Individual versus Society
The Encyclopedia of American Social History, reflects on the conformist culture in the nineteen-fifties as “The conformity and blandness that troubled social critics like Riesman and Mills became the target of a small but influential cadre of 1950s humorists, novelists, and poets who formed the vanguard of a counterculture that in the next decade would become much more influential” ("The Postwar Period Through the 1950s,” 1933). Ken Kessey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, is one of the many authors that wrote a novel that contradicted the conformist culture. In the novel, one of the main characters, Randle McMurphy is sent to a mental hospital for observation after committing a crime of rape. McMurphy contradicts …show more content…
In one scene, the orderlies are taking Randle McMurphy into the electroshock therapy room, where he is set on a table. The orderlies tell him to take off his shoes and to lie down. The nurse then asks him to spit his gum out into her hand and bit down on a rubber mouthpiece that she shoves into his mouth. After he does so, she swipes on some conductive onto his temples and puts the machine on his temples. As an orderly turns the button on, McMurphy shakes and has troubles breathing as the nurse holds his mouth shut. Through his screenplay adaptation and creative use of cinematic technique in his rendition of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Milos Forman portrays Ken Kesey’s character of Randle McMurphy as a Christ-like hero to show the conflict of individual freedom and self-expression rebelling against an oppressive and conformist society [in the scene in which McMurphy …show more content…
High angle and key light photography techniques show McMurphy’s individual freedom and self-expression as he rebels against an oppressive and conformist society. By using movment principles of hand-held shots and zooming, the film emphasizes McMurphy’s fight against conformity in society while the nurse gives him electroshock therapy. Mise en scene principles of territorial space and tight framing convey McMurphy as a Christ-like leader as he rebels against society. McMurphy is seen as a strong, powerful leader through the omissions of scenes where the listener views McMurphy as powerless with a sense of impending doom. McMurphy is a symbol of freedom and individuality as he goes against the nineteen-fifties conformist culture that did not accept those who are
The Encyclopedia of American Social History, reflects on the conformist culture in the nineteen-fifties as “The conformity and blandness that troubled social critics like Riesman and Mills became the target of a small but influential cadre of 1950s humorists, novelists, and poets who formed the vanguard of a counterculture that in the next decade would become much more influential” ("The Postwar Period Through the 1950s,” 1933). Ken Kessey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, is one of the many authors that wrote a novel that contradicted the conformist culture. In the novel, one of the main characters, Randle McMurphy is sent to a mental hospital for observation after committing a crime of rape. McMurphy contradicts …show more content…
In one scene, the orderlies are taking Randle McMurphy into the electroshock therapy room, where he is set on a table. The orderlies tell him to take off his shoes and to lie down. The nurse then asks him to spit his gum out into her hand and bit down on a rubber mouthpiece that she shoves into his mouth. After he does so, she swipes on some conductive onto his temples and puts the machine on his temples. As an orderly turns the button on, McMurphy shakes and has troubles breathing as the nurse holds his mouth shut. Through his screenplay adaptation and creative use of cinematic technique in his rendition of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Milos Forman portrays Ken Kesey’s character of Randle McMurphy as a Christ-like hero to show the conflict of individual freedom and self-expression rebelling against an oppressive and conformist society [in the scene in which McMurphy …show more content…
High angle and key light photography techniques show McMurphy’s individual freedom and self-expression as he rebels against an oppressive and conformist society. By using movment principles of hand-held shots and zooming, the film emphasizes McMurphy’s fight against conformity in society while the nurse gives him electroshock therapy. Mise en scene principles of territorial space and tight framing convey McMurphy as a Christ-like leader as he rebels against society. McMurphy is seen as a strong, powerful leader through the omissions of scenes where the listener views McMurphy as powerless with a sense of impending doom. McMurphy is a symbol of freedom and individuality as he goes against the nineteen-fifties conformist culture that did not accept those who are