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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Themes

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‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is an American comedy-drama filmed in 1975 which was directed by Milos Forman. The film is based on a 1962 novel ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ by Ken Kesey. The film is about the protagonist Randle McMurphy, who was a recidivist criminal which avoided going to prison by serving the rest of his sentence in a mental asylum. He later finds out that the ward is run by a strict Nurse Ratched who is the antagonist in the film. Throughout the film many literally devices were explored such as themes, symbolisms, situational irony, setting, allusions and more. The main focuses were themes which were depicted in the film through manipulation. Another was situational irony which explored how McMurphy first entered …show more content…

In spite of the fact that McMurphy’s doctrine is not exactly the same principals as Christs, some of the messages portrayed are similar as he acts as a guardian/saviour for the patients. Christ required somewhat more than just miracles, to lead humanity to salvation, he needed support and a responsive gathering of people. He selected twelve disciples to spread the news of the Lord and sent them to purify malicious spirits. McMurphy likewise does the same by teaching the arts of their manhood to his own disciples. Though Christ and McMurphy have a difficult time convincing everybody, other’s doubts lead to their downfalls. One area, for instance, Christ took the devotees to show them was on a vessel in the sea of Galilee. McMurphy did the same thing because he took the eleven patients and the doctor with him on a fishing expedition, hence he could teach them about a “manly life”. He was able to impact and change the lives of a few people in the ward, for instance, Billy Babbit, he gained confidence and courage and was finally able to stand up to Nurse Ratched. Another was Chief who was viewed as “deaf and dumb”, was later on able to finally escape the ward and regain his

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    This is just like the twelve followers of Jesus. When McMurphy takes them on a fishing trip, Chief reflects “He’d shown us what a little bravado and courage could accomplish, and we thought he’d taught us how to use it…. As McMurphy led the twelve of us toward the ocean”(Kesey, 239). Ever since McMurphy gets into the hospital, the hospital is not the same. McMurphy has teach every one of them the thing they are missing McMurphy is like the Jesus to the patients in the hospital; he has huge impact on twelve patients.

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    When McMurphy comes to the ward, he is baptized through a shower, symbolizing the baptism of Christ before commencing his mission on earth. The author introduces the readers to Ellis who foreshadows the future events. Chief Bromden who describes the state of patients in the mental institutions by saying that Ellis is a chronic “nailed against the wall in the same condition they lifted him off the table for the last time in the same shape, arms out, palms cupped” (Kesey 16). The author evokes the imagery of Christ where just like other patients going to therapy; McMurphy approaches the nurse and says, “I wash my hands of the whole deal” (Kesey 279). The phrase is similar to the words said to Pontius Pilate before sentencing Jesus.

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    One man, George, was a germaphobe and was scared of being hosed off. McMurphy stands up for George and ends up getting into a fight with one of the aids. Bromden backs McMurphy up in the fight, so they both had to get EST treatment. As previously described, the table is shaped like a cross which helps prove that he is a Christ figure because Jesus was hung on a cross. Another instance where McMurphy is presented as a Christ figure is when Ratched found Billy Bibbit with Candy in the Seclusion room.

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