TIGERLAND Notes

TIGERLAND notes

Style – Naturalism

Techniques:  hand-held camera;  grainy film stock; muted palette (army greens & yellows);  dissonance between sound, shot & framing (out-of shot dialogue & sound);  minimalist ‘environmental’ soundtrack with musical allusions to negro blues & Asian instrumentation; casting ensemble of unknown actors  slow motion  camera speed  quick editing, jump cut  panning shots  point of view, hand-held & non-steadicam shots  close up  colour bleeding, monochromatic lighting  grainy film stock  camera angles, dutch tilt  Asian music (soundtrack - non-diegetic)  Negro accapella blues (diegetic)  drum beat (military march)  overlapping dialogue

‘Narrative’ devices: characterisation & dialogue draw attention to generic clichés of war –  Bozz’s deconstruction of Paxton’s romantic ideals;  self-conscious performance – “This the scene were the troublemaker gets beaten by his buddies?”;  multilayered allusions to anti-war tradition – Bozz reading Trumbo’s reprinted Johnny Got His Gun in 1971 The Argument – Poor training caused My Lai & eventual US defeat in Vietnam

Character contrasts – Sgt Thomas vs Sgt Kota

Chapter 3: rifle range “You’re all dead” Sgt. Thomas brutal (beats up Cantwell in secret), racist (“can’t kill a dink with a ricochet”), insecure (short fuse, overreacts to Cantwell and Mitre), has authority by rank and privilege not experience (note immaculate uniform, fraternity ring in trench digging scene). Captain Saunders openly tolerates Thomas’ brutality, and instrumental in keeping psychopath Wilson in the army – all suggests Thomas emblematic of systemic faults in army training & leadership

Chapter 11: first night in Tigerland “You broke light discipline, therefore you’re dead” Perfect foil against the parallel scene with Thomas at rifle range (Ch3). Contrasts are: night / day; intimate / public; quiet / loud; slow, still / quick, frenetic. While invoking the same rule about being dead by not observing discipline, Cota responds to Bozz’s wisecrack in complete contrast with Thomas by using polite reason and a powerful anecdote of personal experience. His demeanour throughout the Tigerland exercises provides further marked contrasts with the training dealt out by the likes of Sgt. Thomas at Fort Polk, by its calm but firm authority, instant recognition of problems like Wilson, and sound basis in the (almost mythical) realities of combat in Vietnam.

Chapter 5: field radio ‘torture’ Brutalising new recruits with unethical training & random use of discipline and power. The psychological abuse of Miter in response to Bozz’s rejection of torture not only exposes army’s unthinking adoption of Nazi-style methods (Bozz’s response is an active and outright rejection of the ‘Nuremburg defence’ that the other recruits are being forced to passively adopt), but also invokes the Vincent D’Onofrio character from Kubrick’s Full-Metal Jacket whose victimisation as a key strategy of training in that film lead to a pathological breakdown resulting in a murder- suicide. Following Bozz’s instrumental role in Cantwell’s hardship discharge, Miter’s eventual psychiatric discharge not only entrenches Bozz’s role as platoon saviour but the army’s incompetent, wasteful and inhumane treatment of recruits like Miter and Cantwell. What Genre is this Film?

– Ant-war  Non-conformist protagonist reveals senselessness of war (NB: characterisation of Bozz and role in plot)

– “buddy-flick”  Central relationship redeeming both characters through a crisis (NB: Bozz and Paxton throughout film, but esp. in Tigerland as revealed to Bozz by Johnson)

– Vietnam action drama  Violent combat in the context of military breakdown, cultural protest & political confusion (NB: detailed characterisation of the conflict between Bozz and Wilson)

– US army propaganda  Traditional fighting & leadership skills revealed and justified despite appearance of dissent (NB: self-discovery of Bozz’s natural leadership through trial of conflict, pain and doubt – discovery of Vietnam’s missing idealism: “doing it for your buddies”)