FULL METAL JACKET "The hidden hand"

“THE HIDDEN HAND”

An in-depth analysis of
Stanley Kubrick’s

FULL METAL JACKET

18) I will teach you by the numbers

Something I'm not particularly fond of in movies, but which is definitely present in Kubrick's work, is numerical encoding. The problem isn't so much with numbers themselves, but the audience's ability to decipher those codes. A prime example of how ridiculous this can get has to be the Jim Carrey film The Number 23. This farce of a movie tells of a man who becomes obsessed with perceiving a two digit number as being related to all major world events until it drives him to nearly murder his wife. He is then incarcerated to protect the general public.

The reason The Number 23 fails as a film is because it is so easy to demonstrate the flaws of the perceived two-digit repetition thought process. Any person with reasonable math skills can find virtually any two digit number embedded in most scenarios - think Carol Vorderman on the tv gameshow Countdown.

Where number themes can become interesting is when they deviate from expected rules. For example, in chapter 15 I described the varying numbers of soldiers hunting the sniper. This doesn't tell us that the numbers six, seven or eight have any special meaning in the film. It is simply the numerical discrepancy that is bringing our attention to other subliminal themes.

On the other hand there are instances in Kubrick films, in which specific numbers seem to be emphasized for their own sakes, and they seem to repeat across his filmography. The most prominent is the number twelve. The script for FMJ has several direct reference to this number and many of them are verbal.

The mess hall tables are described as each seating twelve.

Charles Whitman was described as having killed 12 people from an observation tower in Texas, but it was actually 14 (this discrepancy is also spoken in the film).

Before the first Lusthog battle Earl asks Joker and Rafterman if they are coming with them. After they accept he says, "That makes 14", which means there were 12 Lusthogs.

Here are some strange references to the number 12 in other Kubrick films.

In 2001 - the council room meeting, in which Floyd talks of a need for secrecy, contains 12 people. The flood lights in the excavation pit then contain 12 lights each.

In Eyes Wide Shut - Bill Harford meets his old college friend and asks him, "How long has it been? Ten years?" His friend replies, "And a couple".

In The Shining - Wendy Torrance says over the radio, "This is KDK 12, calling KDK 1".

Also in The Shining - Kubrick changed the haunted room number from 217 in the book to 237. Was this because 2+3+7 = 12?

These are just a few examples off the top of my head of the number 12 being used in Kubrick's work and there are plenty more. I have absolutely no idea what Kubrick was referring to with this as I don't believe that numbers have any inherent properties other than mathematical ones and I doubt Kubrick did either. There are too many social associations to this simple two digit number for us to attribute a specific meaning, so unless a thematic recurrence emerges in his films that associates directly to the number 12, it is unlikely that anybody will convincingly solve this riddle.

Another number that pops up with a bit less frequency, yet seems to be intentional, is the number 42 - as seen on Danny's sweater in The Shining. In FMJ, Kubrick combines this with the number 12 as if to emphasize the presence of both. Hartman, while reading out military roles to his recently graduated recruits: "Joker, forty-two twelve - basic military journalism. You gotta be shittin' me Joker!"

Notice also that Hartman speaks directly into the camera, ie at the audience, after hitting Joker in the stomach: "You will not laugh. You will not cry. You will learn by the numbers. I will teach you."

Also described in my A Clockwork Orange analysis is the repeated occurrence of the term "114 discriminator" in Kubrick films. Again, this is something I haven't found a convincing meaning for.