Plots in Stanley Kubrick\'s 1987

¶ … plots in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film Full Metal Jacket and Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 motion picture Rear Window are both adaptations, with the former being inspired from Gustav Hasford's 1979 semi-autobiographical novel "The Short Timers" and the later being adapted from Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder." Although the films are somewhat true to the stories that they are based on, the directors have modified certain aspects with the purpose of altering the message that each of them is meant to convey so as for it to be in accordance with their perspective regarding the elements present in these narratives. The scripts were also restructured in order to make them more understandable to an international public. Overall, both adaptations have successfully combined the director's touch with the storylines in the book, and, respectively, in the story and made it possible for the producers to create two of the most renowned motion pictures.

While a director might initially consider that a particular story seems to be exactly what he or she wants for a film that he or she wants to direct, he or she is very likely to gradually believe that a series of transformations need to be performed to the storyline in order for it to send the exact message that he or she is trying to convey. Similar to Hasford, Kubrick structured his film into several parts, but instead of splitting it into three segments, he only separated it into two parts, as he combined the second and the third parts of the book and created the second part of the film by doing so.

The first part of Full Metal Jacket is more complex than the first part of "The Short Timers" and the personality of particular characters is significantly enhanced. In addition to having his last name changed, the Sergeant is also more thoroughly represented in the film. While Hasford wanted to make him seem like an insensitive military individual whose sole purpose was to turn soldiers into senseless killers, Kubrick portrays him as a person who apparently does his duty because he wants to get soldiers ready for the harsh reality of the front. The sergeant in the book expresses sympathy in regard to Pvt. Pyle at the moment when he yields to his unstable mind while the one in the film orders becomes mad and criticizes the soldier's behavior. The film presents Pyle as the only incompetent person in his troop.

Even though the film also incorporates passages meant to satirize society, it is focused on putting across the catastrophic nature of warfare, as it uses less humor than the book. Kubrick wanted to raise public awareness regarding the concept of war and the effect that it has on individuals. Hasford's participation in the conflict is likely to have influenced him in expressing a subjective attitude while Kubrick could see matters from a general point-of-view.

One of Hitchcock's most important problems when adapting "It Had to Be Murder" was the fact that the director was accustomed to introducing scenes where there was little to no dialogue. Even though there were also passages with no dialogue in the short-story, the director needed to have viewers identify with the camera. This made it possible for them to feel that they were part of the film, especially considering that the short story feels less personal. Woolrich did not necessarily focus on descriptions meant to provide more information on his characters, but Hitchcock addressed this issue and provided viewers with complex accounts regarding each of his characters, as this would have them feel that they know them and that they are able to predict their behavior.

In a typical attempt to make the storyline more Hollywoodian, Hithcock introduced the characters of Grace Kelly and Thelma Ritter. This shaped the personality of the central character and made audiences feel that they have a better understanding of his behavior.

2. Although Western films have experienced significant appreciation from audiences during the first half of the twentieth century and in the 1960s and 1970s with the appearance of "Spaghetti Westerns," they gradually started to become outmoded and people no longer expressed interest in them during the late twentieth century. Fred Zinnemann's 1952 High Noon is probably one of the most acclaimed Western movies ever produced, as the director used a typical Western recipe in creating a master-piece of the genre. In contrast, Clint Eastwood's 1992 Unforgiven puts across a series of concepts that are not characteristic to the Western genre, but that succeed in making a very intriguing film.

Both of these films employ elements from the Western genre, but they address different topics and use unique concepts. In spite of the fact that it was produced in an era when the Western genre was still provided with attention from the public, High Noon deals with concepts that are somewhat controversial for this type of film. Its director wanted it to tell a story of civic responsibility presumably meant to influence individuals in considering that it is their job to help others, regardless of the apparent difficulty of the situation. Unlike most of the films belonging to the genre, this motion picture does not present the aggressiveness normally encountered in frontier towns, the desolate landscapes, or groups of violent Indians.

High Noon focuses on minimalist concepts in an attempt to send a clear message to viewers. Considering the U.S. environment in the 1950s, it is very probable that the film is meant to discuss more complex matters related to U.S. policies in regard to people expressing interest in controversial ideologies. It was apparently meant to emphasize the fact that people need to intervene when someone commits a crime, as taking on a neutral attitude only helps themselves while society as a whole is being damage by such an act. There is nothing complicated about this film because the director wanted it to be stark and to address the exact topics that he wanted to deal with.

Unforgiven can be considered to be a homage to Western films produced during Eastwood's golden years as a Western actor. Many things about this motion picture influence people in thinking that it was produced in a period when people were no longer willing to express discriminatory attitudes in regard to particular groups. The women in this film are organized and determined to impose their point-of-view, even with the fact that this is in disagreement with the sheriff's requests. Similarly, one of the toughest gunfighters in the movie is an African-American. Both of these factors make it possible for people to understand that individuals are equal, regardless of their background or of their personal choices. One can consider that the film is meant to satirize society through having gunslingers lie in regard to the mutilation account with the purpose of influencing their comrades in joining their cause.

Clint Eastwood's film does not follow a typical Western recipe and it generally seems to be directed at presenting viewers with a breath of fresh air with the purpose of rejuvenating their understanding of the Western genre. There are no good guys in this motion picture, as William Munny and his companions are solely interested in the financial aspect of the problem and as the sheriff is determined to stop crime regardless of the costs coming along with this.

Extra Credit Question

American Beauty -- Alternate Ending

At the moment when Lester discovers that Angela is a virgin, he realizes that it would be wrong for him to proceed with his advances and instead starts to converse with her in regard to the problems that they experience. Upon finding out that they are both unsatisfied with their lives and with the fact that society has provided them with dreams that they could not achieve because of its restrictions, they decide to run together. They steal the colonel's gun collection and they embark on a fugitive trip around the U.S. with the hope of making money from robbing stores and gas stations. As they reach the highway they look in each-other's eyes and they realize that this is the freedom that they longed for throughout their lives. Lester suddenly hesitates and looks back at the steering wheel thinking about how he might have drawn Angela to fight a war that was not hers to begin with. He rapidly recovers, however, and realizes that he no longer needs to think about acting in accordance with legislations imposed by the social order.

Strangely, Lester no longer feels like anything is missing from his life, even with the fact that he had the life that most people would call the "American Dream" and he thrown everything out the window in favor of running away with a teenage girl that seems confused about what is happening. Angela looks at him smiling and starts firing a shotgun out the window in the direction of a bunch of cactuses. Lester takes the shotgun and fires it in the roof, creating a whole through which he can see the blue sky, an image that never caught his attention like it does now. Everything is perfect…who knew that life was this easy? Lester and Angela agree that people in the contemporary society live in a lie and that they are unable to see the truth because they are actually in love with the imagined world and they hold on to it regardless of the costs. Lester thinks about how he was about to commit suicide just a day before, but he stopped because he realized that there was more to life than that.