We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.
The cultural cleansers have been very busy these days, and Amazon has decided to scrub an iconic slogan from the poster for “Full Metal Jacket,” Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1987 war movie.
In the sanitized version featured on Amazon Prime, the words “Born to Kill” have been scrubbed from a helmet that also features a peace sign, which was a statement about the “duality of man” a key component of the critically acclaimed film.
The movie’s top star, actor Matthew Modine who played Private Joker and wore the helmet in the film, angrily reacted to the decision by the online retail and streaming video colossus to erase the message.
“Who decided to remove “BORN TO KILL?” Not only did they alter a piece of iconic art by Philip Castle, but they completely misunderstood the point of it being there. Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with ‘BORN TO KILL’ and the peace ☮️ button as a statement about ‘the duality of man,’” Modine wrote on X, sharing an image of the original and the revised “Full Metal Jacket” image.
Who decided to remove “BORN TO KILL?” Not only did they alter a piece of iconic art by Philip Castle, but they completely misunderstood the point of it being there. Pvt. Joker wears the helmet with “BORN TO KILL” and the peace ☮️ button as a statement about “the duality of man.” pic.twitter.com/9XQwINJj4l
— Matthew Modine (@MatthewModine) June 18, 2024
“Full Metal Jacket” was the last of Kubrick’s films to be released while he was still alive. The legendary British director died of a heart attack in 1999 at age 70.
Users on X also reacted with outrage over the censoring of the important slogan.
I’d guess someone with green hair and a septum ring decided it was ‘harmful’ and took it upon themselves to fix it.
— DiscoMephisto (@DiscoMephisto) June 18, 2024
It’s all laid out in 1984. The past is erased.
— Dog Faced Pony Soldier (@CHADMSTEED1) June 18, 2024
would hate for anyone to be offended by reading the word “kill” before watching a movie about killing and its consequences
— matthew. (@iAmTheWarax) June 18, 2024
Political correctness again. Given that those are the folks that send our boys to war. Duality you say.
— Paul Kinkade (@CardRocker0007) June 19, 2024
Is this the progress we’re looking for. What an insult to the people responsible for such an iconic film. Enough already.
— Nick Garren (@nicholasgarren) June 18, 2024
It’s because wokeness demands that you believe words can cause irreparable harm by just reading them.
— Brian Doherty (@BDOH) June 18, 2024
This is probably not a corporate decision, it is probably something done by a low level employee(s) and whoever signed off on it didn’t think too too hard about it.
— Spreadsheeticus (@spreadsheeticus) June 20, 2024
This is why it’s still better to buy books and DVDs. If it’s online it can be changed at any time.
— nyer2k (@nyer2k) June 25, 2024
The now 65-year-old actor was part of an ensemble cast featured in the Vietnam-era film that followed young Marines on their journey from boot camp to the carnage of the bloody war in which over 58,000 Americans lost their lives.
(Video: Warner Brothers)
Also starting in “Full Metal Jacket” was Vincent D’Onofrio as the ill-fated “Private Gomer Pyle” along with former real-life USMC drill sergeant Lee Ermey who expertly played a similar character. Adam Baldwin played “Animal Mother” who has one of the film’s most iconic moments when he guns down women and children from a helicopter, and Arliss Howard as “Cowboy” who was one of Joker’s boot camp buddies who he later met in Vietnam for the movie’s climactic final battle.
Nothing is sacred to the “woke” thought police.
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.