Analyzing Evil: Sergeant Barnes From Platoon

hello everyone and welcome to the 33rd episode of analyzing evil featuring sergeant barnes from platoon in a film where many deplorable behaviors are displayed across a wide array of supporting characters sergeant barnes manages to stand out above the rest and the incredible performance of tom barringer in this role give us a character whose actions and behaviors tell the story of a deeply troubled man who's found his humanity dampened by the horrors of war in this video i'm going to take you through all the aspects of barns that make him such an effective antagonist and a harrowing example of what can happen to a man who's dwelled in the dark for too long without further ado let's begin sergeant barnes has a stern solemn and menacing face one that is rarely seen with a smile or any hint of joy the scars that line his face and the cold dead eyes that lay buried beneath them are telling of a man who's seen and experienced many horrors during his time serving in the vietnam war his scars aren't only limited to his face and we can see during the scene where he's playing cards that he suffered more than one injury during the course of this war adding another layer of torment to an already troubled character his clothes are obviously standard issue infantry but what's most remarkable about his choice of clothing is that it's so unremarkable we never see barnes wearing anything that isn't a part of the standard issue uniform and unlike his compatriots his helmet is clean and neat containing no writing save for some illegible script along the band that may only be there to help him identify his helmet he does carry a pack of cigarettes and a folded up pamphlet of some sort in this band but other than that his uniform is entirely standard this appearance is very much in line with the man barnes is as what we see here is a man who appears to be no nonsense and one who has a countenance that relays to us a grave seriousness that comes from the many years he's likely spent living a reality of near constant warfare which brings us to his personality which we can assume has been heavily affected by his time spent as a soldier we have no way of knowing what kind of man barnes was before becoming a soldier but we know that he's now a cold jaded and cynical individual with little compassion beyond a desire to see his men kept alive this is one of the precious few virtues we can find in sgt barnes however his noble pursuit of trying to keep his men alive is underscored by the fact that he doesn't concern himself with their well-being beyond their status as a living person barnes could care less whether the men serving with him are miserable all that matters to barnes is that they live this is evident from the way he treats his fellow soldiers how he berates them whenever they show any sign of weakness or how he totally disregards any negative feelings they might be having in any given moment but it's equally as evident that the death of his comrades profoundly affects barnes as we can see when he's visibly shaken up after two men die upon springing a trap where he looks forlorn and sorrowful at what he likely perceived as lives lost too soon deaths that could have been prevented and men that could have been useful knowing this about barnes i wouldn't go as far as to say that barnes only cares about saving men because every man lost is yet another soldier they can't utilize to fight the war but this notion has to be at least partially relevant as barn's primary concern is undoubtedly winning the war above all else now barnes seems to have a superiority complex but i have my doubts that this behavior was something present within barnes before the war rather he cultivated it over years of watching inexperienced officers like lieutenant wolf undermine the war effort his experience in the field plays into this as barnes is not only a capable soldier but a capable commander as well and after what he perceives as years of inaction from both his commanding officers and the united states government barnes has gained insight into the inner workings of this war and he has come to the conclusion that in order to end this war drastic and harsh measures need to be taken he's a man of action one who doesn't drag his feet and doing what needs to be done and one who is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of his men and the success of his mission now these traits aren't necessarily bad especially during times of war but in sergeant barnes these somewhat noble ideas are undermined by his complete disregard for human life and suffering as well as his rage cruelty and vindictive nature barnes has absolutely no sympathy for his enemy whatsoever be they civilian or soldier this behavior is not only expressed by barnes in this film as many of his fellow infantrymen seem to share the same views as he which are highlighted during the scene where they're scouring a village for viet cong these sentiments are understandable to an extent as for a great many individuals there are only so many friends and allies you can see murdered before your heart hardens against anyone and everyone who you feel is perpetuating this violence emotions are certainly high after the loss of men they just experienced especially after finding manny's corpse pinned up in such a brutal way here chris taylor says it best when he describes barnes as the eye of the storm of rage that was building up in all of these men at that moment and again these feelings are completely understandable what's inexcusable is acting on these feelings of hatred and murdering innocents in a fit of rage feelings are feelings but actions are another thing altogether and when we watch sergeant barnes shoot a woman in cold blood simply for being concerned about what these men have done to her village it's heinous to say the least subsequently holding a gun to her daughter's head in attempts to coerce information from her husband is just adding another layer to an already despicable act of murder war isn't always a black and white affair and sometimes an act of evil is in service to the greater good here though we see a man who's taking quick action based off of tertiary intel that he hasn't had any time to confirm yes they have czechoslovak weapons and an overabundance of rice but if a war is ravaging your country i think anybody would be taking measures to defend themselves and provide provisions for their community it's true they could have been harboring viet cong as he suspected but again he had no way of confirming this information and when it comes down to it this act is nothing more than a hasty attempt at intimidation and coercion and an event that transforms barns in our eyes from a callous and cynical man to a ruthless cruel and cold-blooded murderer it's in this scene as well where we get to see the inflammation of his already hostile relationship with elias which highlights a facet of barns that i mentioned before which is already prevalent in his treatment of the vietnamese his vindictive nature now i don't believe his quest for revenge against elias after this event is only rooted in the fact that he's ratted on him or that he personally slighted him rather it's just as elias says during a conversation with taylor barnes believes in what he's doing barnes isn't so much looking to get back at elias as he is looking to eliminate what he perceives as a weakness that's bringing down his platoon and the war effort he even says as much himself during his confrontation with taylor's group in their hangout where he states during his speech that he doesn't have a problem with a man who does what he's told but in his mind elias wasn't because he was going against what orders barnes personally envisioned for him to follow obviously there was also self-preservation in mind when he murdered elias as elias was going to tell the truth of what barnes had done back in the village and possibly get barnes court-martialed but regardless i feel barnes would have eventually killed elias whether or not this had happened either that or he assumed a man like elias wouldn't last much longer conducting himself the way he had now as i said earlier barnes is jaded and cynical and his reasons for being this way can be deduced from that same speech i mentioned a moment ago here barnes berates the men telling them they don't know anything about death or killing and that elias was full of it a crusader who was blind to the cold hard reality of the world barnes feels that through his experiences he has come out ahead of the men that surround him that it's he who has the greatest understanding of what it means to kill and be killed and those who believe otherwise are nothing but fools fools who hope to end a war with compassion and mercy when they should be brutal and remorseless what do these men know of hardship what do they truly know of those you care for dying before you of ending a man's life with the intent to survive and to be victorious beneath the heart exterior of barnes lies a man whose hardships have weighed so heavily upon his soul that they have crushed every ounce of good will and compassion that he may have once held though these men suffer the same pain as barnes and have lived through many of the things he has he has become so disillusioned with the common man and their flawed efforts to fight this war that he cannot see past his own pain to recognize or acknowledge the same pain that those around him are experiencing and that is what has damaged barnes to the point that he's become a man whose mentality has been reduced solely to the idea of us or them nothing more and nothing less the irony of barnes chastising these men for using marijuana to escape from reality claiming he doesn't need an escape like that and then taking a swig of whiskey makes it all the more evident that barnes is entirely blind to the truth of himself and those around him he's so caught up in his own misery and negative outlook on the world that he has no time to consider anything else around him he's become consumed with the idea of death and victory at any cost a man who no longer has any fear one who heads into battle without any concern for his own person and much of barnes humanity has been usurped by a constant focus on warfare it's no wonder then that at the end of the film we find barnes in a state of near madness a look on his face as he's lifting his shovel high above his head to bring an end to taylor that tells us that behind those eyes whoever robert barnes was has been totally devoured by this war leaving only an empty and broken man whose primal emotions and traumas have dissolved him into a hollow being devoid of emotion it's only fitting that he should suffer the consequences of his actions and at this end we must ask ourselves who was sergeant barnes he was a man who became jaded and cynical after living through years of conflict death and misery and a man whose moral compass humanity and general outlook on life had been thrown irreparably out of place by the horrors of war his experience during this time gave him the idea that it was he who had seen the truth the one who had come to know the inner workings of both war and death of which only he truly understood this caused robert barnes to distance himself from any and all things that he considered weak and soft and the entities he perceived as undermining his efforts to end this war by whatever means necessary though he was charismatic strong and experienced the pain he had endured superseded these traits to leave us with a man who was condescending merciless and ruthless a brutal example of what lengths humans are willing to go to when they're pushed to the brink sergeant barnes without a doubt committed acts of evil in pursuit of his own warped sense of justice and victory but let us not forget the greater evils that molded barns into the man we see in this film the evils of war violence suffering and death all of which have the potential to turn anyone of any background or belief to abusing the very evil that they so despise sergeant barnes is a terrifying example of this a lesson in the limits of the human soul and the horrors of war horrors that can pierce one's heart and bury them under an avalanche of evil thank you all for tuning in to this episode of analyzing evil and i hope you've enjoyed what are your thoughts on sergeant barnes did i miss anything let me know down below and leave a suggestion for a villain you'd like to see featured in a future episode while you're at it if you liked this video and want to see more like it appearing in your feed click the subscribe button to keep up on the latest episodes and feel free to leave a like while you're at it thank you once again to all of my existing subscribers for your continued and incredible support if you'd like to support the channel even further consider signing up as a patron over on patreon you can find 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Channel: The Vile Eye

Views: 1,023,649

Keywords: Platoon, Oliver Stone, Charlie Sheen, Sergeant Barnes, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Evil, Villain, Analysis

Id: z91-S37ihjk

Length: 13min 25sec (805 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 16 2021