Paper #1

Full, Metal, and Male

The cinema is something which offers Americans much with regard to representation, culture, and art. The roles are specifically cast for a specific image to be displayed, and screenplays are written to create a seemingly “real” world. When analyzing the Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket, some interesting patterns emerge when looking into film forms, but some strange and interesting things start to pop out when looking into things like gender representation and human ability as well. These scripts truly reveal how the cinema uses different practices to instill certain beliefs and representations into our minds with regard to many aspects of American, and human culture.
The most crucial factor when analyzing a film is the film form. The tricks of the camera are easy to overlook, and most of the time the directors want you to overlook them! Film form is known as an “invisible art” because by cleverly editing different shots together, a certain effect is created. For example, if someone sees a shot of a man looking upwards in the sky, then another shot is shown of Mount Rushmore, the audience will assume the man looked up at Mount Rushmore, even though those two shots could have been taken at entirely different places and times. This form of editing is therefore dubbed “invisible” because the film makers want you to become immersed in the world the film creates.
Full Metal Jacket is a war film about the conflict in Vietnam seen through the eyes of a young group of Marines from boot camp all the way through to the front lines. When watching a war film, a major theme that will almost always recur is power. Who is in power? Who is being ordered around by the power? These questions are both related to film form and ability as well. When we are first introduced to the platoon of rookies, there is a distinct line drawn between them and the drill instructor. We see many shots of the film framed specifically to separate the large and uniformly colored infantry and the drill instructor. We see the infantry’s outfits are all blandly colored and all look the same. We are then shown the drill instructor who is visibly much older, seemingly wiser, and last but certainly not least, he is heavily decorated in metals of merit. That in itself separates the private’s from the instructor. Besides just costume, we also see that the camera angles play into the image given of the characters. The instructor is always shown from a low-angle shot to give him a look of power and domination, whereas the private’s are all shown from high-angle shots to make them seem small and feeble.
This transfer of power reveals how we as an audience are supposed to feel almost threatened and even dominated in a way by this overbearing drill sergeant. We also are given a feeling of indifference towards all of the privates’ because with a heavy source of power like the drill instructor, it is easy to feel less about the much more plentiful privates. It is like the analogy of the bright lights outshining the smaller and dimmer lights. Once the film moves to the actual war in Vietnam, the heavy handed camera angles are lessened, and all the soldiers are now given more of a powerful role, and their heroic features come out way more. This fact plays into ability greatly. We see how the main privates we meet in the film at first seem “green” and innocent, but once they get into the heat and battle of Vietnam, they where outfits which are covered in ammunition and camouflage, and bear quotes like “Born to Kill”.
Going back to the boot camp part of the film, ability manifests itself in an entirely different way with regard to another issue. Body type is something which all Americans are immersed in on a daily basis. Thin is in, and obesity is on the rise. In boot camp, we meet Private Pyle. He is obviously the heaviest one the platoon members. All of the other men have very similar body types, but Private Pyle sticks out. Throughout all of boot camp he struggles with everything from the obstacle course to the assembling of his rifle. He shows a definite lack of intelligence as oppose to all the others of his platoon as well. Does this say something about the ability of overweight people? In one scene, the platoon gangs up late one night and beats Private Pyle while he is held down by his peers and pummeled with bars of soap. The scene is quite disturbing and is difficult to watch. He is punished like this for holding the platoon up in all of their tests. In his case, being overweight was a major factor in his ability to complete tasks, and make friends within his platoon. Not only is he a rookie, but a loner who does not resemble any of the other rookies, and is just “different”. At the end of boot camp, Private Pyle cannot keep his sanity. From the platoon ganging up in him, to the never ending scrutiny of the drill instructor, one of the main protagonists in the film, Private Pyle, brutally kills the drill instructor, and then takes his own life.
Gender is another script which applies to Full Metal Jacket very well. If you look at gender in the boot camp section, there is a ton to look at… a ton being a ton of guys. There is not a single female character introduced to us for the first half of the film! The movie is heavily dominated by males. Why is this so? The most obvious reason is because even though women do serve and do many amazing things for our military, today and back when this film was made, men are still seen as the dominant force in the military.
Not only in the boot camp section of the film, but even in the war section, we see hardly any female presence. The first female character we are introduced to in the film is none other than a cheap Vietnamese prostitute. The fact that the first female we see is a prostitute has a lot to say in itself. She utters the now infamous “me love you long time” line, and is a comical character in a black comedy sense of the word. She appears dingy, cheap, unintelligent and unclean. She is talking to the now uniformed men of the United States Marine Corps, and that says a lot in itself as well. She appears very objectively to the men. She is advertising herself in a way which says to use her for whatever use she is to them, which is obviously a sexual one. This shows that women can be and are viewed in this way by men. The trickiest part about it is that she is the one who is making herself seem so objectified. That can relate to many women is America who tend to objectify themselves as sex symbols or other objective positions. This puts the power, and the ability for that matter, in the hands of the males. They pay what they have, and get what they want.
The next, and only other female we are introduced to in the film is a far cry from that of the cheap prostitute. Towards the end of the film, the platoon is being heavily damaged by a single sniper in the middle of a run down city street. The sniper is causing mass damage to the platoon, and kills two of the main characters very quickly without hesitation. All of the platoon’s attention goes to taking out this one person. The scene shifts the power from this hearty group of soldiers to a single sniper who is quietly killing through a crack in a wall. This one person holds the fate of many. The platoon finally manages to penetrate the building and locate the room of the sniper. The main character in the film, Private Joker, played by Matthew Modine, sees the sniper with her back turned. The shot we are given does not clearly show who the person is. The sniper is shown out of focus as the protagonist lines up his crosshairs and fires. His rifle clicks, but it is out of ammunition. We then see a slow motion close up shot of the sniper hearing the click and turning around. In a furious rage, we see the sniper, who turns out to be a very young Vietnamese girl, beginning to unleash a wicked reign of bullets towards the main character with a look of absolute evil and rage on her face. This close up shot gives us as the audience a very uneasy and scared feeling. This young girl looks terrifying and substantially powerful. She is not afraid to kill, or die for that matter. Luckily, one of the other platoon members is nearby and runs in to save the under-attack American. He shoots the wild sniper with two swift shots from his M-16, knocking her to the ground.
This entire sequence has so much to look at with regard to gender. We first feel that these American soldiers have all the power in this scene. They are in an organized group, all male obviously, and they are going along with the plans just fine. When we find out that there is a sniper taking them out one by one, we then feel anxiety for them in this volatile situation. It is never explicitly shown to us until the indoor shooting scene, but most can agree that the audience is unconsciously expecting this sniper to be a Vietnamese, male sniper. It is so second nature for us to assume this that we do not even think about doing it. The slow motion close up shot of the young girl turning around to reveal herself is incredibly jarring to the audience for this reason exactly. We expect a typical male soldier, so when we are surprised with a female, and a young one at that, it is strange for us as viewers. That speaks a lot about our unconscious cultural beliefs about gender and the military.
By us, the viewer, being shown the soldiers in this scene with the young female sniper, we feel many different ways about the scenario, but the end of the scene is the most disturbing and interesting. When the sniper lays on the ground injured and dying, the men of the platoon gather around her and watch her dying. They are shown far above her from the different angles of the camera, and the fire surrounding them adds to the heat and tension of the moment. As they all surround her, one of the privates hands Private Joker a pistol. The all look to him to finish her off. She is shown lying helplessly on the floor praying in Vietnamese. As she lies there, Joker hesitantly points the pistol at her and most people tend to feel a certain amount of sadness towards the same character that ten minutes before was shooting the American soldiers. Do we feel this sympathy because she is female? Do we feel it because she is about to die and everyone sympathizes with someone on the verge of death? Is it both? That decision is up to the viewer to make for themselves. What that situation does show us though is that when power, which ties directly in with ability, is taken away from a character in a film, the audience has a certain response to the removal of gain of power by another. Whether it is American, Vietnamese, or whatever other nationality, power is a crucial factor which film uses to convey certain messages.
As stated earlier, film has many things to offer to the ideas of culture, representation, and many other aspects of humanity. In Full Metal Jacket we see that film form, mixed with gender issues and ability issues in the form of a power struggle, come together to create a film and a representation regarded widely as one of the most profound and moving war films ever made. The innocent young school boy turned into the cold blooded killer who bears the words “Born to Kill” on his helmet, and a peace sign over his heart, shows the strange twist our military conflicts bring our country. Private Joker explains in the film when asked about his interesting set of decorations on the uniform that the patch mixed with the quote, “Represents the duality of man”. We see these dualities come out clean in the film, and this makes us question ourselves and the characters in the film. These great moments are what the cinema can offer to us as people, and allow us all to reflect on ourselves and the world around us.

Group Five Movie

Speech 2 Outline

Joe Belack
Speech 2 Outline

I. Introduction
A. Attention Getter: To start things off I am going to show to everyone a clip of an Apple ad from 2007.
B. After reading everyone my speech on Audience, constraints, and Exigence, I hope you have a better understanding of who and what apple is trying to reach in their advertising campaigns.
1. I spoke of how Apple wants a softer more user friendly tone in their ads, and that is the message which they want to send to the public.
2. Now as stated before, between researching my previous speech, and my knowledge of media through my film major, I will now talk to you about what a certain Apple ad which is trying to with their aesthetic choices in their ads.
C. You will see it is clear that Apple is trying to appeal to the masses with a message of simplicity and ease, while taking aim at PCs as the culprit for the technological confusion in our day and age.
1. Let’s start looking into these ads analyzing at color.
II. Color.
A. Apple clearly wants you to feel comfortable when watching their ads, and so they have chosen a plain white background. This tends to make people feel at ease and calm. There is not much to look at, just a simple scene with a few guys.
1. In The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, it is stated that different colors hold different meanings to people, and white tends to be a color of tranquility and peace.
2. In a website I researched, I found similar results stating how white generally “is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color of perfection.”
(Color-Wheel-Pro)
B. Since white tends to mean these things to most people, we can see how Apple is trying to give all the people of the world a feeling of goodness, peace, and purity with their products.
1. A advertising critic named Seth Stevenson talked about how Apple’s ad campaign sets a very easy going tone, but still really attacks PCs when it comes down to it. (MAC Attack)
C. It is clear that Apple wants the calm and peaceful tone; however it does not end at the white background. Character placement plays a key role in the ads as well.
III. Characters
A. It is clear in all these Apple ads that the same two characters appear.
1. We have the much laid back “Mac guy” and the somewhat confused and uptight “PC guy” or as I like to call him, the Bill Gates look alike.
2. Both are addressing the audience directly in the commercial.
B. The Apple guy always seems to be very clear on what he wants to say and seems like a nice simple guy. The PC guy on the other hand is always a bit ambiguous and not easy to like. MAC Attack also talks about how he seems business oriented and not as inviting as the Mac guy is. This shows the message Apple is trying to send to its consumers quite explicitly.
C. In this specific Apple ad, the position of the characters is all crucial in understanding the message they are spreading.
1. We see that the Mac guy stands alone and is okay with it. He is confident and laid back.
2. The PC guy however, is tailed by an intimidating secret service type agent. The agent is specifically placed somewhat behind the PC guy almost overlapping him.
3. This signifies how by buying a PC, you also by this aggravating security feature as well, as oppose to buying an Apple, in which all you get is one simple thing (or guy for this example.)
4. (Trans.) All of these characters play crucial roles, but you don’t always need characters to convey messages, shot choice is just as important.
III. Cinematography
A. When people think of cinematography, most get a bit intimidated. To make it simple, cinematography is just the choice of shot you use. Close-up?, medium- shot?, Long-shot?
1. How the subjects in your shot are placed in the frame and focused on can play a huge role is a consumers mind.
2. Shot choice is key in mass media promotions as stated in the Movie Marketing Update. (If you notice on Pepsi commercials, you’ll always see the label facing out and quite visible).
B. In this ad, it is clear how we see a wide-shot of all the characters, mixed with a few close-ups.
1. The wide-shots we see how the clear and decisive line which separates the PC duo and the Mac Guy who is clearly on his on side of the shot. This shows both companies presented differently.
2. The few close-ups we get show the PC duo clearly together and seemingly tied at the hip.
3. The Mac Guy on the other hand is only shown in close-ups all alone. Simple and friendly.
IV. Conclusion
A. Simple and friendly are tones which are hard to ignore in all of Apple’s marketing schemes recently.
1. These ads are quite effective, and by looking at mere statistics it is hard to ignore. The New York Times reported in 2006 that their annual profit has increased 34% from 2005 through 2006.
B. I hope from seeing the examples in class today and listening to both of my speeches, you now too can see these ads and the simple yet quite rhetorical.
C. In closing I am going to show you all one more media clip of a Windows ad from the late 80s. The PC was on the rise, and with your new knowledge of the subject, see if you take away a different perspective on media advertising than presented by Apple lately.

Works Cited
Lohr, Steve. "Apple Reports Sharp Climb in Both Sales and Earnings." The New York Times Oct. 2005. 18 Feb. 2008.
McCurdy, Harold G. "Aesthetic Choice as a Personality Function." Color Aesthetics (2006). 18 Feb. 2008.
"See Color Theory in Action." 18 Feb. 2008 <http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html>.
"Sony Pictures Signs Promotional Deal with Heiniken for Casino Royale." Movie Marketing Update. 18 Feb. 2008 <http://www.indiescene.net/archives/sony_pictures/sony_pictures_signs_promotiona_1.htm>.
Stevenson, Seth. "MAC Attack." Slate.Com. 18 Feb. 2008 .

Comments:
Quan,Zou: You had a fantastic speech by showing a youtube vedio to us which is really attractive. You had good eye contact and nice sppech voice. You analyze the vedio comprehensively and you focus well on those details. For example, their clothing and the symbolization towards their speaking and wearing. Overall, it is a wonderful speech.

David Oh: I was very impressed with your speech. You were loud and clear with great eye contact. You seemed very nonchalant about your speech and you were very meticulous in describing certain aspects. You had a little bit too much hand motion though. I liked your analogy on the Pepsi commercial. Overall, your speech was pretty much perfectly given. Good job!

Michael Chiang: I really liked your speech. The pace and the 'casualness' of your speech really fit, since the Mac commercials are really relaxed and casual. The visual aid you used was also really helpful, giving us a better understanding of what you were talking about. I also liked how your main points were really developed.

Scot Brown: You used a good deal of fillers in the beginning, but this got better (less) as the speech went on. I noticed that whenever you cite something(one), you tend to say so and so "talks about." While your citations are good and clear, try to vary the way in which you cite specific sources. When you messed up, you had a good recovery (which is fine, because everyone messes up, and not everyone can recover well). But overall, there was a lot of repetition, not just in this speech, but also from the last one to this. Try to expand your analysis.

Ryan Wendt: Your analysis showed a clear understanding of apple's advertising and was useful and informative. You seemed like you could have used a bit more practice though, as far as fillers went. Your visual aid was good and helped your presentation quite a bit. Your tone was a bit casual too, which actually worked very well.

Speech 1 Outline

Joe Belack
Speech 1 Outline

I. Introduction
A. Attention Getter: How many people in this room have heard of an iPod?
1. Most of us feel iPods, computers, GPS, and other digital devices are making our lives easier.
B. I have studied digital media ads in film classes, and observed how the current Apple ads, mainly the one you all know about dealing with the Bill Gates Look alike and the laid back apple guy, are great examples of the new direction digital media is taking.
1. Many of the advertisements we see today show how owning these devices will not only be a great convenience to you, but will somehow make your life a better and more technologically savvy experience.
2. In past years, especially the 90’s, technology was being advertised a new and highly intellectual way to accomplish goals, do work, and ultimately save time.
3. We now see that the ad style has switched on the part of Apple, from an advanced digital age, to a light and simple style which appeals to all.
4. Who would want some up tight business man representing them as oppose to a laid back everyday guy?
C. The Apple ads we see on TV today appeal to a wide range of people, and use the complicated issues with PC’s to show how simple is what is in, and complex is out.
1. (Transition) It is clear that today’s Apple ads are aimed for all to laugh at and enjoy at the same time.
II. Audience

A. This advertisement is aimed at everyone in America.
1. There is no one is America that Apple does not want to reach out to.
2. Obviously not everyone in America can afford all this digital technology, but an average American is certainly in a position to get in with Apple.
3. Between computers, Ipods, and all of their accessories, there is something for every and anyone looking for new digital technology.
B. In today’s digital age, it is hard to say that people still do not need computers. 1. The internet has changed the entire world, especially America.
2. This fact makes in necessary for everyone to own a computer
3. Since we all need computers, why would you want one which always is hassling you? Don’t you want something simple and user friendly?
4. Apple has tried to make things easier and more friendly than the ever-changing and highly complex world of the PC.
5. (Trans.) Apple is trying to appeal to the everyday American, and since most Americans own PCs, the need for them to show why they are better suited is clear.
III. Exigence

A. The amount of dissatisfaction with PC’s these days is higher than ever (Windows Error Messages)
1. For that reason, the time is perfect for apple to take a new approach to marketing their products to American consumers.
2. People are sick of complicated computer errors and confusing directions to deal with all the issues PC’s come with. (The New York Times)
3. Apple has brought out a simple and somewhat artistic ad campaign to show everyone is America that there is an easier way to gain technological supremacy without being confused and hassled with the issue PC’s present you with.
B. With the success and grand simplicity of the iPod, Apple now can market more of their products with the same message and tone.
1. Whether it is iPods, computers, accessories, or anything else dealing with Apple products, the same tone remains in all the ads. Simple and friendly.
2. About 70,000,000 people own iPods. All these people need Mac software. (iPod Users:)
3. This simple and friends indirectly, but still intentionally, gives PC and harsh and opposing look.
4. PC’s are said to crash far more than Apples, and PC’s ad campaigns do not have the level of comfort and simplicity that Apple ads have.
III. Constraints
A. PC’s have contributed far more in sheer numbers of consumption to the digital industry than Apple has, so Apple cannot speak of how more people own Apple’s so people who don’t should join.
B. Apple runs off a totally different operating system than that of PC’s (windows), and therefore learning the different operating system would we complicated and go against Apple’s whole “simplicity” factor.
C. Even with these very limited constraints, the success of Apple is undeniable in the past few years, and actions speak louder than words.
IV. Conclusion
A. It is very apparent that Apple wants to reach out to all the people of America, not just the businessmen of the world.
B. If you see these ads yourself, which you most likely have, you can see the obviously.
C. Apple is on the rise, and it doesn’t seem like they will stop anytime soon. They have PC on the defensive, and with no big competitors for this over digital media marketplace, Apple will continue to thrive.

Fitzgerald, Thomas J. "Weighing a Switch to Mac." The New York Times 10 Aug. 2006. 2 Feb. 2008 http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T2963061389&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T2963061901&cisb=22_T2963061900&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=6742&docNo=2

Mincey, Jeffrey. "IPod Users: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics." Mac360. 21 Nov. 2006. 2 Feb. 2008 <http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/ipod_users_lies_damned_lies_and_statistics/>.

Baker, Tracy. "Widows Error Messages." Smart Computing. 2 Feb. 2008 <http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/2000/s1108/14s08/14s08.asp>.

Comments:

Liza McKenna: I think your topic today was really appropriate for the audience and you gave us good reason to listen to you. Your introduction was really good at serving its purpose but it seemed pretty long.

Nicole Ritschel: Good use of major as credibility, that was interesting. I think i missed where you intro ended and where your body started, be more obvious with that. Good delivery, i enjoyed watching you! Good eye contact, you looked comfortable.
p.s. i like that you are picking your nose in your picture =)

Tim Neubert: I really liked your topic and thought that you did a good job of establishing your credibility via your major. You did a good job with eye contact but needed better transitions.

Christina G: I really enjoyed your speech and the topic you chose. The attention getter you used was good because it showed that your speech was on with which we can all relate. I liked how you did a topic you had credible knowledge of because you're a film major. You used alot of facts which was good too.

Joe D:
- could work on a better attention getter
-good eye contact
-good fluent language
-nice summary

From Chris Shin
Nice Attention getter as well as introduction of your topic. Also, I like your topic and your gestures. You did good job of continuous eye contact and movement. Overall, it was good.

Ryan Wendt:
You had good eye contact, and you seemed to be very into the content of your speech. At a few points it seemed a little repetitive, but it didn't detract from what you were saying. Your first transition was a little weak, but I enjoyed your speech otherwise.

Liz Peters: I really enjoyed your speech. You were one of the only ones who did not stand behind the podium so you get extra points for that! You chose a topic everyone was familiar with so it made me want to listen. You had good credibility and obviously knew what you were talking about, but your conclusion could have been stronger so work on that for your next speech. Overall, great job especially going on the first day!

 Create your own educational wiki!HelpPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS