How did Stanley Kubrick use mise-en-scene to show themes of horror and show 'madness'.
Within the first frames of the scene we start to understand the mood and tone of which the scene is set to take. Firstly the lighting within the scene is low key, setting this scene in the night already shows hints of the horror convention, and also night time being time of darkness, and more sinisterly a time of nightmares and vulnerability. The mood of this scene is revealed as a dark and rather serious tone. The relation to sleep and 'nightmares' could be applicable to this scene, nightmares tend to revolve around the fears and horrors personal to that individual; which mimics the way that Kubrick directed the sequence in a way that effects my own personal fears; fears of being alone and vulnerable. In this instance it's the investigation into an unknown sound; and it's the unknowing that intensifies the feelings of aloneness and vulnerability which in turn adds to the intensity of suspense and horror as a member of the audience experiencing this scenario.
The mise-en-scene of this scene re-enforces my previous point, the whole setting of the camp dorm itself seems dead and lifeless: Joker in a white shirt, and helmet, walking between the bland grey pillars of the sick green coloured room, it all really does look like something from a prison or an asylum. What this does for the segment is indoctrinate the cold and un-homely feelings provoked , the whole scene feels and looks hostile; it simply wouldn't have the same effect if the same walls were yellow or purple, or Joker walks just as he does, but instead wearing a red shirt and hat. The whole washed out range of colours has a set purpose to alienate the setting for the audience and it makes me personally feel unsettled. Similar use of colour occurs in Kubrick's psychological horror film 'the shinning' is used again to re-enforce the horror aspects, in this case the overuse of the colour red shows death and danger, red looks like blood so at every red carpet, and every red jacket worn we slowly begin to anticipate horror
Another point is the performance element of the mise-en-scene, the way joker as a character moves is very casual to begin with, his body language is lethargic and careless; but that all changes when he hears a repeated noise (indicated to the audience by a repeated non-diegetic chime) that is coming from the dorms toilet room. Immediately we see the casual waltz turn to a stealthy, careful movement; and the lethargic, careless body language changes to a stiff and alert body language and it is at this point that i begin to understand that something isn't quite right. And as i said previously, it's the unknowing that really makes the scene intense and suspenseful.
Moving into the dorms head, it is revealed that the character Lenard is in fact sat in the dark, loading ammunition into a rifle clip. At this point the first instance of diegetic sound is utilized, the words 'Hi, Joker' spoken by Lenard in a dark tone and a slow, slurred manor. Throughout the film Lenard is a key aspect of the narrative, someone who is unfit and less intellectual that the other recruits unsurprisingly is struggling with the training. It's at this point in the dormitories toilet that we see a totally darker side to this once dough-ish, man-child like persona. As well as more low key lighting. At the point of which Joker and Lenard begin to converse slowly, close up's of each character when they speak, i get the sensation of being really up close and personal, the camera is placed in the middle of the two so at each ominous addition to the sinister conversation the characters are looking in the direction of me, but not so much as a POV from each character. In my opinion this emphasizes the 'madness' that could describe Lenard's conscience since it really leaves me guessing as to what is going on inside Lenard's head. Lenard seems crazy and Joker stands in fear and myself as a viewer is placed right in the middle of the almost passive-aggressive situation which makes it very claustrophobic and very stressful, which does wonders for the suspense and makes the threat of a mad Lenard all the more real to me.
With all the obsessive compulsion and the overly bland colour pallet that Kubrick uses in a lot of his films, as an Auteur his obsession is a madness within itself, and madness is a common convention across most of Kubrick's films. We have the likes of Hal the AI from '2001: Space Odyssey', Jack from 'the shining', Alex from 'clockwork orange' and of course Lenard form 'Full Metal Jacket'. Kubrick's personal creative vision spans from his own madness of obsessive compulsion and it makes a statement here and now in the form of Lenard, in a way Lenard is comparative to Hal from '2001: Space Odyssey' in the way that they both appear rather simple and both are the center point for a lot of death and horror. Both Lenard and Hal are trying to understand others, both because they don't really fit in, and they both somewhat reach the conclusion that their human counterparts should not live, and both have no conscious state of mind to think twice with. It's this madness that staples Kubrick as an Auteur and as an effective means of portraying horror in this particular scene
To really make Lenard as a point of horror for this scene, he needs to be portrayed as something that will strike the audiences most inner fears; common conventions from both horror and film noir depicts Lenard as 'scary'. One of the more noticeable aspects is in the performance aspect of the mise-en-scene, the way that the actor manipulates his face contributes to the fear factor of the character, showing the whites of his bloodshot eyes and grinning, bearing crooked teeth all contribute to the horror and the fear that erupts in the scene. As well, what is so common in film noir is apparent here, a large portion of Lenard's face is covered by low key lighting, which reveals visibly that this lumpish character is not as whole hearted and innocent as we once thought. He's not so much a horror of the UN-natural like what is so common in horror conventions, but strangely natural; this is a character we have followed and empathized with for all the events prior to this, and he's set as nothing more than a rather dumb, dough-ish human being, now that persona has flipped into an pretty intense and horrific persona, a character that is so relatable and a character we have developed sorry feelings for has become what we fear in our everyday lives. Madness is so secret you wouldn't recognize it passing in the streets, anyone of the other human beings we share our lives with could have suffered the same fate as Lenard and we wouldn't even know it, not until it becomes a visible, physical threat to us. All in all the fear that is provoked in this scene comes from the revealing of madness in a character we once loved, a character that is now conventionally horrific, both in the physical performance, and in the deeper feelings we have towards this character.
Looking at the mise-en-scene within the dorms toilets, there is a moment where Lenard begins to snap, rather than being sat slumped on top of the toilet, he jumps up into a stiff stance clutching his rifle, as though he is out in the training fields marching with the rest of his team, then progresses to shout and spin his rifle around; followed by the shout: ‘this is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine’. What’s interesting about this quote is that the rifle is symbolic, and reflective of Lenard at this point, ‘this is my rifle’, and he has reign of control over this dangerous object. The symbolism comes from the rifle being an icon of death, an object used to cause pain and harm, Lenard has been on the receiving end of pain and harm for the duration of the film up until this point, and now a man that is bitter with madness has the power to give pain and do harm, which is a scary thought considering this man feels no obligation to show mercy as no mercy was shown to him when he was called names and beaten. The suspense in this scene comes from the instability within Lenard, since there’s no telling what he is going to do, he could settle down quietly or he could murder both Joker and himself in cold blood.
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