MovieChat Forums > Full Metal Jacket (1987) Discussion > Why does Sgt Hartman act like a hypocrit...

Why does Sgt Hartman act like a hypocrite with his racist comments?

posted 9 years ago by Matthew7819
24 replies | jump to latest

I always felt like Sgt. Hartman was setting a poor example for his men when he told them that there was no racial bigotry and later on he was acting like a Hypocritical A-Hole to Pvt. Snowball and ruined any hope of respect that the man could have hoped to have learned from him or the respect of the others:

I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on *beep* k*kes, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: What's your name, scumbag?
Private Snowball: Sir, Private Brown, sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Bullsh*t! From now on you're Private Snowball. Do you like that name?
Private Snowball: Sir, yes, sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Well there's one thing that you won't like, Private Snowball: they don't serve fried chicken and watermelon on a daily basis in my mess hall.
Private Snowball: Sir, yes, sir!

That kind of made Hartman look stupid by going against his own words when he first introduced himself to the recruits, odd that nobody ever pointed this out to him and got him to see the lack of logic that he displayed here.

[–] ncdwbmk6 9 years ago

He's not racist and not hypocritical because he treats all the men the same way.

---
You got your mind right, Luke?

[–] hisgrandmogulhighness 9 years ago

Agreed!

[–] Matthew7819 9 years ago

Well yes that it true, but he does say that there is no racial bigotry here and then he makes racist comments towards Pvt. Snowball, he looks racist there, too bad that Snowball didnt remind him of his speech earlier and how he thought that the DI was now a liar for making racist comments.

It was a stupid statement and only degraded Hartman as he earlier lied and said that there was no racial bigotry here, he is a hypocrite, how can the men respect him after he said that? Even if he treated everyone equally he was still a liar anyway, he also shows anger at Joker for being an Atheist too and there was no reason for that at all either.

[–] mikeyg24 9 years ago

He uses the words to degrade and insult. Verbal bashing. It doesn't mean he actually believes them and even if he did the point he's making is he doesn't care either way since they're all sub human.

Secondly at what point did Hartman proclaim he wanted their respect? All he demanded was obedience he didn't give two shíts about their respect!

I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time Del Boy, it's them that started me drinking!

[–] loki242 9 years ago

Well yes that it true, but he does say that there is no racial bigotry here and then he makes racist comments towards Pvt. Snowball, he looks racist there, too bad that Snowball didnt remind him of his speech earlier and how he thought that the DI was now a liar for making racist comments.

It was a stupid statement and only degraded Hartman as he earlier lied and said that there was no racial bigotry here, he is a hypocrite, how can the men respect him after he said that? Even if he treated everyone equally he was still a liar anyway, he also shows anger at Joker for being an Atheist too and there was no reason for that at all either.

You have the mentality of a 5 year old, do your parents know you're watching R rated movies???

HELP AGGRAVATE THE STATUS QUO, VOTE AGAINST EVERY INCUMBENT YOU SEE ON A BALLOT.

[–] sparker21 9 years ago

Hartman is trying to put them under stress in any way he can. He uses verbal abuse, physical pain and exhaustion, and anything else he can think of. The point is that they have to know how to function and follow orders under stress because when they get into combat they are going to be under more stress than they have ever experienced in their lives. If they can't deal with that stress they will die.

[–] Fawkes_Rocks 9 years ago

It is possible to say racist words and not be racist. Unfortunately some people are to dumb and ignorant to realize this.

[–] loki242 9 years ago

Maybe you need to toughen up. The whole "I'm offended by words" is getting way old now.

HELP AGGRAVATE THE STATUS QUO, VOTE AGAINST EVERY INCUMBENT YOU SEE ON A BALLOT.

[–] member-id 9 years ago

His job is to break all of them down as people and then build them back up as soldiers by any means necessary.

[–] mobocracy 9 years ago

For one, I think this was just largely a mindfcsk tactic to teach soldiers discipline. The drill sergeant uses whatever he can to get under their skin and break their individuality.

I wouldn't be surprised, either, if the Marines also knew that they would have a large number of totally racist whites and that black recruits needed to be more or less immune from reacting to racist slurs to maintain discipline and combat effectiveness. If you can desensitize a black recruit from caring about racial slurs you really solve a lot of problems with cohesion and discipline.

It sounds *beep* and maybe it is -- maybe the Marines should have focused on making whites respect blacks. But maybe they realize that in terms of practical effort, it's easier to make the smaller proportion of the group not care about being insulted versus trying to change the larger proportion of the group into being nice guys. My sense is that in organizing a military force, "what works best" beats "what's morally right" 10 times out of 10.

[–] shehateme01 9 years ago

The point about desensitizing the African American soldiers to bigotry is a very good one. While reading the first few posts, I was thinking of when Animal Mother dropped an N-bomb on the one soldier (forgetting his name) when they were arguing over the hooker. It may have even been a way of demonstrating the desensitization/programming. People say Kubrick put everything in his films for a reason, so I'm going to lean towards those two instances of the N word being used being related.

[–] gd5150 9 years ago

When you're preparing men to be soldiers and go to battle against people wanting to kill them, you hope they can handle a litttle name calling. As long as everyone is degraded equally it's not racist. Plus the racial epitaphs are hilarious! That's how you toughen people up. They hear a racial slur directed and them and soon realize wow, they're just meaningless words. At this point, words no longer have any power over them, and they're the ones empowered. It's something today's left wing political correct society doesn't get. They'd rather everyone felt like helpless victims. Well actually those in charge get it quite clearly, as they want people to feel helpless. That's the real goal of political correctness.

[–] qdude440 9 years ago

I think the OP missed the point. Hartman's job was to try to size these guys up and break them down however he could. That meant any characteristic, flaw or not, could be exposed and was fair game. In the case of a black soldier that meant some racial insults. There was no racial favoritism in it since his harassment stretched across the board and was done with the goal of hardening each and every one of them.

[–] rp69 9 years ago

OP, You sound like a soft millennial, coddled your whole life by political correctness.

He was an angry, vicious, sarcastic drill instructor. There's no racism if you treat everyone with equal disdain. As he said and you quoted above.

Whether DI Hartman was really a scumbag, or just playing the angry DI part for the recruits is open for discussion. I think he really was an angry *beep* When confronted with a deranged Gomer Pyle, He still had no idea how to tone it down. And he got killed for it.

[–] ReturnOfWhiskey 9 years ago

OP is a clueless idiot

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[–] delriosong 8 years ago

I'm thinking he's a troll.

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