Rebellion against an Authoritarian Society - Essay Example

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Rebellion against an Authoritarian Society Mental institutions offer psychiatric support to mentally ill patients, but one protagonist shows how the system is the one breeding mental illnesses among ordinary citizens. In the film One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, directed by Milos Forman, Randle Patrick McMurphy (Nicholson), a criminal serving jail time, claims insanity, so that he can escape the drudgery of imprisonment. He is transferred to a state mental hospital, where he is under evaluation for his “insanity.” During this time, McMurphy makes friends with several “inmates,” especially Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif) and the “deaf and dumb” “Chief” Bromden, also called “Broom” (Will Sampson). The doctors and Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) see McMurphy as a threat to the system, because he promotes free will, freedom, changes, and autonomy through questioning authority and inspiring fellow inmates to express themselves and demand their rights, and so the system deals with him through enforcing rigid rules and regulations and continuously breaking the spirits of their patients through oppression, manipulation, and sometimes, even through electric shocks and lobotomy. McMurphy is a threat to the “system,” because he questions its norms and assumptions, which instigates debate and discussion on the legitimacy of its power. An authoritarian society will never condone a sane man questioning the system, because that questioning can lead to a revolution that will oust those in power. In the same line of reasoning, the hospital management sees McMurphy as a sane person, because he is rational enough to question the irrationality of the system. However, they also see him as insane, because they believe that he cannot change a social institution. McMurphy is a threat to the system, because he is a bad example to the rest of the subservient society, or specifically, the inmates of the hospital. The patients are called inmates, because they are supposed to be free, since they can leave the hospital anytime. However, because of Nurse Ratched’s control over them, they feel helpless and instead of resolving their psychological issues, they become more reliant on the system. McMurphy tells his fellow inmates: “God Almighty, she's got you guys comin’ or goin.’ What do you think she is, [sic] some kind of a champ or something [sic]?” He asks others to analyze their situation by criticizing the legitimacy of its control over them. He wants them to open their eyes that their conformity to rules and regulations already stifles their freedoms and free will. He says that Nurse Ratched is not a champ, which means that they are the champ. They are the champ of their sanity and their fates. McMurphy exercises his freedom of speech during therapy sessions to show others that Nurse Ratched is not god and that they all have human freedoms and rights to fight for. He creates all sorts of “mischief,” which are actually manifestations of free will and freedom, such as demanding to watch the 1963 World Series baseball game, kidnapping his inmates to fish in the ocean, and having an unauthorized party with some girls inside the institution. All these actions instigate attitudes and practices of defiance among other inmates. For instance, Cheswick, who is once docile, yells to the Nurse: “Rules? Piss on your f--king rules, Miss Ratched!” He has awakened from his slumber of subservience and this scares the system. The last thing they need is McMurphy leading the inmates toward a rebellion against the management. Another incident where McMurphy helps fellow patients change is when they are fishing. Cheswick has self-esteem problems. Still, McMurphy assigned him an important position- the captain of the ship. At first, Cheswick is reluctant, because of his confidence issues. Later on, he enjoys the leadership position so much that even fights Harding for it. This struggle exemplifies the changes within the patients. They are slowly resolving their problems, because McMurphy shows that they can and they do not need a repressive system to heal their mental illnesses. McMurphy asks his fellow inmates to fly over the cuckoo’s nest and break from it, which can be achieved through trying and believing that they are strong and free enough to escape the authoritarian system. He bets with the patients that he can run away from the hospital by carrying the marbled water fountain and then hurling it at the window. He tries to move the heavy fountain, but he cannot even lift it. He turns to the patients and states: “But I tried, didn't I? God-damn it. At least I did that.” This statement means that he is proud to say that he refused to surrender to the status quo. He is willing to challenge it and to do the impossible. McMurphy becomes a transformational leader, who inspires them to change their circumstances. He wants them to try changing their disenfranchised situation, because trying is the first step to freedom and autonomy. If they try, they will feel power. They will remember that they have free will. Essentially, McMurphy wants to inspire people in changing their deeply-seated attitudes and beliefs about their oppression. These patients already accept their subordination as if it is normal. They drink their medicine, for instance, without asking its ingredients and purposes. Before McMurphy drinks his medicine, he asks the nurse about it. He stresses: “But I don't like the idea of taking something if I don't know what it is. I don't want anyone to try and slip me salt-peter. You know what I mean?” He also wants other patients to stop believing that the best of their worlds already exist in the hospital. This is why trying to lift the heavy water station is crucial in making his point. He is trying to do something nearly impossible, because through this action, he leads them to the idea of empowering themselves through trying and believing that they “can.” McMurphy also helps his fellow patients to realize their freedoms and sanity. He kidnaps them and brings them to fishing. When he introduces themselves to a charter boat harbor manager (Mel Lambert) as doctors, this signifies a reversal of roles. In effect, McMurphy shows that people are free to be anyone they want to be. They cannot allow society to tell them that they are crazy. He asserts to them that they are “…no crazier than the average asshole out walking around on the streets and that's it!” He reminds them that they are crazy only, because they allow the hospital to label them as insane. The ocean, fishing, and birds in the sea symbolize freedom that McMurphy wants his fellow patients to experience and to fight for. The ocean is expansive and represents multitudes of opportunities. It evokes images of voyage and voyage means freedom. Fishing is a group activity that teaches skills about intuition and self-reliance. It is about developing self-confidence, especially when the patients catch big fishes. Birds signify flight and movement. These are symbols of freedom that McMurphy seeks for himself and his fellow patients. He wants them, most of all, to break free from their embedded subjugation. During the fishing trip, McMurphy congratulates Martini for being the captain of their boat: “You're not an idiot. Huh! You're not a goddamn looney now, boy. You're a fisherman!” The fisherman suggests freedom to act and to be productive. Through their fishing experience, they have a collective, empowering experience. They become a community of individuals who are free and ready to be different people, different from what society judges them to be. One of the products of McMurphy’s actions is Billy’s awakening. When Billy loses his stutter, the film shows that his stutter reflects his subordination to an authoritarian system. Billy feels liberated, because he is no longer a virgin. Sex becomes his vehicle to feel that he owns his life and he can make decisions as an adult. Through this scene, Forman is showing that if people express themselves and practice their freedoms, they will be empowered. They must be willing to take risks, however, because they cannot be free without opposing an oppressive system. The news report on TV that shows the opening of the Berlin Wall represents an allusion to freedom. To open the wall signifies the act of breaking out from the system and seeking freedom and autonomy. Unfortunately, Billy is under Ratched’s oppressive conditioning. When she says, “You know Billy, what worries me is how your mother's going to take this,” Billy stutters once more. This means that his stutter comes from dysfunctional relationships. First, his mother treats him as a weakling, so he develops poor self-image and becomes highly insecure. Second, Nurse Ratched takes advantage of his weakness and breaks him. She should have been happy that Billy broke his stutter, but she insists on breaking his spirit again to protect the status quo. She wants to maintain her power. Her power is more important to her than helping her clients become well again. Billy feels remorse for his actions and hates himself so much that he commits suicide. McMurphy is also a threat to the system, because of his violent tendencies. Violence is a form of armed conflict against a tyrannical system. When McMurphy learns about Billy’s death, he strangles Nurse Ratched. He blames her for pushing Billy to the edge and he is so angry, because she does not even feel guilty about it. She orders them to “calm down” and “go on with our daily routine.” She does not feel any guilt for her actions, which makes her the true sociopath, the one who ironically needs help in this movie. She feels nothing for these patients, which is evident from the way she stares and interacts with them like they are fragile children. Billy breaks free from her hold, nevertheless, through death. His death opens his world to freedoms that he cannot attain while alive. The “system” deals with the likes of McMurphy through medication and oppression. The hospital represents an authoritarian system that aims to subdue the people’s free will and freedoms, so that the status quo political system can be maintained. Medication is one of the ways that ensures biological control over the patients. They are sedated, so that they will stop resisting their conditions. Many of them are already in a vegetative state, because of these medicines that they are taking. Furthermore, the medicine aims to reinforce the routine that oppresses them. The medicine symbolizes an outside force that controls and predicts behavior. Oppression is present in the institution, because of the inflexible rules that are imposed on the patients. For instance, there are rules for medicine, listening to music, gambling, and playing outside, among many others. Every aspect of living is controlled through these rules and schedules. As a result, the patients do not have the freedom to ask for any form of changes. McMurphy cannot even turn down the volume of the music, because Nurse Ratched claims that it is for the old men who needed the music. She imposes these rules, feigning democracy every now and then, although the final decision is always hers to make. McMurphy emphasizes to Dr. Spivey that Nurse Ratched is not “honest” and that she “likes a rigged game.” Indeed, she changes the rules of the game to suit her interests and needs. She does not follow the rules herself, thereby placing her identity over the rules and patients. As part of the preservers of the system, changing the rules is fundamental to her domineering practices. Nurse Ratched’s role and her “emasculating” behavior also help the system in ensuring its existence through her psychologically oppressive practices. Nurse Ratched wants to control the patients. Her name sounds like “wretched,” which represents her wretched life. The only way she feels powerful is in the hospital, where she emasculates all men, from the orderlies to the inmates. In fact, she also emasculates the doctors, because they already want to send McMurphy away, but she opposes this decision. Instead, she says: “Well gentlemen, my opinion, if we send him back to Pendleton or we send him up to 'Disturbed,' it's just one more way of passing on our problems to somebody else.” She has selected McMurphy as her personal mission. She wants to break and emasculate him under her administration. She informs the doctors, too, that it is important to ensure order in the hospital through “helping” McMurphy: “You know, we don't like to do that. So I'd like to keep him on the ward. I think we can help him.” She keeps on saying “we,” when in reality, she means “I.” Nurse Ratched seeks to impose her power even more through breaking her greatest challenge yet. Still, Nurse Ratched cannot be seen as an entirely dark villain. She emasculates the society that disempowers her gender. Though her means are not morally justified, in her own way, she asserts female power over the patriarchal society. She is also an individual who struggles against a male-dominated society who sees females as sex objects or mere means to their ends. Manipulation is also a sign of the authoritarian system. When Nurse Ratched sees that the majority voting will go against her wishes, she includes patients who are in the vegetative state, even when they are too mentally troubled to make independent decisions. She stresses to McMurphy: “These men are members of the ward just as you are.” This sentence is an understatement. First, they are no longer “men” or human beings in the complete sense, because they have withdrawn to their inner worlds. They are no longer conscious of, or responsive to their surroundings. In a way, they have given up on living a normal life. Second, they are incapable of making independent decisions. McMurphy asks these patients to vote, but their minds are wandering elsewhere. They are unconscious of their free will. Because of their mental conditions, the hospital makes the decisions for them. Hence, Ratched manipulates the decision by claiming that these people are still human beings who can vote, even when she is perfectly aware that they cannot vote independently anymore because of their mental conditions. Also, Cheswick, McMurphy, and Chief Bromden are punished and sent to the “Disturbed” ward to receive electro-shock treatments. These punishments are supposed to keep patients in check and for them to know their proper place, as disenfranchised people in the hospital system. McMurphy gets lobotomized too, because of his wild party and homicide attempt on the life of Nurse Ratched. The lobotomy is the harshest penalty for the most vocal patient of all, the only patient who knows his rights and fights for them. These hospital practices are direct violations of the human body and free will. They symbolize the coercion and force that the system uses to maintain its power and to silence those who question it. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest signifies that the cuckoos are not the patients, but the system. It is a cuckoo for superficially representing the interests of the patients, when in reality, it only wants to promote and preserve its selfish agenda for control. The system has made a nest for the inmates, so that they have power over them. Through a tyrannical system, which Nurse Ratched heads, the system maintains a subservient populace. McMurphy threatens the system, because he teaches his fellow patients to express free will, freedom, and autonomy. He invites them to be open to changes within and around them, changes that can empower them and help them resolve their psychological problems. The system quells this rebellion through imposing rigid and unequivocal rules and punishments. It is willing to sacrifice the rights of the patients, if it can ensure its existence. The Chief commits mercy killing as a favor for his friend. McMurphy wants freedom, not lobotomy. In his death, he is free and when Chief frees himself and goes to Canada, he also frees McMurphy as well. Work Cited One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Dir. Milos Forman. Perf. Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher and Michael Berryman. United States, Fantasy Film. Film. Read More