Also portrayed in Full Metal Jacket is the notion that women are sexual objects that fulfill the needs of men. The idea in the duality of man that men are nurturers is lost in the world of prostitution, which is the only time when women are mentioned in the film. The first scene containing a female is the first scene in Vietnam which shows a prostitute selling herself to Private Joker and Rafterman. Men seek women only for pleasure and that is the only purpose of females present on the battlefields. During the first half of the film, gender and sexuality take a prominent role in the training of the men. The war and the military contain sexual parallels for Sergeant Hartman and he often refers to them in his instruction of the men. During one scene in Parris Island, the recruits must say a prayer of love and devotion to their rifles before going to sleep with them. (Ebert 1987) Sergeant Hartman also refers to homosexuality negatively in several cases and uses it in a derogatory manner as an insult to his men. He tells Private Cowboy that only “steers and queers” come from Texas. He also says to Private Pyle, “I don’t like the name Lawrence. Only faggots and sailors are called Lawrence!” The men in the boot camp must remove all feminine traits from their personalities to become Marine men. Perhaps this training that rids men of the feminine characteristics of compassion and love is what causes the Marine colonel’s anguish at Private Joker’s suggestion on the duality of man. However, the stereotypical gender roles portrayed in this film are reversed during the final battle with the sniper, who is revealed to be a young woman. After wounding her, Private Joker kills her to put her out of her misery before leaving, which is an ironic way to portray man as a nurturer and not just a violent killer. Private Joker could not leave her suffering and therefore had to kill her to end her agony.

One of the disturbing aspects of the film is its constant use of stereotypes in depicting not only the people of Vietnam, but also the soldiers themselves. Racial stereotypes are present in many scenes of the movie. For example

Some topics in this essay:
Metal Jacket, Private Joker, African Americans, Private Pyle, Vietnam War, Joker Rafterman, Tet Offensive, Louis Stevenson, Matthew Modine, Private Pyle’s, private joker, boot camp, metal jacket, private pyle, vietnam war, stanley kubrick’s metal, vietnamese people, sergeant hartman, stanley kubrick’s, kubrick’s metal, kubrick’s metal jacket, stripes military newspaper, half film, stars stripes military, private joker rafterman,