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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 47686 Views


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Description:

Who's really the crazy one in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:05

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a la Shmoop. Nurse Ratched's mental ward: come for the

00:17

rest and recuperation, stay for the mind games and spirit breaking.

00:24

It's not a very nice place.

00:25

You know you're somewhere special when the nicest and most sympathetic person...

00:25

...is a guy who smothers his friend to death with a pillow.

00:26

The sheer number of unstable minds on display brings up the big question:

00:30

Who's the looniest toon? Is it our hero, the man who aims to misbehave,

00:39

McMurphy?

00:41

Well, he has been institutionalized. That's usually a good sign that something's wrong

00:51

upstairs.

00:52

So maybe he's in a mental hospital for a reason.

00:56

And McMurphy's brain operates on another level. He never seems to realize the danger that

00:58

he's in, or the power that Nurse Ratched has over him...

01:02

...even though his arch-nemesis is watching his every move, he's mostly concerned about

01:08

baseball and women. That is, until McMurphy tries to strangle

01:16

Ratched to death.

01:20

Yeah... that's not gonna get him points on the sanity scale.

01:27

But to be fair, he hasn't had an easy go of it. McMurphy's a bit of a maverick, and he

01:34

can't stand the fact that the world's trying to squeeze him into a mold.

01:36

Maybe all that crazy behavior is just a way for him to rebel.

01:40

So is he really nuts, or is it, like, the system, man?

01:46

If it is the system, doesn't that mean Nurse Ratched is the crazy one?

01:51

Well, for starters, she's super manipulative, and her desire for power and control is definitely...

01:58

maniacal.

01:58

Sure, she speaks sweetly to everyone... but she's also hiding some seriously creepy monster

01:58

eyes behind that friendly mask.

01:59

Are we the only ones who get a "serial killer" vibe when she's around?

02:02

Speaking of serial killing, Ratched drives two men to suicide and basically murders McMurphy

02:06

by ordering a lobotomy.

02:07

How does she react to all of that? With a big fat "Meh."

02:11

But we'll hold off on saying that she's 100% certifiable. If McMurphy is a victim of the

02:17

system, Ratched might be a victim, too.

02:21

She has her orders, after all. But wait a sec. If McMurphy and Nurse Ratched

02:23

are both actually sane, then what's really going on here?

02:25

Maybe we're supposed to see that "crazy" is all about perspective.

02:28

Sure, McMurphy is a little nutty, but his actions also make us realize how arbitrary

02:34

"sanity" can be...

02:36

...especially when the poster child for "having your ducks in a row" happens to be the murderous,

02:41

mean-spirited, "Ultimate Grinch" Nurse Ratched.

02:43

To put it another way: if Ratched is normal, we might just rather be nuts.

02:50

So what do you think?

02:51

Is McMurphy the bonkers one who belongs in a mental ward...

02:54

...is Nurse Ratched a psycho herself...

02:57

...or is crazy just a state of mind? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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