One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest essay

One Flew over the Cuchoo’s Nest is the film that reveals diverse aspects of the life of people with metnal health problems and difficulties they confront during the treatment in the asylum depicted in the film. At the same time, the film helps to understand how people can exercise their power, when they are uncontrollable and use scientific methods to keep control over others. On the other hand, the film shows that any power is challengeable and people can change their life any time they are ready to. In this regard, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the film that depicts the struggle of the main character locked up in the asylum as the struggle of a freedom-addicted person against the science-driven mental health care system and its representatives, such as the nurse, Mildred Ratched. This struggle is the struggle between the person who has the formal authority and power and the informal leader, who challenges conventional norms and helps other people to become aware of their human dignity to avoid the overwhelming power of the formal authority in face of nurse Mildred Ratched. In fact, the film may be viewed in the context of Rose and Mulvey theoretical framework since One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest reveals the conflict between the conservative science and the post-modernist type of the main character, who rebels against the conventional scientific methods of treatment, while, on the other hand, the film shows the suppression of internal desires and problems and their impact on the behavior of main characters as is the case of nurse Mildred Ratched or the Chief.

The film was released on November 19, 1975. The film was directed by Milos Forman and distributed by United Artists. The film is based on the novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, while the screenplay was written by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman. The film became a tremendous success soon after its release. In fact, the film remains popular even today, although over 35 years have passed since the first release of the film. The film has become the classic and remains popular due to the themes the film raises and the perfect play of actors as well as good work of the director and solid screenplay.

The film reveals the conflict between the conventional science and the main character, McMurphy, who stands on the post-modernist ground denying the methods used by health care professionals in the asylum. In fact, the post-modernist view implies the critical view on science. Post-modernist denies the admiration of modernists with science. Modernists stood on the ground that science is the superior knowledge which can explain every aspect of human life and can find solution to any problem an individual may encounter. Instead, post-modernist challenge such a view on science as McMurphy does in the film rejecting the existing methods of treatment and attempting to establish his rules of the game in the asylum.

McMurphy believes that the return of patients of the asylum to the normal life will be the best cure for them. This is why he organizes and manages the trip to the seaside. Obviously, such approach challenges the traditional methods of treatment used in the mental health care environment. From the beginning of the film McMurphy is skeptical about the methods nurse Ratched used in relation to patients. At the same time, he believes that his treatment is really helpful and efficient. His skepticism in relation to science is typical for post-modernist but, such researcher as Rose, for instance, are very critical in relation to such post-modernist trends (Shanks, 28). For instance, Rose stands on the ground that post-modernism is inefficient and deprived of the scientific ground as the philosophy or approach that can be applied in scientifically-based environment. Therefore, from such critical perspective, actions and views of the main character of the film are basically wrong.

In this regard, his post-modernist denial of the superiority of science confronts the excessive devotedness to the medical science of nurse Ratched. Scientific views of the nurse deny post-modernist views of McMurphy and, in this respect, her views are close to ideas of Rose, who was very skeptical about post-modernism and ideas of imperfectness of science and its irrelevance to the real life of people (Shanks, 95). Instead, Rose would probably support the approach used by nurse Ratched, who stands on a solid scientific ground and uses available achievements of science to treat her patients. However, these approaches are not really efficient. At any rate the film does not show any consistent improvement or progress of patients in the course of the treatment managed by nurse Ratched.

At the same time, the film reveals the dehumanizing methods used in the asylum which makes the audience feel sympathetic in relation to McMurphy and other patients of the asylum. In such a way, the film uncovers the other side of science and medicine, which critics of post-modernism would like remain unnoticed. In fact, the scientific methods are dehumanizing since they rather lead to the destruction of the personality of patients than to their recovery. The recovery of the patient implies their conditioning by the nurse and other health care professionals. The film shows that patients of the asylum have no other options either to obey and to take the values, ideas and models of behavior imposed on them by health care professionals, or reject them and remain mentally ill.

McMurphy methods, instead, have a positive impact on patients, especially the Chief, who eventually breaks free and escapes from the asylum at the end of the film. In such a way, he proves that innovative methods of McMurphy have proved to be more efficient and, thus, the film raises doubts of the audience into the efficiency of science in the treatment of patients with mental health problems. Such a view on the science and its application to the treatment of mental health patients is close to post-modernism. The denial of science is the characteristic of post-modernism and McMurphy denies scientific methods used by nurse Ratched. He uses his methods as he wants to evoke the internal world of the patients and to make them dare to show their real self. The point of McMurphy’s efforts to help other patients is just to uncover their true self, their ego, as Mulvey would define it standing on her psychoanalytic ground (Mulvey, 122).

In this regard, Rose would likely to deny or challenge the post-modernist message of the film and, to a certain extent, such skepticism is reasonable and justifiable. For instance, some patients, including McMurphy, were potentially dangerous for the public but still McMurphy’s treatment implies their full liberation. Potentially actions of McMurphy are socially dangerous. On the other hand, the audience should not expect something different from a criminal, who attempts to escape the punishment hiding in the asylum. In fact, Rose criticism of post-modernism is, in a way, justifiable in relation to McMurphy because the denial of science should also have some limits (Shanks, 104). Otherwise, non-scientific views can be dangerous and lead to dangerous outcomes. In case of McMurphy and other patients going to the seaside was an adventure but a risky one. Even though patients enjoyed it and that was one of their greatest and most efficient cures for all their problems, but such methods are apparently risky and can hardly be applicable. Naturally, the audience should not perceive the film literally but still the implications of the total denial of science is apparently unacceptable and Rose’s skepticism concerning post-modernist denial of science is, to a certain extent, justifiable.

At the same time, the film reveals the psychoanalytical issues that arise in the course of the film. For instance, the main character is suppressing his desires in the course of the film. In this regard, Mulvey’s psychoanalytical perspective on films can help to understand better the main character as well as other characters of the film (Mulvey, 192). As the main character suppresses his desires, the anger within him growth stronger that results in the final outburst of rage after which he undergoes the lobotomy procedure.

In such a way, Mulvey’s psychoanalytic perspective helps to reveal consequences of the suppression of desires and intentions in the film (Mulvey, 114). In fact, the film depicts individuals, whose ego severely oppressed. In this regard, it is possible to refer to the patients of the asylum, whose ego is oppressed by the authority of nurse Ratched, who is a sort of dictator at the asylum level. She seems to control every aspect of the life of patients and more important she attempts to control their minds and to shape their behavior. Hence, she suppresses their ego that rather aggravates their mental health problems than helps to cure them.

At the same time, using Mulvey’s psychoanalytical perspective, it is possible to point out that the film depicts the main characters as individuals, who have diverse problems that are closely intertwined either with their serious psychological problems in the past or their oppressed ego (Mulvey, 108). For instance, the chief lives in the world of his own, being absolutely indifferent to the surrounding world, although the root of his problems can be found in his past, when his tribe virtually degraded and fell apart under the pressure of the technology and new lifestyle, which was hostile to the tribe. As a result, members of his community just turned into drunkards and the community steadily faded away. In fact, the Chief has the world within him but he is unwilling to share it with others. McMurphy attempts to uncover the internal world of the Chief and to return him to the normal life but he fails and it is only his total ruin and lobotomy, which actually killed the true McMurphy, that made the Chief capable to start acting and to reveal his true internal world and release his self.

The main character, McMurphy is the rapist but he has to stay within the asylum being surrounded by male patients. In such a situation, the nurse could have become the subject to his aggression because of the oppression of his sexual energy and ego. Hence, his behavior can be explained from the psychoanalytical perspective and Mulvey’s ideas of the strong impact of sexuality and gender relations on films (Balaram, 168) are relevant and applicable to One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Other characters of the film are fully subordinated to nurse Ratched, who exercises the full power of patients. However, her rule ends up with the arrival of McMurphy, who challenges her authority and undermines her power. In fact, the film reveals the conflict of powers. On the one hand, there is the formal power of nurse Ratched, while, on the other hand, there is an informal leader, McMurphy, who wants to set his rules and to take the power in his hands. By the end of the film he has succeeded to challenge the authority of the nurse but the system has ruined him.

Thus, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the film that uncovers complex relationships between the main characters, their views and philosophies. The film gives insights to the clash of modernity versus post-modernity but the analysis of the film reveals that there is no winner in this struggle. At the same time, the analysis of the film from the psychoanalytical perspective reveals the fact that characters of the film suffer from diverse problems, their ego is oppressed, while their past lays an unbearable burden on them, which they cannot overthrow without the external assistance.