Due to the fact that worldview is always subjective and depends greatly upon the person’s cultural background, earlier experiences, and social class, American reality is perceived by different social groups in distinct ways. These modes of perception might even be incompatible, so in order to respond to the conflict in values and the resulting prejudices and discrimination, it is important to undertake a study of these realities and explain the most problematic points.
In the present project, I plan to explore the transformation of America over time as shown in the films “Full Metal Jacket”, “Forrest Gump” and “Jarhead”. In order to demonstrate the importance of these films, it is necessary to provide brief summaries.
“Forrest Gump” covers quite a long period of American history, narrating the life of a mentally unfit man named Forrest, who succeeds in this life owing to his open-mindedness and assertiveness. However, he goes through a number of adventures, including civil unrests of the 1960s-1970s associated with numerous equality movements, the Vietnam War, and many other social and political issues that he evaluates and approaches from a unique and truly optimistic perspective. Although Forrest can not be viewed as a smart or ambitious person, he reaches the American Dream as he does not hesitate to disclose his opinion and true abilities (e.g. talents in sports). The film, however, offers quite a distant and detached viewpoint, due to the fact that the main character is slightly retarded in intellectual development.
“Full Metal Jacket” provides an interesting account of the Vietnam War, as it begins with the indoctrination of Marine recruits, who prepare for joining the military conflict. The training is extremely harsh and embitters soldiers, disposing of them one against another so that one of them even commits suicide. Only after watching the whole film, the viewer realizes the extent of the reduction of soldiers’ personalities to automatons, since Hartman’s death does not suggest the defeat of the evil, but rather points to the fact that a single military man no longer represents the war, so that it can be represented only by hundreds, thousands of disciplined soldiers; correspondingly, the death of the military executive will never result in the termination of the armed conflict. The meaninglessness of a single human life, the devaluation of personality as well as the persistent hopelessness are actually the points that dramatize the Vietnam plot.
“Jarhead” deals with the Gulf War and follows Swoof, the protagonist, who suggests that this war is pointless. In fact, the abundance of comments and the close depictions of the characters point to the fact that they have plenty of time to get to know one another better because of the boredom of the “marooned” platoon and the constant abstractive threat of the Iraqi, which hypothetically wait for the soldiers after the next horizon. Due to the fact that the whole film communicates the bitter irony of the Gulf War, in which its participants suffered from isolation and tedium, yet was sent for fighting, there is plenty of sad humor, necessarily followed by close-ups.
The present project involves the comparison of the three films by the following criteria: depiction of American patriotism, depictions of America in the 1960s-1990s (each decade will be considered), soldiers’ specific remembrances about their motherland, accountability of the wars in Vietnam and Persian Gulf (perspectives on America’s international affairs), problems faced by veterans upon the end of the wars (lack of respect, social support, psychological trauma and so forth).
More specifically, the project will focus on several points. First of all, in the discussion of patriotism, I would like to address not merely the characters’ attitude towards America, but also the way America treats the lives of its warriors and values their military effort (as depicted through their eyes). Furthermore, I would also like to find out the precise aspects of the soldiers’ nostalgia for the United States (whether they miss only their closest relatives and the good of the civilization or there is a deeper point of homesickness as a melancholy, associated with the separation from the cultural and national roots). Such a study will provide an “expatriate” view on America and indicate its most precious elements and well as Americans’ values.
The historical development of the United States is also an important component of the project. In fact, I would like to focus on the social ambiance that existed in the country in the different time periods, the progress of equality movements, and human rights as the characters see them. I am particularly interested in discussing the gap between the values of the Vietnam and Gulf soldiers and find out how they approach friendship, family, economic stability, education and high intelligence, social status, and which qualities they distinguish in their companions. I also plan to explore how each of the main characters succeeds in his life and general as well as in the major reference groups he joins in order to define the factors that constitute the excellent results of social performance.
The outcome of the discussion is an insightful conclusion about the social construction of the United States in different time periods as revealed in the movies and the major points of criticism each director put forth. The completed paper will be further used in cinema studies and can be expanded to a college scientific work.