Nietzsches Philosophies in Modern Contemporary Setting Applied in Stanley Kubrick's Film Full Metal Jacket

Objective

Taking Nietzsches philosophies in a modern, contemporary setting, I would like to show how they are applied to the films of Stanley Kubrick. However, as opposed to many of the presentations Ive seen, Id like the majority of the presentation to lye on what I know, not what is on the video screen.

Introduction

Although my concentration will be on 2001: A Space Odyssey, it would be tragic not to at least mention Kubricks other post-Dr. Strangelove releases in terms of Nietzschean philosophies:

-Released in 1999, Eyes Wide Shut was Kubricks final film.

In it, we find a number of references to the use of masks. Kubrick asks the viewer if you know what mask youre wearing and when. Is it on or is it off? Sometimes you yourself forget. We end with a scene where Dr. Harford walks into his bedroom, and the mask from the orgy is sitting there next to his wife. At that point, Harford drops the metaphorical mask hes been wearing to hide from his wife and cries to her III tell you everything.

-In the late 1980s, Full Metal Jacket opened in theaters across the country. Here we find a strict balance of Apollo and Dionysus. The film is structured in two distinct parts: before and after the soldiers go to war, or boot camp and the Vietnam battle scenes. The boot camp? The view is immaculately clean. Every shot structure is perfectly symmetrical. There is complete order. In contrast to the war scenes, we have total chaos.

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Soldiers armed to the teeth with weapons are their own form of the law. The man who has no fear, who is born again hard, and kills without thinking is king. A great example in the film comes when our star, Private Joker, is talking with Colonel. COLONEL: You write “Born to Kill” on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What’s that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?! JOKER: I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir. What better way to explain the constant struggle for balance between D & A?

-Its difficult to watch The Clockwork Orange and not place it in context with 2001. This film is an expression of whats happening on earth while the other men are in space. Kubrick himself called Alex natural man in the state in which he is born, unlimited, unrepressed. Alex backs this in the film by saying that thinking was for the gloppy [stupid ones. We find that thought (an Apollonian trait) is lost, and Alex is all about acting on instinct and impulse (Dionysian). Further, The Clockwork Orange is an example of a society where everyone acts on instinct and impulse, where no one believes in any laws, where the intelligent man is repressed. In essence, The Clockwork Orange is an example of a strictly Dionysian society. Moreover, here is what Alex thinks while he is listening to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony: “It was like a bird of rarest spun heaven metal. Like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense. It was gorgeousness and gorgeosity. Now compare that to Nietzsche’s Human, All Too Human:

At a certain place in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, for example, he the free spirit] might feel that he is floating above the earth in a starry dome, with the dream of immortality in his heart; all the stars seem to glimmer around him, and the earth seems to sink ever deeper downwards.

Finally, Alex is given the Ludovico treatment in an attempt to lessen his Dionysian spirit and create some resemblance of the Apollonian side to him, only to become temporarily cured until the end of the film. So, if this is what a strictly Dionysian world would be like, what would a strictly Apollonian world be like. I wouldnt say thats exactly what the space environment in 2001 represents, but its worthy of discussion.

Background on Strauss

Thus Spake Zarathustra Richard Strauss wanted to write an homage to Nietzsche. Of three tone poems, a 19th century term that expresses a conscious attempt to illustrate a text or idea through music, one was for Nietzsche. Thus Spake Zarathustra was 33 minutes long and supposedly the worst one, both critically and technically. One reviewer even wrote O Zarathustra, do not crack your whip so ominously! Dont you know that noise kills thought? Strauss said he didnt want to portray Nietzsches work, but the piece was supposed to convey in music an idea of the evolution of the human race. Broken up into chapters, but vou cant tell AT ALL where one ends and one beains. the first chapter is implied to be the sun coming up over the Earth, which is why we can see how well it worked for Kubrick.

2001: A Space Odyssey

There are a variety of Nietzschean themes that come up in 2001, but the most evident is the balance of Apollo and Dionysus. For the Dionysian side, we have the apes. They are instinctive, primitive, and are capable of very little thought. For the Apollonian, we have man. They are emotional, intellectual, contemplative, and methodically logical. The superman will be a shift back toward Dionysian state. Not to say that it is a stepping backward, but an ascending upward. This can restore a complete balance between the two.

One image that helps restore this balance is the monolith, as a representation Zarathustra, imparting knowledge. Just as he descended from the mountain to preach the gospel, the monolith gives the knowledge as well. Each time after its seen, there is the birth of some kind of intelligence; each time, Strauss theme plays in the background. The first time is with the apes. As the clip showed, the monolith emits a sound that sends them into a frenzy. The very next scene shows one of them smashing through some bones of a dead animal. The more creative he gets, the more he takes ONE bone and starts banging it against the others. Here we have the creation of weapons, leading to the most famous jump cut in film history from the bone to the space satellite. The second arrival of the monolith is during the time of man. Although the sound intrigues them, they treat it like they are more important than the structure. Unknowingly, they are given the intelligence to create HAL, a computerized life form, which eventually tries to take them over. HAL acts as representation of a completely Apollonian structure, possibly a suggestion of the direction man is headed for without the intervention of the overman. Finally, the monolith is seen during the birth of the overman. As the clip showed, Dave is blessed with the gift to be the one to link the man and superman. Once Dave outwits HAL, he shows that he is superior. Man can overcome itself and all of its flaws. Hes now prepared (the chosen one) for the transformation to a higher life form. However, this does not mean that he is flawless. As we see, he breaks the glass as he is eating at the table. Broken glass, in Judaic marriage ceremony, symbol of the end of one way of life and the beginning of a new one. Again, the cycle of life, creation of something new out of something old. In addition, the place hes in is a human zoo, run by extraterrestrials. This tells us that he is the specimen for man great enough to be superman, but he is still human, and therefore still capable of human error. Regardless, the transformation still takes place, and we are left with the superhuman baby with the abnormally large head looking directly at us, showing us whats next to come.