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Power Dynamics In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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The film, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, has been categorized as an impactful movie and changed the way many individuals think about certain topics that still remain an issue within society. The way that it was most impactful was the way that it reflected and took an approach to power dynamics. The perspective of power dynamics throughout this film could be very similar to mental healthcare institutions or other institutions spread across the nation. The power dynamic is what defines this movie as a whole. The authority figure would be Nurse Ratched and the oppressed would be the patients that seek help for their mental illnesses. The way that Nurse Ratched abuses her power is her constant attempt to emasculate the men that attend that institution. For instance, in the film, Nurse Ratched repeatedly reminds her patients that they are “weak” and “unmanly”, further diminishing their masculinity, and making them feel inclined to give in to her commands. Along with this, this film has allowed awareness about mental illness to spread and has changed a multitude of perspectives about mental illness. This movie allowed individuals to feel more empathetic …show more content…

In this scene, the patients decide to go on a fishing trip, which is a huge change in routine for them. These patients are used to following a strict and set routine. This change allowed them to participate in an activity that they felt was exciting and joyous. This trip, compared to their stay at the mental health institution, was much different due to their change in freedom. While on this trip, they were not under anyone’s rule, and they were able to do what they wanted. They weren’t restricted the same way they are in the institution. This gave them a sense of freedom and provided them with the chance to have a sense of self and establish their

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With this in mind, she does not hesitate to exercise her power on the psych ward. Furthermore, Kesey characterizes Nurse Ratched as the antithesis to Randle McMurphy. In the Chief’s mind, he can “smell the machinery inside the way that you smell a motor” (Kesey 4). This statement further shows how the people of the asylum see her as a regent and connects her to the Combine. Nurse Ratched controls every aspect of the patients’ daily lives.

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Ken Kesey’s comic novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, takes place in an all-male psychiatric ward. The head of the ward, Big Nurse Ratched, is female. Kesey explores the power-struggle that takes place when the characters challenge gender dynamics in this environment. One newly-arrived patient, McMurphy, leads the men against the Big Nurse. The story is told through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a patient who learns from McMurphy and fights for his freedom.

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    Nurse Ratched displays her power over the ward by using the electroshock therapies and lobotomies as punishment. She uses the patients as examples of power because this scares the ward’s members into conforming to her rules and regulations. At the end of the novel, Ratched makes McMurphy go through a

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The Nurse Ratched, maintains her power on the ward by manipulating the men’s fears and desires. She uses shame to keep them submissive. She manipulates her staff through insinuation and by carefully stroking their hatred. When she is unable to get the protagonist, McMurphy, under control, she tries to manipulate the other patients to turn against him by suggesting that he is manipulative himself and has never helped the men without getting something in return. We can relate this event with the phrase of Philip k. Dick, an extraordinary American Science fiction writer, he says; “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words.

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In the drama film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, Patrick McMurphy was moved from a prison farm to a mental institution to get evaluated for his erratic behavior. Upon being transported to the institution, all his assumptions about his new home were completely wrong. The head nurse, Nurse Ratched, has the whole hospital under her control with little to no freedom for the patients. All the inmates at the institution go through rigorous training to become obedient to Nurse Ratched and her strict schedule and rules. The institution was a very controlled environment with the patients having no control over their own life’s while there.

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Having a choice or a say in an important matter is something most people treasure; the fact that we have control over our future. To other, these decisions can be more burdensome than liberating. They can cause one great stress and anxiety if one sees himself unfit to make that weighing decision. Overly-anxious people prefer to give up this decision-making power to another trusted person. The patients Ken Kesey describes in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are content giving up this privilege that everyone is entitled to, until Randle McMurphy makes them aware of what they’re missing out on.

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For decades the nursing industry has been stereotyped as a woman’s place. In 1975, the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest displayed this in full force. In the movie, Randle McMurphy is sent from prison to a mental institution for evaluation. McMurphy has repeated problems with Nurse Ratched, the Head Nurse. This movie is a prime example of the stereotypical view of the nursing industry at that time because all the nurses are women and the orderlies are men.

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Throughout the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest written by Ken Kesey, power is a recurring theme that also teaches the morals of responsibility in this novel. Power is something that can easily be abused when given to the wrong person, as demonstrated in the story through allusions and characters, such as the antagonist, Nurse Ratched, and the protagonist, Randle McMurphy. Without proper use of power, it may result in negative consequences, therefore it is important for one to use their power accordingly and responsibly, as demonstrated all throughout the novel. Firstly, the novel demonstrates the theme of power through making reference to a famous historical figure, Adolf Hitler.

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In human culture, there is a constant battle between order and control and originality and free thinking. In the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, R P McMurphy is an energetic, spontaneous new arrival at an Oregon psychiatric ward who wants to bring life into the place, but Nurse Ratched, who manages the facility, runs a strict, orderly and very structured program that has no place for fun or individuality. Ken Kesey wrote his novel in 1962, at the height of the hippie generation, the push of young Americans rebelling against the system, and an abundance of psychedelic drugs running rampant across the country. Kesey turns McMurphy and Nurse Ratched into contemporary metaphors for the 1960s, where the battle for dominance and

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It's curious to note that in the beginning she was ‘all powerful’ and toward the end she begins losing power and favorable opinions of the men in the ward. This reminds me of present russia and Vladimir Putin and his very totalitarian government - how he was once a very respected leader in his country (specifically in his country as many “outsiders” did not - and still do not - think favorably of him) but essentially ‘fell from grace’ when he declared war against the ukraine with his own people now disliking him. This is much like Nurse Ratched; how the men in the ward (people of russia) respected her (putin) and the audience (outsiders) did not - then as the film goes on the men begin to lose respect for her. I like the way the film developed and how other underlying themes like the contrast between tyranny vs “sanity” begin to become more prominent

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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was a movie that demonstrated the difficulties of living in a controlled environment. Hierarchy, depersonalization, adjustment, and institutionalization are the characteristics that are shown throughout the film. The institutionalized men experience these things and we see how they are affected by the environment around them. The movie gives a visual interpretation of what it is like to be in a mental institution. It is clear from the start who is in charge and who is not.

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The movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” gives an inside look into the life of a patient living in a mental institution; helping to give a new definition of mental illnesses. From a medical standpoint, determinants of mental illness are considered to be internal; physically and in the mind, while they are seen as external; in the environment or the person’s social situation, from a sociological perspective (Stockton, 2014). Additionally, the movie also explores the idea of power relations that exist between an authorized person (Nurse Ratched) and a patient and further looks into the punishment a deviant actor receives (ie. McMurphy contesting Nurse Ratched). One of the sociological themes that I have observed is conformity.

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, prompts very important aspect of the human condition. In the movie, the protagonist, Mac McMurphy, is deemed dangerous, so the mental institute tries to suppress him (Kesey). The film highlights various aspects of human conditions like psychology, sociology and philosophy. The mental institute tries to suppress the mentally challenged people rather than to try to communicate with them.

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