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Greetings, and welcome to Earthling Cinema.
I am your host, Garyx Wormuloid. This week’s
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artifact is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
or One Flew Over the for short. The film stars
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the inimitable Jack Nicholson, who is best
remembered as the mascot for the Los Angeles
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Lakers.
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When One Flew Over the begins, Randle P. McMurphy
has just been admitted to a mental institution,
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which is like a hotel for your brain. He befriends
the other residents of his ward, and starts
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up a classic rivalry with the domineering
Nurse Ratched. Before long, McMurphy steals
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a hospital bus and takes his friends on a
fishing boat to go fishing for fish. Later,
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after an impromptu brawl, Nurse Ratched gives
him shock therapy. Earth women, am I right?
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I don’t know if I’m right.
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McMurphy has had enough, so he decides to
escape. Naturally, he throws a party, subscribing
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to the human credo that alcohol fixes everything.
Turns out he’s a pretty great wingman. But
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he parties too hard
and falls asleep, which puts a damper on the
whole escape thing.
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Nurse Ratched arrives in the morning and notices a few things are out of place
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She threatens to tattle
on Billy, so he freaks out and kills himself.
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McMurphy is none too pleased about this, and
tries to hug Nurse Ratched’s neck to death.
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For this, he gets a lobotomy, which is where
they replace part of your brain with corned
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beef hash.
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In the end, the Chief gives McMurphy the old
Kevourkian treatment and then shamelessly
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plagiarizes his escape plan.
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At its core, One Flew Over the is about the
struggle between chaos and order. There’s
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no freedom without a little chaos, yet to
maintain order, there must be oppression.
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In this shot, McMurphy sees a baby horse running
along the edge of a chain link fence -- freedom
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vs. man-made social order. Little-known fact:
that horse would go on to star is several
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more movies, including Seabiscuit, Hidalgo,
and Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.
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McMurphy upsets the established routine of
the ward, asking for schedule changes and
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inspiring resistance during therapy sessions.
He teaches his fellow denizens to have fun
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and encourages them to embrace their disgusting human desires.
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McMurphy convinces them that not only are
they sane, but they are men, as evidenced
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by their desire to watch sports.
As he tells Martini during the card game,
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the residents of the ward are “real people.”
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In contrast, Nurse Ratched is an authoritarian.
The first time we see her she is framed by
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a gate, signifying imprisonment. Whereas McMurphy
flies by the seat of his pants, Nurse Ratched
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is always stoic, and nobody likes a stoic. The only time
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she shows any emotion is when McMurphy has
to literally choke it out of her, and that
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emotion is “ouch.”
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Order is imposed on the patients with an almost religious or cult-like rigor. When the patients
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are given their medicine, one of them receives
it on his tongue like communion. McMurphy
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rejects the communion when he spits the pills
out, choosing instead to forge his own destiny,
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one where he doesn’t have the icky taste
of medicine in his mouth. Maybe next time
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she’ll choose Flintstones.
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McMurphy soon discovers that he’s trapped
behind not just physical walls, but mental
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ones as well. Routine is imprisonment. While
many of the mental patients were self- admitted
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because they felt unfit to function in society,
their strict schedule makes them dependent,
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ensuring that they’ll stay that way. Meanwhile,
my strict schedule ensures that I’m never
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home in time to see my kids, so maybe it’s
not all bad.
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The sink, an old hydrotherapy console, represents
the establishment's hold over the patients;
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the oppressive structure labels them as "crazy"
and nullifies their will to freedom. McMurphy
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attempts to use it as a means of liberation,
but can’t do it because he’s not tall
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enough to be strong. Later, when the Chief
tries to lift the console, he is successful
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because McMurphy has made him feel “as big
as a mountain,” and also because he is as
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big as a mountain.
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At the end, order has been re- established.
People are taking their
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medicine again, and Nurse Ratched is wearing
a cute new accessory. However,
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Harding and the other guys still gamble, both
as a small gesture of rebellion, and because
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otherwise cards are just boring.
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It seems McMurphy’s influence has not completely
disappeared. When the Chief kills MacMurphy,
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he sets him free, immortalizing him as a symbol
of hope that will forever inspire the patients.
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He also sets the audience free by ending the
movie.
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For Earthling Cinema, I’m Garyx Wormuloid.
To get a lobotomy of your very own, click
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the subscribe button.