Did Mcmurphy Change In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Kristina Wang

Ms. Cook

AP Psychology

13 May 2016

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Film Analysis In the intense, yet often comedic, award-winning film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Randle P. McMurphy, a criminal who is serving his sentence at a prison farm is sent to a mental hospital for evaluation. Although McMurphy refuses to accept the idea of being mentally ill, he expresses that he would much rather serve in a mental hospital than do manual labor. As he starts to observe the routine at the hospital, he begins conflicting with the head nurse, Nurse Ratched. Throughout the movie, the tension increases and ultimately leads McMurphy to attempt to escape for good. Although things turn toward the unexpected, lessons are learned and characters

His influence on other patients is rather extraordinary due to the fact that their improvements were minor before he really began impacting their lives. McMurphy’s contagious leading personality caused a lot of the other patients to be rebellious because he was doing it. In the scene where McMurphy steals the school bus, it is likely that the others would not have done it if they were not in a group. If they were alone, they might be completely against doing so because they would assume full responsibility but in a group the responsibility is diffused and the individual’s identity is somewhat lost. This idea of deindividuation is continued into the scene where McMurphy steals a boat and a man questions the group as they all look a little strange. McMurphy claims they are all doctors and all the other patients go along with it. These patients are more likely to do something they are not used to because they are in a group and peer influence is acting on them. Deindividuation is the idea that people are more likely to conform and lose self awareness when in a group and do things they may not be used to doing. The person is usually losing their self identity. In the scene mentioned, all the patients other than McMurphy are victims of deindividuation because of their actions in said scene. They act more impulsively, more recklessly, and are more willing to

Freud’s theory breaks the psyche up into 3 elements: the id, superego, and ego. The id is said to be the most powerful part, and solely unconscious. It controls our basic drives and is demanding and has no regard for morality, rules, or order. The superego is the smallest element of the psyche and deals with ethics and provides standards for the other elements of personality to abide by. Lastly, the ego is the “middle-man” between the id and the superego, as they tend to conflict. The ego takes into account that basic drives need to be met while rationalizing and understanding to abide by basic social conventions. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy, Nurse Ratched, and Chief Bromden all acted as an element of the Freudian theory. McMurphy was clearly a more reckless, impulsive character that rarely looked at the consequences of his actions. He thought of himself and what he wanted for a majority of the movie. He often gave into the pleasure principle, lacking any sense of morality. This was exemplified when he was in the circle during the therapy session and he wanted to throw off the entire night schedule just so he can watch the World Series. He insisted and said “to hell with the schedule” not thinking about those with more chronic illnesses and how they might react to a change in the schedule it