The audience reaction to the first scene which is Pyle's introduction is that they laugh at the creative and humorous insults Hartman shouts at the recruits. Pyle also finds them amusing which means he is aligned with the same state as the audience. However, when Hartman starts to choke Pyle and he stops laughing, the scene stops being funny and we start to feel sympathetic for Pyle.
The first scene uses a low angle shot when Pyle is on his knees, symbolising Hartman's power. However the first shot shows that Pyle is taller than Hartman. The use of the camera shots reverses the power in the scene. The shouted dialogue makes Hartman seem intimidating, with the framing of the shots with Hartman right next to Pyle, in his face.
In the second scene outside, Pyle gets his left and right mixed up and Hartman slaps him before humiliating him by making him straggle behind with his trousers down and his thumb in his mouth.
The first shot shows a large group of the recruits performing the exercise in unison and when Pyle messes it up, he is immediately ostracised from the rest of the group and his mistake is picked up immediately by Pyle. The shot and mis-en-scene with the large amount of recruits performing the same action makes Pyle different from the rest of them, reinforced by Hartman screaming ''You think your different?!'' This reinforces the audience reception of feeling sympathy for Pyle and despising Hartman. The setting is outside as opposed to the first scene where it was inside, which shows that the bullying of Pyle is for everyone to see, not just his recruits. Hartman is making Pyle feel alienated during the boot camp training which could invoke a reaction from a spectator who has experienced this alienation or bullying from previous experience
The last shot of Pyle being humiliated with his trousers down is another example of him being alienated by Hartman, with the shot including all the other recruits walking through the shot, and out of shot and then him, symbolising that everyone else is better than him.
Clip Two
In this clip, the audience align with Pyle again and this is reinforced by the construct of the cinematography and the camera.
In the first scene during the training, Pyle tries to climb over a log but doesnt have the strength to do it. His physical struggle is represented through the low angle hand held camera movement and the diagetic sound of Hartman barking a stream of insults at him over a non-diagetic military track in the background. Pyle then has to do some pull ups but he can't do a single one. We see down the long line of recruits doing pull ups that Pyle is the only one who can't do one. The camera singles him out as the only one who can't do one. The next sequence is Pyle climbing up a high climbing frame, the mis-en-scene here shows how high the frame is, with the camera panning up and down following Pyle climbing it. On the climbing frame he is overtaken by two other recruits showing his weakness. The military score in this sequence is ironic, suggesting that this is the real u.s military, bullying.
The second scene shows Hartman discovering that Pyle has smuggled a jelly donut into his locker. Hartman singles out Pyle by making him stand in the middle of the frame, with his fellow recruits lined side by side to him. Hartman turns the recruits on Pyle by saying that they will be punished every time Pyle makes a mistake. The camera then shows a low angle shot of Pyle eating the jelly donut, the low angle making him look taller and larger than the other recruits doing push ups emphasising Hartmans comment that Pyle is a 'fatbody.' By framing Pyle in the middle of the shot, he again becomes alienated from his other recruits.
The audience response varies in this clip, a general audience response would be to feel sorry for Pyle due to his relentless bullying and alienation from the others, but he doesn't help himself by smuggling a donut and getting the others in trouble. This may provoke a different reaction from the audience. They may get a preferred or oppositional reading from the audience.
Clip Three
The audience change their alignment in this clip, Pyle goes insane and kills Hartman, and threatens Joker, before he kills himself.
The first scene in the clip, shows Pyle's fellow recruits punishing him for smuggling the donut by smacking him with soap in their pillowcases. Their is a creepy intense score and the colour palette of the sequence is blue, reflecting sadness or a disturbing environment. The violence in Clip three is central imagining, which means we see physical abuse and Pyle's death on screen as opposed to the other clips where it was mainly a-central imagining psychological abuse. Joker, who has sympathised with Pyle finds it hard to punish him but does it anyway to fit in with the rest of the recruits. When Pyle starts to cry, an audience who are taking a preferred reading may be sympathetic or a oppositional reading may be that it is pathetic, considering he stole the jelly donut.
The last scene shows Pyle, dehumanized due to brutal and constant bullying from Hartman and the other recruits, he shouts out drill instructions and performs gun routines, mirroring how Hartman talks to him. Hartman has successfully dehumanized Pyle. The alignment the audience feels changes here from being sympathetic to negative. Pyle has inherited aspects of Hartman which the audience align with as a villain. The same score as the previous scene plays throughout, echoing that something equally distrubing is about to occur. Joker refers to the dehumanized Pyle as Leonard, his real name. In his mental state, Pyle realises his humanity and kills himself in an extremely graphic fashion. Thus ends the first part of Full Metal Jacket with both characters the audience align with dead, with only Joker alive, making the audience align with him now.
