's memorable performance, despite being a HateSink.
39	* MemeticMutation:
40	** Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in general, thanks to the legendary performance by Creator/RLeeErmey. Good luck trying to find any drill instructor in films made post-''FMJ'' that is not, in some way, based on Hartman.
41	*** Pretty much anyone in the US military (and many people outside of it) trying to sound witty and badass will quote selections from the same scene of Hartman singling out recruits in the barracks. Anyone from Texas is probably [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore quite familiar]] with [[FalseDichotomy the list of things that come from Texas]]. Not to mention that the "steers and queers" line can also substitute Texas for any state someone doesn't like or wants to make fun of.
42	*** "What is your major malfunction?!" (you know the rest)
43	*** "''Holy Jesus''. What is ''THAT''? ''WHAT'' THE ''FUCK'' IS THAT?"--Hartman's reaction to finding Pyle's jelly donut. Has since been repurposed to illustrate shock at other things.
44	*** "''LET ME SEE YOUR WAR FACE!''"
45	*** Disclaimer: You Will Not Laugh. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Hartman warns his troops that they will not laugh while being instructed by him. It is used a gif warning people about things the poster finds unfunny, by claiming that the person will not laugh at them. [[/labelnote]]
46	** "Me so horny, me love you long time," much to the chagrin of any East Asian woman walking down the street. The controversial HipHop group Music/TwoLiveCrew even sampled that line in the song "[[IntercourseWithYou Me So Horny]]" on their infamous album ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'', as did Music/SirMixALot in "[[StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks Baby Got Back]]" (albeit only in one line of the song).
47	*** Another part of this scene, "Sucky sucky five dollar," became better known when it was used by ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.
48	** The "Let me hear your war cry" scene [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgOaT4xzdvo replaced with the faces of mannequins]]. (NightmareFuel ahead.)
49	** Basically everything the [[OneSceneWonder Door Gunner]] says, he's almost as quotable as [[FountainOfMemes Hartman.]]
50	*** "Anyone who runs is a VC! Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined VC!"
51	*** "How do you shoot women and children?" "Easy, you just don't lead 'em so much!"
52	*** "''GET SOME, GET SOME, GET SOME!''"
53	* MisaimedFandom: Once again proving Creator/FrancoisTruffaut's maxim that it's impossible to create an anti-war movie, the film overall is very popular with military personnel, especially Marines and Vietnam veterans, as well as [[PhonyVeteran those who wish they were]].
54	** Tons of people seem to love Sgt. Hartman, despite the point of the character (according to both Ermey and Kubric) being that he's a failure as a drill instructor. Hartman doesn't understand Pyle and is ultimately out of his depth in dealing with him. He's physically abusive to his troops, [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure punishing all of them for the actions of one]], and even punches Joker and both slaps and chokes Pyle. Hartman even considers his troops hating him to be a good thing to the point of praising Lee Harvey Oswald (the man who killed his commander-in-chief), and Charles Whitman (who had killed 17 people the year before) [[SkewedPriorities for good marksmanship]] seemingly for shock value. Despite all this, and the fact that [[spoiler:these character deficiencies ultimately get him and Private Pyle killed in a MurderSuicide]], the DrillSergeantNasty character was codified by this film, Ermey was typecast as this sort of character for the rest of his life, and it's still what most people think of when they imagine a drill sergeant.
55	** There are general reports that the first part, designed to show the worst possible basic training experience, is seen as a recruiting tool to young audiences as the ultimate challenge to tackle after high school.
56	** Even though it was used to depict the desperate social situation of South Vietnam at the time and carried no racist connotations, in the ensuing years, the Da Nang prostitute's [[AsianSpeekeeEngrish broken English]] has been used by reactionary elements on the internet to [[YellowPeril mock Asians]] in general, and [[MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow promote misogynous stereotypes against Asian women]] in particular.
57	* MoralEventHorizon: The Door Gunner crosses it in seconds as he's introduced gleefully killing unarmed civilians. He then boasts about his "prowess" and then casually jokes with a [[LeadTheTarget technicism]] when asked how he can kill women and children (and 50 water buffaloes too, all certified). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZWsgTuVbdU Ain't war hell?]]
58	* OneSceneWonder:
59	** The Da Nang prostitute ("Me love you long time") and the door gunner who shoots Vietnamese civilians from a helicopter ("Get some, get some!").
60	** Ngoc Le as the VC sniper. The sniper is slowly built up over the course of several minutes as a remorseless and deadly accurate killing machine, picking off the platoon one by one. Finally they infiltrate the sniper's lair, and the sniper is revealed to be a remorseless and deadly accurate killing machine who's a ''pigtailed, teenaged girl''. Even after Rafterman empties an entire magazine into her, she still isn't dead and begs them to shoot her. [[spoiler: Joker does so, completing his character arc.]]
61	* ParodyDisplacement: Mention the name "Gomer Pyle" to someone. A younger person will probably think of "the fat Marine recruit from ''Full Metal Jacket'' who [[spoiler:blows his brains out]]" instead of "the gas station worker from ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' who got a spin off sitcom where he was in the Marines," which is where the name came from and why Gunny Hartman gives it to him.
62	* SignatureScene: The blanket party scene is so famous that searching up "blanket party" on Google Images yields multiple shots from it as the top results. This scene is so iconic that it's one thing drill instructors point out as something that recruits are never allowed to do under any circumstances unless they want the entire platoon to be screwed to hell and back. The drill instructors will institute punishment and violence is not allowed to be a part of it (though it will occasionally happen behind closed doors).
63	* {{Squick}}:
64	** [[spoiler:Pvt. Pyle's suicide]].
65	** Joker referring to his, ahem, "gun," as his "tubesteak."
66	** Some of Hartman's FloweryInsults and threats can veer into this.
67	--->"I'll PT you until your assholes are sucking buttermilk!"\
68	"It looks to me like the best part ran down the crack of your mama's ass and ended up as a brown stain on the mattress!"\
69	"Your days of fingerbanging ol' Mary Jane Rottencrotch through her purty pink panties ARE OVER!"\
70	"You climb obstacles like old people fuck!"\
71	"I bet you're the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give them a reach-around!"
72	* TearJerker:
73	** Pyle's entire arc. The poor guy simply is not suited to being a Marine, but Hartman refuses to see that and simply comes down even harder on him to shape him into being a killer and turns the other Marines against him. He ends up so broken that [[spoiler:he ends up killing Hartman and himself.]]
74	** Pyle crying tears of pain while intermittently screaming “ow” after the blanket party is absolutely gut-wrenching.
75	* VanillaProtagonist: Joker and Cowboy are the protagonists, but they're much less memorable than the colourful supporting cast. Most people will point to Hartman & Pyle as the real main characters of the first half, with Animal Mother being the most interesting part of the second half.
76	* Sugarwiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The scenes in Hue were filmed at an abandoned gasworks on the outskirts of London. Yet in an era before CGI manages to be quite convincing as a war torn Vietnamese city. Note that they simply use smoke and careful camera angles to obscure backgrounds since digitally erasing it was not an option at the time.
77	* TheWoobie:
78	** Poor, poor private Pyle. Though he was fat and dumb, he didn't deserve his fate.
79	** Sgt. Joker also counts, particularly by the end of the movie.

Context YMMV / FullMetalJacket