I met with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest like 10 years ago. The book was in our highschools cirriculum eventhough I'm not really a hardcore book reader I loved it. However I found a chance to watch the movie of it 2 years later. I got a special method when I watch movies. I don't think about the movie in my first watch however if it is an interesting and complex movie I watch it multiple times for analysis. This week I wrote some article about Importance of Media Literacy skills. Lets use our media literacy skills on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
What Does this Movie Tell us ?
Before I start my analysis let me warn you about something. I'm really great at ruining cult movies. Eventhough the story looks like about the series of events McMurphy faced in mental hospital , according to my observation it is a highly critical movie that shows the close relationship between authoritarian establishments and individuals.
Lets take a look to our main character McMurphy . He Has all the characteristics to be excluded from society. He is agressive , lazy and hedonist and he ended up in an asylum with his own will. Obviously that asylum symbolises something deeper in that movie. It is just a pressure and authority system to keep individuals who are weak and full of social fears in order.
Lets take a look to the patient profile in our mental hospital , the patients are definelty not mad. They are just overly sensitive and they think that they will get harmed in a world without rules and they think the most suitable place for them is this asylum.
McMurpyh's effort to introduce outer world to them is mostly for nothing. The taste of freedom means nothing to them because they were happy about their lives which is regulated from someone else and nothing bad will happen to them in this safe space. They don't have anarchy in their dictionary , they mostly nag about it but for their own good they prefer a controlled life.
What is this hospital a Microcosm ?
It is highly possible , because if aren't we all lunatics of our own system ? Our own sociatal rules are limiting and opressive too. I don't think we are different than the patients in that hospital. Because most of us don't like to surpass our borders. I don't see any diffrences between social norms and hospital rules. Eventhough Mcmurphy is aware of the absurdness in this institution , his effort to change become meaningless at the end because authorities don't react well to anarchists.
At the end Hospital decides to give him a Lobotomy instead of kicking him out of the system. Now there isn't anybody to show the absurdness of the authority . Now he is like everyone else an ideal boy of the society.