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| “ | I wanted to see exotic Vietnam... the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill. | „ |
| ~ Sgt. Joker |
Sergeant James T. "Joker" Davis, formerly known as Private Joker, is the main protagonist of the 1987 anti-war film Full Metal Jacket. He is the narrator of the movie, and he is shown wearing a peace sign on his uniform as well as an M1 Helmet reading "Born to Kill".
He is portrayed by Matthew Modine.
Full Metal Jacket[]
In 1967, Private James T. Davis is undergoing harsh training in the boot camp by Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, who also brutally punishes the overweight Gomer Pyle. Joker is paired with Pyle, and as Pyle's progress through training starts to improve, it comes to a halt when Hartman discovers that Pyle has stored a contraband jelly doughnut in his footlocker, which causes him to adopt a collective punishment policy: he won't punish Pyle whenever he makes a mistake, he will punish the entire platoon.
As a result, the platoon, including a reluctant Joker, hazes Pyle with a blanket party, and Pyle is pushed over the edge. He grows increasingly unstable, and it culminates when he enters the bathroom on the platoon's final night on Parris Island, executing drill commands and reciting the Rifleman's Creed in the bathroom while loading his rifle with live ammunition. Hartman is woken up, comes to investigate and sees him in the bathroom and yells insults at him before being shot dead. Pyle then aims at Joker, but he manages to calm him down by saying to take it easy and calling him Leonard, his first name. This seems to trigger memories in Pyle of how Joker had been his sole friend and mentor. He then shoots himself in the head. Joker is left in the bathroom horrified, with the bodies of Pyle and Hartman.
The following year, Joker is transferred to Vietnam as a Sergeant, and now works for the Lusthog Squad. The men engage in the Battle of Hue, and at that time, the squad is interviewed by journalists and reporters about their experiences in Vietnam. Later, while on patrol, the squad leader Crazy Earl is killed in a booby trap and Eightball and Doc Jay are killed by a Vietcong sniper. The sniper shoots and kills Cowboy whilst he radios for support; he soon dies in Joker's arms. Eventually, Joker and the squad finally find the sniper, a teenage girl, but after wounding her, the squad argue whether or not if they should kill her or not, with the sniper constantly begging for death. Joker insists that they can't leave her to bleed out and suffer, and is told that if he wants her to be put out of her misery he'll have to do it. He does so, and is congratulated on his kill by the squad as he displays the thousand-yard stare. At the end, Joker and the squad walk back to their camp, with his squad singing the Mickey Mouse March, and Joker states that despite being in a "world of shit", he's happy that he's still alive and that he's no longer afraid.
Personality[]
Joker was intelligent, sarcastic, witty, strong willed, capable of being scared yet still persist in confronting the danger, and loyal. He enjoyed making a joke about any scenario that he deemed absurd or worthy of satire, as such he did an impersonation of John Wayne to mock the initial initiation with the cadets and the drill sergeant; when one of his fellow recruits were receiving the ire of Sgt. Hartman as he believed Cowboy was the culprit, Joker spoke up, taking responsibility for the quip, thus showing how he wouldn't allow others to suffer for his judgements and would risk himself despite the opportunity to remain safe. While he would continue to have a joking demeanour, he was typically more subtle about it, at least in regards to superiors. He also had the perception to comprehend Hartman's methodology as to avoid harsher punishments, even when experiencing the first stage of potentially many, the latter he could avoid through determined will.
When Hartman ordered him to mentor the lacklustre recruit, Leonard Lawrence AKA Gomer Pyle, Joker was kind and patient, as he allowed Leonard to advance at his own pace, yet still advance rather than fail as he had done before. However, after Leonard once again slipped up and the platoon was punished for it, Joker joined the others in the nocturnal pummeling of Leonard with bars of soap in a sock; while the others immediately took their chance to attack, Joker was briefly hesitant, reflecting how he didn't truly wish to hurt Leonard, yet his own frustrations about his efforts seeming in vain provoked him to beat his pupil even harder than the others - although, he was quick to regret it, feeling remorse for the action.
When Leonard began showing signs of psychosis, Joker was the only one to express concern, or at least to his comrade Cowboy, who didn't take it as seriously. Upon night watch and finding Leonard in the latrine with a loaded rifle, he attempted to gently convince Leonard to return to bed before Sgt. Hartman caught him, however, Leonard was too far gone, thus merely shouted the Marine chant about their rifles, which drew Hartman to the problem. Despite his fear Joker attempted to defuse the situation, which Hartman did at first too, before returning to his usual virtriolic speech style that provoked Leonard to shoot him dead. Joker attempted to reason with Leonard to not shoot him, yet upon Leonard killing himself, Joker was still mortified as even afraid, he was upset at the mental collapse and death of a friend.
When deployed in Vietnam, Joker acted aloof and often mentioned about how his only reason for being in the war was to kill, as the Marine Corps had programmed. Despite the traumatic end of his training, he retained his sarcastic attitude and selective irreverence to subordinates and superior officers alike. However, upon facing actual combat, he generally remained reluctant to kill, to the point of pacifism; he would rush in to save his comrades, yet was disgusted when needing to kill. When facing the VC Sniper, he was more horrified to realise it was actually just a young woman; he ultimately executed her, however, it seemed like he was only driven to because previous shots left her in agony and she had literally begged for death. While his comrades were elated, he was visibly disturbed, perhaps also carrying trauma from Leonard's suicide; thus, contrary to his claims, he never wanted to kill anyone, and seemed to merely claim he did as to tow the line in the military. Regardless of his trauma, his closing narration expressed a relief to be alive, therefore showing that even facing horrors of war, he could still find enough merit in life to have survived them.
Quotes[]
| “ | Is that you, John Wayne? Is this me? | „ |
| ~ James doing a John Wayne impression to mock Sgt. Hartman, which gave him his name of "Joker" |
| “ | Graduation is only a few days away, and the recruits of Platoon 3092 are salty. They are ready to eat their own guts and ask for seconds. The drill instructors are proud to see that we are growing beyond their control. The Marine Corps does not want robots. The Marine Corps wants killers. The Marine Corps wants to build indestructible men, men without fear. | „ |
| ~ Private Joker narrating about the upcoming graduation to Marines and the ethos of the Corps. |
| “ | Sir, the private believes that any answer he gives will be wrong, and the Senior Drill Instructor will beat him harder if he reverses himself, sir! | „ |
| ~ Private Joker displaying his intellect as Sgt. Hartman attempted to threaten him to reverse his atheism, which the private understood would only earn greater pain if he were a hypocrite |
| “ | (Private Leonard aimed his rifle at Joker): (Private Joker): Easy, Leonard. Go easy, man. (Leonard placed barrel of rifle in his mouth and shot his own brains out) (Private Joker): NO!! |
„ |
| ~ Joker appealing to Lawrence through their friendship after the murder of Hartman, however, Joker was horrified as Lawrence instead committed suicide. |
| “ | We have nailed our names in the pages of history enough for today. We hump down to the Perfume River to set in for the night. My thoughts drift back to erect-nipple wet dreams about Mary Jane Rottencrotch and the Great Homecoming Fuck Fantasy. I am so happy that I am alive, in one piece, and short. I'm in a world of shit, yes, but I am alive. And I am not afraid. | „ |
| ~ Joker's concluding narration reflecting on the suffering of the war, yet gratitude that he survived it |
Trivia[]
- Val Kilmer and Anthony Michael Hall were considered for the role.