Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and the Movie

Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and the Movie

The film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, produced by Milos Forman, contains many similarities to the novel, however the differences are numerous to the extent that the story, written by Ken Kesey, is overlooked by anyone who only saw the film. Ken Kesey wrote the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, after experimenting with drugs and working on a psychiatric ward in 1960 and the novel was published in 1962. “Kesey became a night attendant on the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital psychiatric ward so that he could concentrate on his writing.” (Magill 1528) Kesey’s rebellious novel explores the world of mental patients struggling against authority and society through incredible imagery. He was able to describe this struggle because of his personal experiences. Kesey was “disturbed by the dehumanizing treatment of the patients” (Beetz 3089-3090), so he decided to write this novel about them. In his surrealistic life’s work, Ken Kesey has managed to capture both the gloomy asylum atmosphere and the mental patients’ demented attitudes. Kesey’s novel proclaims a classic struggle between good and evil or the hero and the villain. This contemporary classic was brought to life through the film version in 1975 and is considered “one of the greatest American films of all time” (Dirks 1). It was the first film to receive all the major Oscar awards. These included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. The same name as the novel was chosen so that it would appeal to contemporary audiences, which proved to be a big hit at the box office. “Its allegorical theme is set in the world of an authentic mental hospital, a place of rebellion by a wise-guy hero against institutional authority and attitudes.” (Dirks 1)

The initial difference between the novel and the film is the main character. In the novel, the story is told through the eyes of the narrator, Chief Bromden. Chief Bromden is the main character and “the most fully developed character in the novel.” (Beetz 3089) The Chief is a supposedly deaf-mute, half-breed Indian who is a very large and powerful man. He is a paranoid-schizophrenic who has been a Chronic patient on the ward for fifteen years. He is known as “Chief Broom,” because he is constantly pushing a broom around the ward. From the beginning, the reader...

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...o is stripped of his dignity, significance, and freedom.” (Magill 1531) The theme leads a person through a whole different world. A world where paranoia runs wild and chaos is second in command only to Nurse Ratched, or society and how powerful a single authority can be. Chapter by chapter and scene by scene, the plot unravels, separating truth and insanity to reveal an amazing war of the mind. The power of strict, systematic control, verses the power of rebellion is a strong issue of the 1960’s and this issue works well as the theme for the novel and film. A powerful story is told where everyone’s individualism is essential to life. A person must meet life on its own terms or lose their individuality, dignity, and freedom. Even though McMurphy died, his legend lives on. An individual can find criticism with the “nest” or psychiatric hospitals or an individual can see how all of us are trapped in a restrictive and maddening "nest” of our own making. Although there are similarities and differences between the novel and film, it is an enjoyable version of strange human interaction with a battle against authority. The story is universal and it can be found in all aspects of life.