Stanley Kubrick’s award-winning Vietnam War movie Full Metal Jacket is stirring up controversy after the Donald Trump presidential campaign used clips from the film for a “propaganda” video. One of the stars of the film, Matthew Modine, has now unequivocally blasted the campaign’s appropriation of Kubrick’s masterpiece, calling it a perversion of Full Metal Jacket‘s pivotal anti-war message. However, in a surprise twist, the late director’s daughter Vivian Kubrick declared via social media that the former POTUS has her blessing in using the movie “to [help] the cause of freedom.”
Sections from the 1987 psychological war drama have begun to appear in videos at Trump rallies to spread a vision of the former president’s ideal military. The clips in question highlight R. Lee Ermey’s vulgar and often racist rampages as the battle-hardened Marine Sargent in charge of whipping Modine’s Private Joker and other new recruits into shape. This is then contrasted against videos of uniformed soldiers transforming into dancing drag queens. This not-so-underlying message of Trump’s preference for the type of military environment featured in Full Metal Jacket is emphasized by a final shot from the film in which recruits are marching before being sent to Vietnam, complete with the caption: “LET’S MAKE OUR MILITARY GREAT AGAIN.”
The Trump campaign’s decision to use Full Metal Jacket footage as pro-military propaganda has earned mixed reactions from those closest to the film. As the multi-faceted protagonist of Full Metal Jacket, Modine offered nothing but criticism, stating (via EW):
“In the 1930s, Leni Riefenstahl directed the Nazi propaganda films ‘Triumph of the Will’ and ‘Olympia.’ These two films are considered among the most effective propaganda ever made. Riefenstahl denied any knowledge of the Holocaust, repeatedly invoking the ‘how could we have known?’ defense. Ironically, Trump has twisted and profoundly distorted Kubrick’s powerful anti-war film into a perverse, homophobic, and manipulative tool of propaganda.”
However, Kubrick’s daughter Vivian shared her support for the decision on X, saying, “If that footage from FMJ helps Trump make the point that the US military needs properly trained, super tough, focused, dedicated warriors, and not introduce the demoralizing effects of woke-ism, and attracting people to join up simply to have their sexual reassignments paid for, then Trump has my blessing.” She also added that, if he were still alive, Kubrick would have joined her as a Trump supporter.
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Upon viewing the Trump campaign’s video, many X users questioned whether Trump or his supporters had actually seen Full Metal Jacket, with @RealJakeBroe asking “Have Trump supporters even seen the movie Full Metal Jacket? Did they completely miss the plot of this scene? The psychological abuse of this drill sergeant led to a murder-suicide in the movie.” After all, the film is widely regarded as one of the most unflinching, unfiltered depictions of war and military conditions, provoking intense moral and ethical dilemmas about the cost of killing. One gut-wrenching scene in particular harshly demonstrates the cost of the U.S. military’s brutal training regime — the very regime that the Trump campaign seemingly seeks to reinstate. In short, Full Metal Jacket is far from a straightforward film, and it certainly doesn’t glamorize the conditions of war as Trump’s video seems to do.
Other X users didn’t miss the irony of using a Vietnam War movie to promote a strong military, with @Rturcato83 saying, “It’s better if you watch the film and try to understand it.” Although not necessarily the main focus of Full Metal Jacket, the Vietnam War was far from a victory for the United States, and its brutal after-effects can still be felt to this day. Ultimately, the Trump campaign’s video is in bad taste to many audiences for many different reasons — although with Vivian Kubrick’s support, the video is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.