Fun fact: Hynos was an American company founded in 1965, a Vietnamese bought the company then spend a fortune putting those ads everywhere which then become famous around south Vietnam at that time, the Boy toothpaste seem to be Perlon a rival toothpaste company and Leyna is also a toothpaste company... @16:37 the sign is a Melasma cream ads, it say “Melasma away - apply everyday” @18:18 It’s Quý( Dear) not Quỷ(Devil) meaning “Keep serving Dear Lord(God)” @21:21 Mỹ mean Beautiful and Toàn mean Perfection, America literally mean Beautiful Nation, but I find some people read My Toan as My Town which imply the place the girl is defending @23:32 Tâm mean Heart/Soul and Phương mean Direction @24:48 the Poster say “Đoàn kết- Tiêu diệt Cộng Sản xâm lăng” meaning Unite - Destroy Communist Invaders
Going out on a limb here, but is it possible that the over abundance of toothpaste advertisements included in the film is some sort of commentary on the neurological / cognitive effects that fluoride in dental products (and drinking water) may have? Edit: upon seeing further comments below, another has mentioned perhaps that it is more a theme of “whitening” whether just of teeth or symbolically white-washing the Vietnamese culture itself. This, taken especially with the advertisement for skin bleaching / skin whitening cream in the prostitute sequence mentioned makes a lot more sense than my half-baked fluoride theory.
@@jordangottman3732 Could it also be alluding to the notion that war is a business enterprise that can be compared to daytime television of the 60's that seemed to be more about selling laundry detergent and toothpaste than entertainment? Just like television most wars are enterprises designed to make their investors a profit.
Sadly this is a tad lost in translation. Vietnamese is so difficult to translate unless the whole context of the sentence is understood and the reversed grammar is understood. A simple word like 'Moi' can have endless meanings depending on how the accents are used to give the word a totally different meaning. Maybe you need to re edit this deep dive after sitting down with a Vietnamese person for an hour to get the literal translations, even then you may find that different people have a different understanding of a sign, believe me I have experienced this for real. To see so much French influence there at the timeframe of the war would have been normal. If it wasn't there then Kubrick would have made a mistake. The oil reference is important because if you ever fly into Ho Chi Minh city you will notice out in the sea just off the coast oil rigs. Vietnam is sitting on a huge untapped oil reserve. This oil reserve is something China wants desperately to control and that's current news. After the Vietnam War ( Vietnamese call it The American War ) there was a conflict with China who wanted repayment for all the help it gave Vietnam to push America out. So even though both these countries are communist run they don't get along together. If Vietnam gets caught up in a conflict with China today i'm certain America will assist. The South China Sea area is going to explode very soon.
I dont know, I've always got that its England in the back of my mind. Takes me out of the movie slightly. Set design was by Anton Furst who was responsible for Tim Burtons Batman.
Kubrick IS a genius, but the genius of FMJ’s sets belongs to his production designers and set builders. Oh, and don’t forget... the reason they had to be so good was because Stanley wouldn’t fly anywhere!
@@RighteousBrother Me too! Once I learned that, like you, it DID take me out of the film slightly. Didn't know it was Anton Furst who did the set design, I found his Batman sets gloriously gothic and a bit sleazy but with a slight camp edge...did he do the second Burton film? Time to check IMDb....
More like overrated, because everybody has to talk about how underrated it is. If you have to push that agenda that much, it must be sub-par. It just lacks charm (for me), but do understand why people like it. Movie shifts dramatically, without a transition.
@@johndunne7656 Exactly though that could be a purposeful thing, how being shipped of to Vietnam would be so different than being in boot camp, or being in the States, and how that change would happen suddenly
It's an experiment 👁️The US 1st itroduced it in 1945 - Operation Paperclip 👁️en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_in_the_United_States Water is flouridated in the poorest region of the UK, the West Midlands. Formerly the country's manufacturing hub 👁️
There’s another John Wayne Impression when Joker first meets the Lusthog squad and has the standoff with Animal Mother, he says “Well Pilgrim, only after you eat the peanuts outta my sheeeit”
I just watched some interviews from Vietnam vets. One chap speaks of his first kill in a way that recalled the Jungian Shadow theme in FMJ. All of a sudden, he was on his own and a shape came at him from the jungle. It was kill or be killed and the guy telling the story took his shot and killed his would be killer. He freely admitted this Viet cong soldier was not a 'man' or a person to him, he was just a shape that ran at him and when he was down, he was just dead skin and bone. The vet didn't know the guy at all and felt no remorse. He was glad he lived, end of story. It reminded me of the line 'the dead know only one thing, it is better to be alive'.
Interesting. "請用黑人牙膏" in the big-toothed smiley guy advert says: "Please use black people's toothpaste!" And it's not even in Vietnamese script, it's in Chinese.
yes, the direct translation is “use black people toothpaste” but the meaning behind that toothpaste is like saying “use this toothpaste! ur teeth will become white like a black man’s!” because in contrast to black skin, teeth look whiter.
@@annaperl8624 So using precisely that same reasoning, 1) the whiter a person's teeth, the darker that person's skin will look. And 2), the more stained/rotting a person's teeth are, the lighter that person's skin will look. Sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense.
Hey Rob, I live in Vietnam and I asked a friend about two of these signs. He said that ‘Tiep tuc phung su quy ngai’ means: ‘Continue to serve/follow the one you respect/admire’ (the one you admire would usually be a man). And ‘Tam phuon’ is just a common business name, or a common name for a company.
Agreed, I lived in Vietnam for a year and have studied the language ever since, and live with a Vietnamese. Her translation of the 'devil' sign was just 'continue to serve the gentlemen' and i said 'not devil' she said no way. The sign the online translation suggested boots she said was an ad for a spa to remove blackheads. You might as well read horoscopes for signs as trust a translation engine for very different languages, especially without the diacritics or full context. Especially in vietnamese you cannot translate single morphemes and come up with the meaning, as words are often composed of multiple morphemes separated by by spaces making them look like separate words when they are not.
I was thinking it is because she was a sniper, aim for the heart or the center but Phoenix don't make sense, but with the Phoenix program I think you are on to something. Kubrick is just amazing.
@@agnel47 superslogans.nl/slogandetail/1628/waar-u-stopt-gaan-wij-verder/ Its dutch, i think 80ies or 90ties. I remember it well. "Shell helpt" was another such one. Back in the innocent day of soap, soup and candy advertisement.
Thanks, I always wondered what those texts were saying. The Shell ad at 19:44 with the text "endlessly serving the Devil" could also be a reference to the American troops walking prominently just beneath the text, while the Shell logo is hidden. "America, the big Devil" has often been a term used by the civilian victims of war.
@@collativelearning There are black tribes native to the region such as the Melonesians. Maybe Melonesians are well-known enough in Vietnamese culture for their impressive teeth to be chosen as a toothpaste brand mascot.
5:25 did anyone else catch the rather large and prominent painting of jesus looking towards joker? it feels out of place in a scene with overt consumerism, even the girl is a product to be bought...
When you see the original trailer and you hear the song "Mrs. Robinson" the lyrics "jesus loves you..." sync with that part and the first thing you saw is that jesus portrait, which is weird coincidence
Interesting. My dad, who did 2 tours in Vietnam, took me to see this film twice, and I wish we could have talked about this movie and what it meant to him but he never did. I figured it was just Vietnamese advertising for products, but the Shell phrase especially is intriguing - I would never have thought it had messaging in it. Clever.
The three flags on the fist is from the Vietnam War, in my guess, as the US, SOUTH Korea, and Australia had military contingents deployed. South Korea was a new US ally (or client state) eager to secure US support at home, so they helped the US in Vietnam and not without controversy.
Korean operations in South Vietnam were quite effective. COIN and anti-infiltration experience was invaluable countering North Korean action on their home peninsula.
great point here. most of our weaker-nation allies are not really allies but conquests. our real allies are the ones they call the enemies, Russia and China, so on, who we work together with to keep wars going on all over the earth to keep the rest of the small countries shaking with terror
It's spot on. The French hasn't won a war and have rarely posed a threat to to anyone in the last 200 years. They're experienced in the art of surrender. They let others fight, and die to liberate them.
At approx. 7.35, you discuss the toothpaste add of the young man vs. the old man with the smile in all the other adds. When I study the picture, I see a young man with head cocked slightly as if shouldering a rifle--looking down a sight, and the toothpaste tube is not horizontal as in many of the other adds, it is vertically propped, and resembles a round of ammo. Maybe it's the ex-military part of my brain, but that's what I see.
Great stuff my man. I'm broke at the moment but I hope things start to turn around this year. When things do for me, you'll know. Keep it up. Thanks for all you do and happy new year.
Great stuff here Rob, a few things popped into my head with your points. - The Leyna sign relating to "Little Angel" "Light" and the name Helen. In Eyes Wide Shut the daughter is named Helena and wears angel wings in her first scene - With "Little Angel" in mind and the references in the other signs to Hell or the Devil (along with the fires everywhere) the fact that the cardboard Indian cutout is perched on Joker's shoulder reminds me of the classic cartoon trope of having and angel and devil on opposite shoulders trying to sway you towards their pain of view. Note John Wayne fighting an Indian is over his other shoulder - The toothpaste signs along with what you mentioned, keeping teeth white brings to mind the idea of White Washing and US imperialism brining the great white hope - Finally the fist poster at the end. I think you're right on with a power controlling the soldiers i.e. governments/ corporations. This reminds me of a prominent shot in the first half of the film where Hartman forces Pyle to strangle himself with Hartman's hand. The shot is a close up of the hand gripping Pyle's neck. This shot also reminds me of a shot from EWS where Ziegler's hand is very large in the foreground of the shot where Bill is reviving Mandy. Ziegler is established as the powerful figure in Bill's world. Combine that with Dr. Strangelove's single glove and there's a repetition of large powerful hands controlling people.
I have fallen down the Collective Learning rabbit hole and love it. I gotta give this dude props, he credits all his sources and doesn't present what others have discussed as his own ideas
Hi Rob Yours is one of the best channels on youtube. The reason it would say 'Le Ngoc' in the movie theater scene is because in many Asian cultures, the family name is written before the given name. Incredible video!
The street signs are there to give it a lived in appearance, and often used to describe how to view the war scenes in the film, Hynos toothpaste was discontinued due to it's being toxic to humans with numerous illnesses, (including cancer) and because of Hynos' toxicity being comparable to the horrors of war.
I agree the with the "devil" metaphor, but I see it as the "devil" orchestrating a war where everyone dies/he is the only victor. They were playing both sides. Those Hueys/tanks/fighter jets/napalm run on fuel.
Yes, it means black guy toothpaste. But it is known in China too, because the stereotype that black guy has whiter looking teeth due to color contrast.
@@hellwolf4liberty I thought straightaway the man in the Hynos advert was black not Vietnamese. Could it be a metaphor for oppression? At the same (1968) as African Americans are being oppressed in the deep south of the USA, US soldiers are oppressing another ethic national group in Vietnam.
4 роки тому
Dale Addison the black guy in Hynos actually is Javanese
Rob you've been running circles around EVERY online film analysis on the internet for a while but lately it's felt like your just hitting non-stop homeruns with the stuff youve been doing lately. As a filmmaker- me and some of my collaborators have really benefited from YOUR work .
Fantastic. Really enjoyed this one. Always love how much in-depth research you perform and analyze to present these amazing studies of film and cryptic imagery, especially regarding Kubrick’s releases. Great work Rob!
@24:20 that is not the flag of North Korea. It's the flag of South Korea which along with Australia was the only country to send significant military forces to fight alongside the US in the Vietnam War. It's not a Korean War era poster.
Funny thing about Full Metal Jacket is anytime I think of the movie itself, I always remember the vietnam scenes first. The first half of the movie, I remember the dialogue but the second half the visuals are iconic
This, combined with other things, like using "online translation engines" to decipher the deeply mysterious meanings of the signs -- like, could you not talk to human beings who actually know the language? -- and the reading of the caricatured black man in the sign as a Vietnamese man, makes me think this guy's interpretations are to be taken with several pounds of salt.
I always saw the toothpaste smiling man to be Louis Armstrong, "Satchmo". There is a famous photo of him that is almost identical to this. What a wonderful world is a satchmo song that becomes a theme of that movie "Good Morning Vietnam" which was released only weeks after FMJ. Maybe Kubrick knew about the Satchmo sound track and was getting in first with the symbolism.? just a guess.
3:13 Yes, that's a black man smiling in the Hynos ad. I think Hynos copied that from Darkie Toothpaste (see wiki). The ad at 3:41 has "black person toothpaste" written in Chinese, which is also what Darkie Toothpaste is called in Chinese. This all could be referencing the racism that exists, as the hooker didn't want to have sex with the "soul brother".
While the Vz. 58 assault rifle could still be read as simply symbolic of the USSR/PRC-dominated Communist bloc, it could also be representative of contemporaneous aspirations toward independent socialist non-alignment that were co-opted or hamstrung between the great powers of the Cold War (specifically Alexander Dubček's abortive "socialism with a human face" in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring before it was crushed by the 1968 Soviet invasion, but also emblematic of a spectrum of states and movements ranging from Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia to Olof Palme's Sweden to Salvador Allende's Chile).
@@1dirkmanchest you can pull anything out of your ass if you like a movie enough Same shit as the curtain is blue and people try to make out shit about why blue is symbolic and shit
@@oltyret That particular rifle would have to selected with care and knowledge. I think it was selected for a reason. People that know the difference are talking about it years after this movie was filmed. I simply have no idea why that rifle was picked for the "sniper".
Given the general theme of the film overall, I'd guess the demon being served is war. The Shell logo being used to reinforce the symbolism overtly because of the probabilities of oil being a motivation, but also more indirectly as just showing the roll of money in war as a general concept
In these globalist /nwo wars. Vietnam was a template. Itaq/Afgwanistan were pretty much fought the same way. Oil is mentioned here as a motive. The other motivation not mentioned is; pop pees. Too much money to be made. My bros bro in law did a tour there and said all he did was guard a pop pee files. And I hear there's a big opioid problem in 'Murica. Connection? Hmmm...
Shell Oil sign is one of the most instantly recognised symbols of 'Big US Oil' as it doesn't spell a word like Esso, Texaco etc do. Also, hat tip to Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot, 'my family have always collected shells, maybe that's why they named the company after them.'
Thought about Layna. Layna means little angle or light. Which angel is associated with light? And why does the drill sergeant stare directly in to the camera as he asks about seeing the light?
The Urban Dictionary thing is not legit. Search for any name on there and they're gonna have a feel-good fortune type of description for the name. A search for my name returns this: "A loving and caring guy who puts others first. Will be or is an amazing boyfriend and always makes sure that their couple is happy. Loved by many, especially by their signicicant other. Once they have found that special girl they will stick with then forever. Incredibly sweetie and sensitive. :) ".
16:03 "Le Ngoc" is not part of the billboard, it seems to be a sign designating the name of the theatre itself. "Ngoc" apparently means "gem," so my thought is the "Le" here is the French article. As we know, it was long a tradition, prior to multiplexes, for movie theaters to have their own names; think for instance of "Bijou."
Thanks for pointing all this out - have to say I missed every single detail you point out - only ever watched it on VHS for the first forty times & even the DVD isn't all that!
Yes, many years back when i did an hour or so video on FMJ, the title of the vid was The Hidden Hand. That vid is still available on my site, but I'm posting updated and expanded parts of it in HD now and then
Wow in my ignorance i assumed the 2nd half of the film was shot on location in a southeast asian country. I'm now blown away by the fact it was shot in England.
Hey, after 2001, he never left Great Britain. Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket & Eyes Wide Shut were all produced in Britain...
36 years old was still draft age for WW2. John Wayne weaseled out of going into the military, claiming that he would be needed here at home to do film work for the US Government. And yep, the Pentagon took full advantage of John Wayne as well... Draft for WW2 was different than the draft for Vietnam. And as for John Wayne, he was in many War Movies. He was part of the Propaganda Machine, that Hollywood was put in charge of. In fact, President Lyndon B Johnson's long time friend and part of the Johnson Administration Jack Valenti, left the White House for Los Angeles in 1965. He was President of the Motion Picture Association of America from 1965 to 2004. Being head of the MPAA also meant, nothing got made into a movie without the approval of the MPAA, plus with Valenti there in Hollywood, anytime the US Intelligence community needed or wanted a movie made, to help push any given agendas they had going on, Valenti would have been involved if needed... Prime example why cia wanted someone out in Hollywood. President Kennedy wanted a movie made about the book he read back in early 1963. Hollywood Director John Frankenheimer directed 7 Days in May. Story about a Coup d etat, by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which only took 51 days to make. Because of the assassination, the films release was moved into 1964. Imagine if that movie was released in October 1963, (original release date). What a shit-storm that would have been. I'm pretty sure that civil unrest would have been at an all-time high, and that scared everyone back in Langley Virginia...
25:03 The poster is from the Vietnam War. South Korea (and yes, that is the South Korean flag on the cartoon sleeve) was one of the US-allied nations that sent soldiers to South Vietnam, along with Australia and New Zealand. Thailand provided space within it's own kingdom for US Air Force bomber, fighter-bomber, and fighter bases that flew over South and North Vietnam. Japan had aircraft repair facilities for US Air Force and Marine jet fighters, staffed by Americans. It was an international effort to crush insurgencies in South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia that did not succeed.
I had a janitor in my school that was in Vietnam. His face was terribly scarred and burned, and he looked like a stereotype from a scary movie. Super nice guy though, like, super nice. Although he did bring in pictures once from the war. He and another guy were holding up faces. He said "they got mine, so we got theirs" Kinda terrifying now that I think about it
@@matthiasthulman4058 I watched Apocalypse Now for the first time recently, and played Deary Stranding which had a Vietnam section. It looked fucking terrifying just from fiction let alone real pictures and people's scars, jesus
The shell in the shell signs is from the stars. Many corporate logos are based on occult symbols. My guess for the shell sign in the constellation Lyra. But it could be another. It is also often shown as a shield like on the dollar.
The fist poster @ 24:15 is actually showing the US flag, “South Korean” flag [may have accidentally said NK flag], and Australian flag. These 3 countries, other than South Vietnam committed the most troops to Vietnam. US-2.7 million soldiers. Australia-60,000 soldiers. South Korea-320,000 soldiers. So rather than the Korean War of the 1950’s, I think it is saying something about the Vietnam War and these countries that fought there, much similar to the rest of the symbology the video covers.
In the 80s and 90s, everything was “Pan & Scan” because every movie had to fill this bloody 4/3 screen. Now, our 4/3 movies are cropped to fill this bloody widescreen. Is it so difficult to respect the original format?
Collative, 90% of your speculation in the movie is incorrect its painful. If you happen to see this comment, please take time to read it. Mỹ Toàn means Beauty (that is) Preserved
Hynos Guy was called "Anh Chà Và" or "Java Guy" (endearing word, not insulting). The idea was that he was so black, when he smiles, everybody sees his beautiful pearly white teeth.
This whole video is like an essay where the student elaborates about stuffs that the author didn't even intended. "The character's room is blue because blue is his favourite color, and my favourite color too. That's it" "The blue color reflects the inner feeling of the main character, reflecting the melancholic state of mind, and the fact that he see the world in such distorted and inhuman nature, that set forth his adventure..."
Hynos does not have the black guy as their sole icon. Just like any other companies, they have different people in different ads. Black guy sticks the most because of how beautiful his smile is.
Anyone else notice that somebody moved a sheet of plywood that was blocking a window hole, thereby allowing the sniper to kill Cowboy? Is that discussed here? Hopefully
I just wanted to point out that the three countries indicated on the Fist poster (US, Australia and S. Korea) were also allies of S Vietnam. All 3 countries fought together in the Vietnam war as well as the Korean war.
This is unrelated to the topic but has anyone else noticed that in the scene with the hooker the same cars are going around in circles? It’s very distracting once you notice it lol
Yes I noticed that too. there's something else going on with the bystanders in that scene that I picked up on but saving for a diff video as it's not street sign related.
The hooker is the recurance of the jelly donut from the first part... purple pants, sign in the back says Creme... The donut is a vaginal symbol, just like the term "Jelly Roll" in blues music.
@@iknowyouarh Great work! Renaissance period art commissioned by the Church frequently referenced the vesica-pisces. The church (aka mother cersei) is a womb. With the sun penetrating the stained glass windows. Bringing enlightenment. All ancient cultures symbolically referenced reproductive organs in their art.
So regarding your translation at around 18:00, I was intrigued as well. My grandfather married a Vietnamese woman, so I asked her. With the punctuations used properly she told me that this means, “Continue serving you (the customer)”
"Keep serving your demons". Christ Almighty...Kubrick keeps fascinating me. I love how he played with psychology too. Thanks for your video..amazing stuff.
12:15 Actually, the reason many of these kinds of small deer are near extinct are that their skin was used in luxurious gloves, as in one individual had to be killed to make one glove.
There's an American beer called "Rolling Rock" that has "33" on the cans and bottles, too. The "33" symbolized 1933, the year the 18th Amendment was repealed, ending Prohibition. The motto on the cans and bottles is "Same as it Ever Was". Probably a coincidence.
FWIW "33 Export" beer was named after its bottle size, i.e. 33 centilitres (a third of a litre / a little over 11 ounces). It was created under French Colonial rule in Indochina by Brasseries et Glacières d'Indochine / BGI, and its production in France only started later, in 1960. After South Vietnam fell in 1975, it was simply rebranded as "333". The 33 Export brand is currently owned by Heineken, and is still produced in quite a few African countries, all of them former French colonies.
My mind is blown from the sign being shot down minus the 2 letters around 9 minutes in the video. Kubrick's a genius. And great catch Rob. Love watching you dissect these videos.
24:30 To be fair, it's not about "everything must be widescreen." Kubrick may have shot many of his films "open matte" (using the full 4x3 film frame) but virtually no cinema would have been able to actually show them that way. I worked as a projectionist in the dying days of real celluloid and a standard film projector had just two possible settings, 1.85:1 flat ("widescreen") or 2.35:1 anamorphic ("scope"). Films shot "flat" were either hard-matted (with actual black bars hard-printed top and bottom on each frame of film) or open matte, using the whole of the frame. As a projectionist, you had control over the vertical positioning of the film, effectively setting the vertical position of the cropping. Obviously, if a film was hard-matted you'd line it up according to the black bars, but on open matte you had some play and could position it anywhere. So, the "widescreen" presentation of this film *does* faithfully replicate what you would've seen if you watched this film in the cinema. It might be frustating to think that there's additional picture information top and bottom, but that would've been cropped off by the film projector anyway, and would never have been seen in theaters. Also, if Kubrick had wanted to enforce the framing then he could easily have hard-matted his film and ensured that what appeared on cinema screens was vertically aligned exactly as he intended. But he didn't do that. He left the vertical positioning of the frame in the hands of projectionists. Which a long way of saying: I wouldn't ascribe too much importance to things at the top and bottom of the frame, because Kubrick clearly didn't - they may or may not even have appeared on the cinema screen depending on where each individual projectionist had left that vertical positioning dial.
@@collativelearning Wrong again, Roberto. Wayne didn't "dodge" WWII. To start with, he was 34 years old during the early days of the draft. The draft was amended for WWII to include men up to age 64, but rarely took men above 35 and in the case of family men, like Wayne, rarely took men above 25. Also, his deferment status was a deal his studio made with the draft board without his knowledge. He later found out about it and requested a change in his draft status but was threatened by his studio with a lawsuit for breach of contract if he did so at which time they also requested the draft board not change his deferment status, to which they consented, again without Wayne's input. I'm pretty sure his hip injuries and missing cartilage in his knee from football and various horse riding accidents would have prevented him from getting past the physical in any case. He would gotten 4F instead of 3A deferment and still not have "dodged" the war. As well researched as your film reviews seem to be, perhaps a little more time on things that actually happened in the real world might be in order.
I thought it interesting that the picture of the smiling man in the toothpaste ad looked a lot like the American propaganda cartoons of the Japanese, circa WWII, with the exaggerated teeth.
I had noticed something in full metal jacket and it freaked me out. Definitely the lyrics to that fucking boot song. Is that a reference to Orwell? It may as well be.
3:25 "But strangely, there's no citations." You don't spend a lot of time on Wikipedia, do you, Rob? Edit: I just got to the urban dictionary part with Phuong. I hope you threw that in as a joke, but I can't quite tell. In case anyone else isn't sure, teenagers use Urban Dictionary to write up sentimental BS about their friends using their name as the entry, and you can find an example of this under basically any name you can think of. But if you're trolling, you got me pretty good on that one.
Very cool and interesting take I hadn't thought about. I can't wait to hear just about anything from you in regards to The Lighthouse! I thought it was so very good to the point where it may be my all-time favourite, but there seemed to be layers to it I didn't understand and I'm sure it's flawed, I haven't had the chance to rewatch it yet but I'm looking forward to the discussions around it, praise or criticism.
The “Doan Ket” poster that you mentioned in the last analysis is interesting. These flags-US, South Korea (rather than North Korea), Australia-are allies that had participated in the Vietnam War in the 60s and 70s. Couldn’t find it online, but reasonably it would be a fist of unity (among the US allies) against the Việt Cong or North Vietnamese forces (which was torn off from the poster). Now it’s hard to find posters from Southern Vietnam nowadays, not even in Vietnam where you can easily have many Northern posters.
I was going to say something about that too. The flag is definitely South Korean, not North Korean, and South Korea, along with the Australians, sent combat troops into South Vietnam to support the US
Oil did play a role in tension in South East Asia as Indonesia was used by the oil companies to ethnically cleanse 500 smaller ethnic groups in the area so that they would negotiate a deal with one nation than a whole bunch of them.
25:50 besides the word “Unite” Bob, under it, the first 2 lines are “To destroy communism...”, the rest is not visible enough for me to see. I think it might be interesting
I wondered what the remaining text on the poster would say. The three flags are those of the USA/Korea/Australia, with all three contributing troops to the fighting in Vietnam. More interesting is the use of the fist as a symbol of power and control. Hartmann has his hand clenched into a fist for many scenes including when he punches Joker in the stomach at bootcamp. The poster with the fist is repeated twice which might suggest what we call a "double whammy", the first being the death of three marines by the sniper, the second being the fact that they were killed by a young woman whose killing instincts were as clean as those of the marines. This would be galling to the lusthog squad members as they see the Vietnamese generally and women specifically (prostitutes, or targets to be shot at such as those being gunned down by the helicopter door gunner) as weak and inferior.
I watched this movie and got reminicent of my travels in vietnam during the street scenes.. it blew my mind to learn it was shot in england. Kubrick did a very good job with this.
Hey Rob. Boots... as in "Knock Boots"? i.e. - get laid. The phoenix... In Michael Herr's book Dispatches, he floats the idea of "regeneration through violence". Great book BTW. Was Kubrick suggesting male regeneration via violence perpetrated against women? That's a hefty load to be taken by one sign, but this was the climax of the film...
Rob - so much stuff here - you've caught some things that make me think - I want to flag to you: - As you've pointed out - Joker does his John Wayne impression in all three Acts of the film - You've done an amazing thing identifying the film in the movie theatre as being the John Wayne film - Red River. - The phrase, "IS that you John Wayne? Is it me?" Makes no sense - but it's also in the book. John Wayne has a meaning in this film. Perhaps as the symbol of American agression. - Notice the Eagle in the Battery in the sign - this is the same eagle that appears on the Colonel's insignia. - The painting of Jesus when Rasterman chases the guy who steals his camera. The Colonel in the burial scene, and Hartman both reference Jesus or the Virgin Mary - The representation of women in this film - all three main women characters - the first hooker in red shows her face. The second hooker who screws the guys in the movie theatre hides her eyes with big sun glasses. And the third girl - the sniper - you don't see at all - she's hidden - until she's killed. All three girls are about the same age - the same size and look roughly the same. - Once last thought - I alway thought the 3 acts don't flow - and as you say - the Editor says he only wants stories about toothpaste or winning battles. Maybe the 3rd act is Joker's imagination - or something he authors. He is imagining the toothpaste and winning battles. Much like the Shining - which I believe to actually be occurring in Jack's novel - that 3rd act is actually a story Jokerman writes for Stars and Stripes???
Fun fact: Hynos was an American company founded in 1965, a Vietnamese bought the company then spend a fortune putting those ads everywhere which then become famous around south Vietnam at that time, the Boy toothpaste seem to be Perlon a rival toothpaste company and Leyna is also a toothpaste company...
@16:37 the sign is a Melasma cream ads, it say “Melasma away - apply everyday”
@18:18 It’s Quý( Dear) not Quỷ(Devil) meaning “Keep serving Dear Lord(God)”
@21:21 Mỹ mean Beautiful and Toàn mean Perfection, America literally mean Beautiful Nation, but I find some people read My Toan as My Town which imply the place the girl is defending
@23:32 Tâm mean Heart/Soul and Phương mean Direction
@24:48 the Poster say “Đoàn kết- Tiêu diệt Cộng Sản xâm lăng” meaning Unite - Destroy Communist Invaders
Going out on a limb here, but is it possible that the over abundance of toothpaste advertisements included in the film is some sort of commentary on the neurological / cognitive effects that fluoride in dental products (and drinking water) may have?
Edit: upon seeing further comments below, another has mentioned perhaps that it is more a theme of “whitening” whether just of teeth or symbolically white-washing the Vietnamese culture itself.
This, taken especially with the advertisement for skin bleaching / skin whitening cream in the prostitute sequence mentioned makes a lot more sense than my half-baked fluoride theory.
brilliant! thank you.
@@jordangottman3732 Could it also be alluding to the notion that war is a business enterprise that can be compared to daytime television of the 60's
that seemed to be more about selling laundry detergent and toothpaste than entertainment?
Just like television most wars are enterprises designed to make their investors a profit.
Oh man, Rob was close, this actually make more sense
@@jordangottman3732It was a great ride, tho! 😊
Sadly this is a tad lost in translation. Vietnamese is so difficult to translate unless the whole context of the sentence is understood and the reversed grammar is understood. A simple word like 'Moi' can have endless meanings depending on how the accents are used to give the word a totally different meaning. Maybe you need to re edit this deep dive after sitting down with a Vietnamese person for an hour to get the literal translations, even then you may find that different people have a different understanding of a sign, believe me I have experienced this for real. To see so much French influence there at the timeframe of the war would have been normal. If it wasn't there then Kubrick would have made a mistake. The oil reference is important because if you ever fly into Ho Chi Minh city you will notice out in the sea just off the coast oil rigs. Vietnam is sitting on a huge untapped oil reserve. This oil reserve is something China wants desperately to control and that's current news. After the Vietnam War ( Vietnamese call it The American War ) there was a conflict with China who wanted repayment for all the help it gave Vietnam to push America out. So even though both these countries are communist run they don't get along together. If Vietnam gets caught up in a conflict with China today i'm certain America will assist. The South China Sea area is going to explode very soon.
Was wondering when reading the comments I'd see the Oil connection. Spratly reefs (Đảo Trường Sa Lớn).
China isn't communist any more. The Chinese communists were wiped out at the Battle of Tiananmen Square.
Will be the nail in the coffin for the American empire
didn't China end up retreating from that conflict too? guess they didn't learn from the last war.
👏🏽
The fact that this was filmed in England is mindblowing. Kubrick the absolute genius.
The West Midlands, formerly the UK's manufacturing hub, is the only region in the entire nation where water is fluoridated. It's an experiment 👁️
I dont know, I've always got that its England in the back of my mind. Takes me out of the movie slightly. Set design was by Anton Furst who was responsible for Tim Burtons Batman.
Kubrick IS a genius, but the genius of FMJ’s sets belongs to his production designers and set builders.
Oh, and don’t forget... the reason they had to be so good was because Stanley wouldn’t fly anywhere!
Trevor Jonathan It has worked tremendously. The locals are fully passified mentally. I grew up there until 1994.
@@RighteousBrother Me too! Once I learned that, like you, it DID take me out of the film slightly. Didn't know it was Anton Furst who did the set design, I found his Batman sets gloriously gothic and a bit sleazy but with a slight camp edge...did he do the second Burton film? Time to check IMDb....
Thank you for giving credit to the 2nd half of the movie, which continues to be criminally underrated.
Definitely, even as a teenager I liked the second half as much as the first.
Always loved the 2nd half. All the action & hardware. Haters gotta hate hate hate hate hate.
More like overrated, because everybody has to talk about how underrated it is. If you have to push that agenda that much, it must be sub-par. It just lacks charm (for me), but do understand why people like it. Movie shifts dramatically, without a transition.
@@johndunne7656 Exactly though that could be a purposeful thing, how being shipped of to Vietnam would be so different than being in boot camp, or being in the States, and how that change would happen suddenly
I honestly preferred it, felt more my speed after boot
General in Dr. Strangelove was obsessed with fluoride, fits with the toothpaste theme....
They poison the water with flouride.
There were false teeth prominent in Clockwork Orange too, that represented lies basically if I recall correctly. It reminded me of that too.
thescreamingid oh snap!!!
couchpotato DAMN
It's an experiment 👁️The US 1st itroduced it in 1945 - Operation Paperclip 👁️en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_in_the_United_States Water is flouridated in the poorest region of the UK, the West Midlands. Formerly the country's manufacturing hub 👁️
There’s another John Wayne Impression when Joker first meets the Lusthog squad and has the standoff with Animal Mother, he says “Well Pilgrim, only after you eat the peanuts outta my sheeeit”
He does another impression of John Wayne in the boot camp scene. “Is this you John Wayne, is this me”?
@@Ledfists that's in the video
I love that bit. 😂
Not John Wayne but “I’ve seen a little on Tv” is my favorite part of that whole scene lol
I just watched some interviews from Vietnam vets. One chap speaks of his first kill in a way that recalled the Jungian Shadow theme in FMJ. All of a sudden, he was on his own and a shape came at him from the jungle. It was kill or be killed and the guy telling the story took his shot and killed his would be killer. He freely admitted this Viet cong soldier was not a 'man' or a person to him, he was just a shape that ran at him and when he was down, he was just dead skin and bone. The vet didn't know the guy at all and felt no remorse. He was glad he lived, end of story. It reminded me of the line 'the dead know only one thing, it is better to be alive'.
*Austin Powers Voice* You know what’s remarkable is how England looks in no way like Vietnam.
Exactly...
The temperature got hot during filming. Into the 80's fahrenheit.
Interesting. "請用黑人牙膏" in the big-toothed smiley guy advert says: "Please use black people's toothpaste!" And it's not even in Vietnamese script, it's in Chinese.
I have heard of this toothpaste.
Jonnyreverb it’s just called darlie toothpaste, honestly not sure if there’s meant to be the racist insinuation
Jonnyreverb it still in store around Vietnam
yes, the direct translation is “use black people toothpaste” but the meaning behind that toothpaste is like saying “use this toothpaste! ur teeth will become white like a black man’s!” because in contrast to black skin, teeth look whiter.
@@annaperl8624 So using precisely that same reasoning, 1) the whiter a person's teeth, the darker that person's skin will look. And 2), the more stained/rotting a person's teeth are, the lighter that person's skin will look. Sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense.
Hey Rob, I live in Vietnam and I asked a friend about two of these signs.
He said that ‘Tiep tuc phung su quy ngai’ means:
‘Continue to serve/follow the one you respect/admire’ (the one you admire would usually be a man).
And ‘Tam phuon’ is just a common business name, or a common name for a company.
Thanks, further proof that this video is tinfoil hatted.
You should shorten your username to just "Buzzkill"
Agreed, I lived in Vietnam for a year and have studied the language ever since, and live with a Vietnamese. Her translation of the 'devil' sign was just 'continue to serve the gentlemen' and i said 'not devil' she said no way. The sign the online translation suggested boots she said was an ad for a spa to remove blackheads. You might as well read horoscopes for signs as trust a translation engine for very different languages, especially without the diacritics or full context. Especially in vietnamese you cannot translate single morphemes and come up with the meaning, as words are often composed of multiple morphemes separated by by spaces making them look like separate words when they are not.
Do Vietnamese get confused by their own language?! 😮😉
"Central" and "pheonix" maybe referring to the CIA and the Phoenix program?
Hmmmm, very interesting.
Freemasonry
I was thinking it is because she was a sniper, aim for the heart or the center but Phoenix don't make sense, but with the Phoenix program I think you are on to something. Kubrick is just amazing.
Phoenix rising from the ashes .. Transformation idea
fuck you
For many years now, the time has been beyond ripe for a good and deep Full Metal Jacket analysis. This was a treat and a half to watch.
I think "To endlessly serve the devil" was Royal Dutch Shell's actual slogan.
Pragmatic Cynicism what are you referring to?
"Waar u stopt, gaan wij verder"
Can be interpreted as "if you think this is immoral, watch us go!" 😄
I can't find it in google, their newer motto is all I can find.
The old slogan was probably memoryholed.
@@agnel47 superslogans.nl/slogandetail/1628/waar-u-stopt-gaan-wij-verder/
Its dutch, i think 80ies or 90ties. I remember it well.
"Shell helpt" was another such one. Back in the innocent day of soap, soup and candy advertisement.
@@agnel47 ua-cam.com/video/-uSHLJXVTMA/v-deo.html
When Dutch police drove 911 😍
Thanks, I always wondered what those texts were saying.
The Shell ad at 19:44 with the text "endlessly serving the Devil" could also be a reference to the American troops walking prominently just beneath the text, while the Shell logo is hidden. "America, the big Devil" has often been a term used by the civilian victims of war.
3:24 smiling man looks more like a black men from a colonial french region. White tooth... hint
On the close up you can see he has afro hair.
yeah i got a bit of that vibe too.
@@collativelearning There are black tribes native to the region such as the Melonesians.
Maybe Melonesians are well-known enough in Vietnamese culture for their impressive teeth to be chosen as a toothpaste brand mascot.
Agreed - African American with stereotype smile.
Compare to image of dying African American at 6:26
African American stereotypes were well known in Asia.
Check out the ild logo for Takara toys of Japan.
5:25 did anyone else catch the rather large and prominent painting of jesus looking towards joker? it feels out of place in a scene with overt consumerism, even the girl is a product to be bought...
first year of college?
@@user-73a what?
@@user-73a really - what are you asking me? what is your point?
When you see the original trailer and you hear the song "Mrs. Robinson" the lyrics "jesus loves you..." sync with that part and the first thing you saw is that jesus portrait, which is weird coincidence
Interesting. My dad, who did 2 tours in Vietnam, took me to see this film twice, and I wish we could have talked about this movie and what it meant to him but he never did. I figured it was just Vietnamese advertising for products, but the Shell phrase especially is intriguing - I would never have thought it had messaging in it. Clever.
The three flags on the fist is from the Vietnam War, in my guess, as the US, SOUTH Korea, and Australia had military contingents deployed. South Korea was a new US ally (or client state) eager to secure US support at home, so they helped the US in Vietnam and not without controversy.
Korean operations in South Vietnam were quite effective. COIN and anti-infiltration experience was invaluable countering North Korean action on their home peninsula.
I met a couple of ROK Viet Vets from the White Horse Division. Never call in an artillery strike when an infantry attack will do. Feared by the NLF.
@@uncleho1945 You sound butt-hurt...Where did you serve?
great point here. most of our weaker-nation allies are not really allies but conquests. our real allies are the ones they call the enemies, Russia and China, so on, who we work together with to keep wars going on all over the earth to keep the rest of the small countries shaking with terror
“The French had their own little military conflict in the region before the US” doesn’t really cover it.
Artistic understatement... British, you know?
It's spot on. The French hasn't won a war and have rarely posed a threat to to anyone in the last 200 years. They're experienced in the art of surrender. They let others fight, and die to liberate them.
Daniel Fronc that’s ignorant af. Do a little bit of research on ww1
Daniel Fronc You need to watch Kubrick’s other war film, Paths of Glory, for a look at the bravery and sacrifice of the French in WWI
@@danielfronc4304 nice display of ignorance there, bud.
At approx. 7.35, you discuss the toothpaste add of the young man vs. the old man with the smile in all the other adds. When I study the picture, I see a young man with head cocked slightly as if shouldering a rifle--looking down a sight, and the toothpaste tube is not horizontal as in many of the other adds, it is vertically propped, and resembles a round of ammo. Maybe it's the ex-military part of my brain, but that's what I see.
The way the boards if the billboard create a "scope" makes me see your point.
That’s what I see
Great stuff my man. I'm broke at the moment but I hope things start to turn around this year. When things do for me, you'll know. Keep it up. Thanks for all you do and happy new year.
The Shell logo can also be seen as the rising sun.
Yes.
fuck you
@@user-73a No Thanks
Rising sun as in the literal rising sun, the Japanese, or the Australians?
@@macabreaztreonam the literal sun rising
Great stuff here Rob, a few things popped into my head with your points.
- The Leyna sign relating to "Little Angel" "Light" and the name Helen. In Eyes Wide Shut the daughter is named Helena and wears angel wings in her first scene
- With "Little Angel" in mind and the references in the other signs to Hell or the Devil (along with the fires everywhere) the fact that the cardboard Indian cutout is perched on Joker's shoulder reminds me of the classic cartoon trope of having and angel and devil on opposite shoulders trying to sway you towards their pain of view. Note John Wayne fighting an Indian is over his other shoulder
- The toothpaste signs along with what you mentioned, keeping teeth white brings to mind the idea of White Washing and US imperialism brining the great white hope
- Finally the fist poster at the end. I think you're right on with a power controlling the soldiers i.e. governments/ corporations. This reminds me of a prominent shot in the first half of the film where Hartman forces Pyle to strangle himself with Hartman's hand. The shot is a close up of the hand gripping Pyle's neck. This shot also reminds me of a shot from EWS where Ziegler's hand is very large in the foreground of the shot where Bill is reviving Mandy. Ziegler is established as the powerful figure in Bill's world. Combine that with Dr. Strangelove's single glove and there's a repetition of large powerful hands controlling people.
I have fallen down the Collective Learning rabbit hole and love it. I gotta give this dude props, he credits all his sources and doesn't present what others have discussed as his own ideas
It's interesting to see your own language being analyzed so precisely
12:28 actually Hột xoàn means jewerly
Thanks Mr "Triangular bread" ;)
@@banhmitamgiac3993 Does it, thanks. Diamond was what i got from the translation engine, but damn those engines give varied results.
As a native speaker, we are interested in your thoughts.
Actually, "Hột Xoàn" really means diamond. It was a dialect commonly used in the south at the time.
Hi Rob
Yours is one of the best channels on youtube. The reason it would say 'Le Ngoc' in the movie theater scene is because in many Asian cultures, the family name is written before the given name. Incredible video!
Just my take but I believe the constant use of advertisements were a nod to the real motives of the u.s invasion being to corporatize Vietnam
The street signs are there to give it a lived in appearance, and often used to describe how to view the war scenes in the film, Hynos toothpaste was discontinued due to it's being toxic to humans with numerous illnesses, (including cancer) and because of Hynos' toxicity being comparable to the horrors of war.
Rather.... Agent Orange, then?
Great job of Collective learning. I love your flicks.💞
Collative Learning...
I agree the with the "devil" metaphor, but I see it as the "devil" orchestrating a war where everyone dies/he is the only victor. They were playing both sides. Those Hueys/tanks/fighter jets/napalm run on fuel.
Wouldn't surprise me
3:51 Those Chinese characters “黑人牙膏” on the hynos billboard actually mean black person toothpaste
Really? Fascinating.
Is he supposed to be African or Melonesian ?
Yes, it means black guy toothpaste. But it is known in China too, because the stereotype that black guy has whiter looking teeth due to color contrast.
@@hellwolf4liberty I thought straightaway the man in the Hynos advert was black not Vietnamese. Could it be a metaphor for oppression? At the same (1968) as African Americans are being oppressed in the deep south of the USA, US soldiers are oppressing another ethic national group in Vietnam.
Dale Addison the black guy in Hynos actually is Javanese
I can see you put a great deal of thought into this. Great viewpoints! Thank you for the effort and video
Rob you've been running circles around EVERY online film analysis on the internet for a while but lately it's felt like your just hitting non-stop homeruns with the stuff youve been doing lately. As a filmmaker- me and some of my collaborators have really benefited from YOUR work .
Fantastic. Really enjoyed this one. Always love how much in-depth research you perform and analyze to present these amazing studies of film and cryptic imagery, especially regarding Kubrick’s releases. Great work Rob!
One wonders how many more subtle symbols, visual gestures and unrecognised allusions are present. Maybe none, maybe many.
Photocopy could also refer to the process of training the soldiers into mindless minions to do the bidding of a more powerful entity.
As in, these guys think they are 'it' but pass me the copy paper, the machine's out, ie cannon fodder.
@24:20 that is not the flag of North Korea. It's the flag of South Korea which along with Australia was the only country to send significant military forces to fight alongside the US in the Vietnam War. It's not a Korean War era poster.
I remember buying his analysis for The Warriors a few years back and it was really good
Funny thing about Full Metal Jacket is anytime I think of the movie itself, I always remember the vietnam scenes first. The first half of the movie, I remember the dialogue but the second half the visuals are iconic
Great analysis, Mr. Ager, it's strange to find someone with such dedication on movies nowadays.
Vietnamese in a scouse accent must be what Martian sounds like.
"Boots" is a derogatory term for new Marines by other Marines.
Your analysis is amazing.
10:08 There are diacritic markings on the sign. The coloring of the sign just makes them hard to see is all.
Yeah I noticed that too theres clearly some over all the As
Yes! Thank you. It's not just me.
This, combined with other things, like using "online translation engines" to decipher the deeply mysterious meanings of the signs -- like, could you not talk to human beings who actually know the language? -- and the reading of the caricatured black man in the sign as a Vietnamese man, makes me think this guy's interpretations are to be taken with several pounds of salt.
It's interesting the girl who played the sniper's name was prominently featured while Joker was talking about getting his first confirmed kill.
"Phuong" could also mean "Heartbreaker".
I'd heard the phrase "lifetaker and heartbreaker" in a Vietnam film. Might have even been this one.
@@emjay9280yes that’s from FMJ.
I always saw the toothpaste smiling man to be Louis Armstrong, "Satchmo". There is a famous photo of him that is almost identical to this. What a wonderful world is a satchmo song that becomes a theme of that movie "Good Morning Vietnam" which was released only weeks after FMJ. Maybe Kubrick knew about the Satchmo sound track and was getting in first with the symbolism.? just a guess.
3:13 Yes, that's a black man smiling in the Hynos ad. I think Hynos copied that from Darkie Toothpaste (see wiki). The ad at 3:41 has "black person toothpaste" written in Chinese, which is also what Darkie Toothpaste is called in Chinese. This all could be referencing the racism that exists, as the hooker didn't want to have sex with the "soul brother".
The VC sniper is armed with a Czech made Vz 58 and not a Soviet or Chinese AK-47 or Type 56.
Does this carry any significance?
While the Vz. 58 assault rifle could still be read as simply symbolic of the USSR/PRC-dominated Communist bloc, it could also be representative of contemporaneous aspirations toward independent socialist non-alignment that were co-opted or hamstrung between the great powers of the Cold War (specifically Alexander Dubček's abortive "socialism with a human face" in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring before it was crushed by the 1968 Soviet invasion, but also emblematic of a spectrum of states and movements ranging from Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia to Olof Palme's Sweden to Salvador Allende's Chile).
@@VanSisean Wow.
@@1dirkmanchest you can pull anything out of your ass if you like a movie enough
Same shit as the curtain is blue and people try to make out shit about why blue is symbolic and shit
I doubt it. I think it was the prop that was available. Most people don't know the difference.
@@oltyret That particular rifle would have to selected with care and knowledge.
I think it was selected for a reason. People that know the difference are talking about it years after this movie was filmed. I simply have no idea why that rifle was picked for the "sniper".
Rob - great to see you posting new stuff. And I'm really glad your tackling FMJ.
Given the general theme of the film overall, I'd guess the demon being served is war. The Shell logo being used to reinforce the symbolism overtly because of the probabilities of oil being a motivation, but also more indirectly as just showing the roll of money in war as a general concept
In these globalist
/nwo wars. Vietnam was a template. Itaq/Afgwanistan were pretty much fought the same way. Oil is mentioned here as a motive. The other motivation not mentioned is; pop pees. Too much money to be made. My bros bro in law did a tour there and said all he did was guard a pop pee files. And I hear there's a big opioid problem in 'Murica. Connection? Hmmm...
Shell Oil sign is one of the most instantly recognised symbols of 'Big US Oil' as it doesn't spell a word like Esso, Texaco etc do.
Also, hat tip to Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot, 'my family have always collected shells, maybe that's why they named the company after them.'
Love your channel man!
The kid in the toothpaste add is in a position, almost like a sniper pose. ??
Thought about Layna.
Layna means little angle or light.
Which angel is associated with light?
And why does the drill sergeant stare directly in to the camera as he asks about seeing the light?
The Urban Dictionary thing is not legit. Search for any name on there and they're gonna have a feel-good fortune type of description for the name. A search for my name returns this: "A loving and caring guy who puts others first. Will be or is an amazing boyfriend and always makes sure that their couple is happy. Loved by many, especially by their signicicant other. Once they have found that special girl they will stick with then forever. Incredibly sweetie and sensitive. :)
".
Lol !!
I came here to say this. Can confirm.
16:03 "Le Ngoc" is not part of the billboard, it seems to be a sign designating the name of the theatre itself. "Ngoc" apparently means "gem," so my thought is the "Le" here is the French article. As we know, it was long a tradition, prior to multiplexes, for movie theaters to have their own names; think for instance of "Bijou."
Ngoc Le is the name of the actress, so a play on words with her name?
Thanks for pointing all this out - have to say I missed every single detail you point out - only ever watched it on VHS for the first forty times & even the DVD isn't all that!
Didn´t you make a video about that clinched fist poster as a metaphor for Hartman´s "hand" still influencing Joker?
Yes, many years back when i did an hour or so video on FMJ, the title of the vid was The Hidden Hand. That vid is still available on my site, but I'm posting updated and expanded parts of it in HD now and then
South Korea fought in the Vietnam war with Australia and the USA
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea_in_the_Vietnam_War
“33” is decent beer, but I prefer Huda beer, brewed right there in Hue 🍺👍✨
*popular thai beer brands; leo, chang and singha*
Wow in my ignorance i assumed the 2nd half of the film was shot on location in a southeast asian country. I'm now blown away by the fact it was shot in England.
Hey, after 2001, he never left Great Britain. Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket & Eyes Wide Shut were all produced in Britain...
1/2 hour dose of Rob Ager yesss.
Also Rob I’ve never asked, what are you trying to communicate with the audio of breathing when you stop speaking?
I hardly think John Wayne "avoided the draft"...He was 36 years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed...How many 36 year old men were drafted?
Test
36 years old was still draft age for WW2. John Wayne weaseled out of going into the military, claiming that he would be needed here at home to do film work for the US Government. And yep, the Pentagon took full advantage of John Wayne as well...
Draft for WW2 was different than the draft for Vietnam. And as for John Wayne, he was in many War Movies. He was part of the Propaganda Machine, that Hollywood was put in charge of.
In fact, President Lyndon B Johnson's long time friend and part of the Johnson Administration Jack Valenti, left the White House for Los Angeles in 1965. He was President of the Motion Picture Association of America from 1965 to 2004. Being head of the MPAA also meant, nothing got made into a movie without the approval of the MPAA, plus with Valenti there in Hollywood, anytime the US Intelligence community needed or wanted a movie made, to help push any given agendas they had going on, Valenti would have been involved if needed...
Prime example why cia wanted someone out in Hollywood. President Kennedy wanted a movie made about the book he read back in early 1963. Hollywood Director John Frankenheimer directed 7 Days in May. Story about a Coup d etat, by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which only took 51 days to make. Because of the assassination, the films release was moved into 1964.
Imagine if that movie was released in October 1963, (original release date). What a shit-storm that would have been. I'm pretty sure that civil unrest would have been at an all-time high, and that scared everyone back in Langley Virginia...
25:03 The poster is from the Vietnam War. South Korea (and yes, that is the South Korean flag on the cartoon sleeve) was one of the US-allied nations that sent soldiers to South Vietnam, along with Australia and New Zealand. Thailand provided space within it's own kingdom for US Air Force bomber, fighter-bomber, and fighter bases that flew over South and North Vietnam. Japan had aircraft repair facilities for US Air Force and Marine jet fighters, staffed by Americans. It was an international effort to crush insurgencies in South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia that did not succeed.
I had a history teacher in high school who was with the 1/1 Marines and fought in the Battle of Hue.
I had a janitor in my school that was in Vietnam. His face was terribly scarred and burned, and he looked like a stereotype from a scary movie.
Super nice guy though, like, super nice.
Although he did bring in pictures once from the war. He and another guy were holding up faces. He said "they got mine, so we got theirs"
Kinda terrifying now that I think about it
@MyNutsAreOrange oh yes way back in 1992. Then I went to the US Army myself served from 92 through 96.
@@matthiasthulman4058 I watched Apocalypse Now for the first time recently, and played Deary Stranding which had a Vietnam section. It looked fucking terrifying just from fiction let alone real pictures and people's scars, jesus
i had a uncle in the Air Calv
@@jhonezcronic Sorry sir, you have the wrong movie. Apocalypse Now is in the theater across the street. No need to thank me.
I think this is such an interesting g video. One of the best I’ve seen for days.
The shell in the shell signs is from the stars. Many corporate logos are based on occult symbols. My guess for the shell sign in the constellation Lyra. But it could be another. It is also often shown as a shield like on the dollar.
The fist poster @ 24:15 is actually showing the US flag, “South Korean” flag [may have accidentally said NK flag], and Australian flag.
These 3 countries, other than South Vietnam committed the most troops to Vietnam.
US-2.7 million soldiers.
Australia-60,000 soldiers.
South Korea-320,000 soldiers.
So rather than the Korean War of the 1950’s, I think it is saying something about the Vietnam War and these countries that fought there, much similar to the rest of the symbology the video covers.
In the 80s and 90s, everything was “Pan & Scan” because every movie had to fill this bloody 4/3 screen.
Now, our 4/3 movies are cropped to fill this bloody widescreen.
Is it so difficult to respect the original format?
When I went to see The Artist I cheered when it started because it was in Academy Format. Which rather surprised the rest of the cinema audience.
Very thorough, complete analysis once again, from the great Rob Ager. Thank you Sir for posting, much appreciated--your work is stellar.
Collative, 90% of your speculation in the movie is incorrect its painful. If you happen to see this comment, please take time to read it.
Mỹ Toàn means Beauty (that is) Preserved
Tiếp Tục Phục Vụ Quý Ngài means We Will Always Serve You (The Customer)
Hynos Guy was called "Anh Chà Và" or "Java Guy" (endearing word, not insulting). The idea was that he was so black, when he smiles, everybody sees his beautiful pearly white teeth.
This whole video is like an essay where the student elaborates about stuffs that the author didn't even intended.
"The character's room is blue because blue is his favourite color, and my favourite color too. That's it"
"The blue color reflects the inner feeling of the main character, reflecting the melancholic state of mind, and the fact that he see the world in such distorted and inhuman nature, that set forth his adventure..."
... hơi nám da
... mỗi ngày thoa
CREME (something)
Literally says:
(If your skin is) a little sunburnt
then applies
CREME (something)
Hynos does not have the black guy as their sole icon. Just like any other companies, they have different people in different ads. Black guy sticks the most because of how beautiful his smile is.
Anyone else notice that somebody moved a sheet of plywood that was blocking a window hole, thereby allowing the sniper to kill Cowboy? Is that discussed here? Hopefully
Tooth paste kid is aiming a metaphorical rifle at em
Killer smile
I just wanted to point out that the three countries indicated on the Fist poster (US, Australia and S. Korea) were also allies of S Vietnam. All 3 countries fought together in the Vietnam war as well as the Korean war.
This is unrelated to the topic but has anyone else noticed that in the scene with the hooker the same cars are going around in circles? It’s very distracting once you notice it lol
Yes I noticed that too. there's something else going on with the bystanders in that scene that I picked up on but saving for a diff video as it's not street sign related.
Subliminal tool
The hooker is the recurance of the jelly donut from the first part... purple pants, sign in the back says Creme... The donut is a vaginal symbol, just like the term "Jelly Roll" in blues music.
@@iknowyouarh and a chocolate glazed donut?
@@iknowyouarh Great work! Renaissance period art commissioned by the Church frequently referenced the vesica-pisces. The church (aka mother cersei) is a womb. With the sun penetrating the stained glass windows. Bringing enlightenment. All ancient cultures symbolically referenced reproductive organs in their art.
So regarding your translation at around 18:00, I was intrigued as well. My grandfather married a Vietnamese woman, so I asked her. With the punctuations used properly she told me that this means, “Continue serving you (the customer)”
Made me think of Death Wish III which was filmed in London...and they both have a scene with a camera being stolen on a street!
Latin script, not English lettering, just being pedantic. After all it is a result of French colonialism.
The Quoc-ngu system was invented by Portuguese missionaries.
"Keep serving your demons".
Christ Almighty...Kubrick keeps fascinating me.
I love how he played with psychology too. Thanks for your video..amazing stuff.
12:15 Actually, the reason many of these kinds of small deer are near extinct are that their skin was used in luxurious gloves, as in one individual had to be killed to make one glove.
And carpet bombing their habitat with napalm and agent orange probably didn't do a great deal for conservation either.
There's an American beer called "Rolling Rock" that has "33" on the cans and bottles, too. The "33" symbolized 1933, the year the 18th Amendment was repealed, ending Prohibition. The motto on the cans and bottles is "Same as it Ever Was". Probably a coincidence.
FWIW "33 Export" beer was named after its bottle size, i.e. 33 centilitres (a third of a litre / a little over 11 ounces). It was created under French Colonial rule in Indochina by Brasseries et Glacières d'Indochine / BGI, and its production in France only started later, in 1960.
After South Vietnam fell in 1975, it was simply rebranded as "333".
The 33 Export brand is currently owned by Heineken, and is still produced in quite a few African countries, all of them former French colonies.
My mind is blown from the sign being shot down minus the 2 letters around 9 minutes in the video. Kubrick's a genius. And great catch Rob. Love watching you dissect these videos.
The hole where sniper is shooting looks like US map doesnt it?
Juhani SVH Good eye.
Yeah, looks like the State of Texas! - Texas oil perhaps!
Aha , caught that didn't you good on ya
24:30 To be fair, it's not about "everything must be widescreen." Kubrick may have shot many of his films "open matte" (using the full 4x3 film frame) but virtually no cinema would have been able to actually show them that way. I worked as a projectionist in the dying days of real celluloid and a standard film projector had just two possible settings, 1.85:1 flat ("widescreen") or 2.35:1 anamorphic ("scope").
Films shot "flat" were either hard-matted (with actual black bars hard-printed top and bottom on each frame of film) or open matte, using the whole of the frame. As a projectionist, you had control over the vertical positioning of the film, effectively setting the vertical position of the cropping. Obviously, if a film was hard-matted you'd line it up according to the black bars, but on open matte you had some play and could position it anywhere.
So, the "widescreen" presentation of this film *does* faithfully replicate what you would've seen if you watched this film in the cinema. It might be frustating to think that there's additional picture information top and bottom, but that would've been cropped off by the film projector anyway, and would never have been seen in theaters.
Also, if Kubrick had wanted to enforce the framing then he could easily have hard-matted his film and ensured that what appeared on cinema screens was vertically aligned exactly as he intended. But he didn't do that. He left the vertical positioning of the frame in the hands of projectionists.
Which a long way of saying: I wouldn't ascribe too much importance to things at the top and bottom of the frame, because Kubrick clearly didn't - they may or may not even have appeared on the cinema screen depending on where each individual projectionist had left that vertical positioning dial.
Lol John Wayne was 60 when the Vietnam draft happened! I love this video!
Yes, my bad. It was WW2 draft he dodged.
@@collativelearning
Wrong again, Roberto.
Wayne didn't "dodge" WWII.
To start with, he was 34 years old during the early days of the draft. The draft was amended for WWII to include men up to age 64, but
rarely took men above 35 and in the case of family men, like Wayne, rarely took men above 25.
Also, his deferment status was a deal his studio made with the draft board without his knowledge.
He later found out about it and requested a change in his draft status but was threatened by his studio with a lawsuit for breach of contract if he did so
at which time they also requested the draft board not change his deferment status, to which they consented, again without Wayne's input.
I'm pretty sure his hip injuries and missing cartilage in his knee from football and various horse riding accidents would have prevented him from getting past the physical in any case. He would gotten 4F instead of 3A deferment and still not have "dodged" the war.
As well researched as your film reviews seem to be, perhaps a little more time on things that actually happened in the real world might be in order.
He didn’t dodge the draft. Stop perpetuating that bullshit narrative because it’s simply not true.
Interesting....youtube is only recommending this to me now. A full year later.
I thought it interesting that the picture of the smiling man in the toothpaste ad looked a lot like the American propaganda cartoons of the Japanese, circa WWII, with the exaggerated teeth.
Thanks so much for your videos, they really are amazing and mind blowing!!
cheers rob for looking into kubriks mind
I had noticed something in full metal jacket and it freaked me out. Definitely the lyrics to that fucking boot song. Is that a reference to Orwell? It may as well be.
3:25 "But strangely, there's no citations."
You don't spend a lot of time on Wikipedia, do you, Rob?
Edit: I just got to the urban dictionary part with Phuong. I hope you threw that in as a joke, but I can't quite tell. In case anyone else isn't sure, teenagers use Urban Dictionary to write up sentimental BS about their friends using their name as the entry, and you can find an example of this under basically any name you can think of. But if you're trolling, you got me pretty good on that one.
I'm not at all convicted he's very discriminating in terms of the info he sifts through and what he gives valid weight to.
Very cool and interesting take I hadn't thought about.
I can't wait to hear just about anything from you in regards to The Lighthouse! I thought it was so very good to the point where it may be my all-time favourite, but there seemed to be layers to it I didn't understand and I'm sure it's flawed, I haven't had the chance to rewatch it yet but I'm looking forward to the discussions around it, praise or criticism.
11:41. Why not just listen to the translations on Google Translate? There's a speaker symbol right beneath the word.
Because I'm short on time ("short" as grunts say), so I just concentrate on the essential information and skip most of the embroidery.
The “Doan Ket” poster that you mentioned in the last analysis is interesting. These flags-US, South Korea (rather than North Korea), Australia-are allies that had participated in the Vietnam War in the 60s and 70s. Couldn’t find it online, but reasonably it would be a fist of unity (among the US allies) against the Việt Cong or North Vietnamese forces (which was torn off from the poster). Now it’s hard to find posters from Southern Vietnam nowadays, not even in Vietnam where you can easily have many Northern posters.
The poster at 24:00 shows the flag of South Korea. The South Korean government sent thousands of soldiers to fight in the war on the behalf of the US.
I was going to say something about that too. The flag is definitely South Korean, not North Korean, and South Korea, along with the Australians, sent combat troops into South Vietnam to support the US
Yup that's the South Korean flag. And South Korea was allied with the US and Australia, not North Korea. I think he misspoke.
Wow I didn‘t know the movie was released in the academy ratio. Thanks Rob, you are a master!
Ager
Kubrick
Need I say more? Thanks for the content, Rob!
Oil did play a role in tension in South East Asia as Indonesia was used by the oil companies to ethnically cleanse 500 smaller ethnic groups in the area so that they would negotiate a deal with one nation than a whole bunch of them.
25:50 besides the word “Unite” Bob, under it, the first 2 lines are “To destroy communism...”, the rest is not visible enough for me to see. I think it might be interesting
I wondered what the remaining text on the poster would say. The three flags are those of the USA/Korea/Australia, with all three contributing troops to the fighting in Vietnam. More interesting is the use of the fist as a symbol of power and control. Hartmann has his hand clenched into a fist for many scenes including when he punches Joker in the stomach at bootcamp. The poster with the fist is repeated twice which might suggest what we call a "double whammy", the first being the death of three marines by the sniper, the second being the fact that they were killed by a young woman whose killing instincts were as clean as those of the marines. This would be galling to the lusthog squad members as they see the Vietnamese generally and women specifically (prostitutes, or targets to be shot at such as those being gunned down by the helicopter door gunner) as weak and inferior.
Dale Addison Unite to destroy communist invaders
I watched this movie and got reminicent of my travels in vietnam during the street scenes.. it blew my mind to learn it was shot in england. Kubrick did a very good job with this.
Hey Rob. Boots... as in "Knock Boots"? i.e. - get laid. The phoenix... In Michael Herr's book Dispatches, he floats the idea of "regeneration through violence". Great book BTW. Was Kubrick suggesting male regeneration via violence perpetrated against women? That's a hefty load to be taken by one sign, but this was the climax of the film...
I've been reading Despatches recently. Almost finished. It is a good book, and very funny in places
Rob - so much stuff here - you've caught some things that make me think - I want to flag to you:
- As you've pointed out - Joker does his John Wayne impression in all three Acts of the film
- You've done an amazing thing identifying the film in the movie theatre as being the John Wayne film - Red River.
- The phrase, "IS that you John Wayne? Is it me?" Makes no sense - but it's also in the book. John Wayne has a meaning in this film. Perhaps as the symbol of American agression.
- Notice the Eagle in the Battery in the sign - this is the same eagle that appears on the Colonel's insignia.
- The painting of Jesus when Rasterman chases the guy who steals his camera. The Colonel in the burial scene, and Hartman both reference Jesus or the Virgin Mary
- The representation of women in this film - all three main women characters - the first hooker in red shows her face. The second hooker who screws the guys in the movie theatre hides her eyes with big sun glasses. And the third girl - the sniper - you don't see at all - she's hidden - until she's killed. All three girls are about the same age - the same size and look roughly the same.
- Once last thought - I alway thought the 3 acts don't flow - and as you say - the Editor says he only wants stories about toothpaste or winning battles. Maybe the 3rd act is Joker's imagination - or something he authors. He is imagining the toothpaste and winning battles. Much like the Shining - which I believe to actually be occurring in Jack's novel - that 3rd act is actually a story Jokerman writes for Stars and Stripes???