Summary
- Matthew Modine calls out Prime Video for censoring “Born to Kill” in
Full Metal Jacket
poster, highlighting the importance of duality in the movie. - Stanley Kubrick’s
Full Metal Jacket
delves into the internal conflict of war through Joker’s character, with a message that speaks to the duality of man. - Modine’s criticism prompted Prime Video to restore the original poster, preserving the film’s deeper message of “the duality of man” in war.
Prime Video has been brutally taken down by Full Metal Jacket star Matthew Modine after the streamer censored the words “Born to Kill” on a copy of the 1987 Stanley Kubrick movie’s poster shown on the VOD page of the platform. One of the most celebrated Vietnam War movies of all-time, Full Metal Jacket is a startling depiction of the conflict, which centers on Modine’s character, Private Joker.
Sharing his thoughts on X/Twitter, Modine called out Prime Video for “missing the point” of why the words are written on the side of Joker’s helmet in the first place. Expressing his disappointment at the decision, Modine wrote:
“Who decided to remove ‘BORN TO KILL?’ They not only defaced an iconic piece of art by Philip Castle, but they completely missed the point it was there for. Pvt. Joker has the helmet with ‘BORN TO KILL’ and the peace button as a statement about ‘the duality of man.'”
It seems that Modine’s highlighting of the change struck a chord somewhere, as the original poster returned later in the day, restoring the line that means so much for Modine’s character’s journey in the movie.
Full Metal Jacket is certainly not a straightforward war movie, and you would expect nothing else coming under the direction of Kubrick. When it comes to the significance of the words on the side of Private Joker’s helmet, Kubrick included one scene in particular that defines its purpose on the poster and in the story. In that scene, Joker is seen explaining the “Born to Kill” text, and why it sits alongside a peace symbol. Joker actually uses the phrase “the duality of man” when explaining in the scene that he had the two symbols side by side to show the internal conflict that was as much a part of the war as the external for those involved.
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The movie’s depiction of how Joker’s time spent in a brutal boot camp ultimately breaks him down into being the role he is expected to play in the conflict, and where that leaves him – even with Kubrick’s ultimately ambiguous ending – ensured that the film claimed a place as one of the greatest movies of the genre very quickly. It has remained there since. Like many movies though, as times change, there are some people who feel the past needs to be reassessed and altered to match modern sensibilities, often with the loss of some context in between. This time around, such a change has been avoided, even if it was just one that seemed to be a small and insignificant one on the surface.
Full Metal Jacket
can be streamed on Apple TV+, or purchased as a VOD title from usual outlets including Prime Video.
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