Film and CultureRyan McFarland

7-28-2011

3 Movie Analysis

Movie #1One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Director : Milos Forman

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

Summary• This movie is about a man, McMurphy, being sent

to jail for statutory rape, but is instead sent to a mental institution to decide if he is mentally stable enough to go to jail.

• The head nurse, Nurse Ratchett determines that due to his obnoxious behavior, and history of violence, he needs to stay.

• Little does he know that being sentenced to a mental institution means you do not get out when your sentence is up. You get out when Nurse Ratchett decides you are ready.

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

Summary Contd.• McMurphy never makes it out. He dies

there when a friend puts him out of his misery after a Lobotomy.

• Although, the help that he gives to the other patients, opening up the whole world to them, and giving the patients that want to escape, the chance too, forever changes the outlook of the patients that met him.

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

ThesisThese films were

shockingly accurate portrayals of Mental Illness, in its many differing aspects, that culminated to create a very calculated message to the uninformed public.

This Message Was Heard

AnalysisCamera Angles

Close -Ups• A lot of close-ups were

used in the film.• They were used to make

the scene more dramatic.• Only used in dramatic

scenes.• Allows the audience to

infer what the rest of the scene looks like or what the other people are doing.

Close-Up Example

AnalysisCamera Angles Contd.

Panning• Panning was used

less. Although, the times when panning was used were very important.

• Panning enables you to be all-knowing and see what everyone is doing, saying, their reaction, etc.

• Usually used to foreshadow events.

Panning ExampleThis scene starts with a close-up then pans down the hall to show

what is about to happen to McMurphy.

AnalysisForeshadowing

Examples of Foreshadowing

• When McMurphy is given Electronic Convulsive Shock Therapy, this shows how radical the treatments are that they employ, which foreshadows his Lobotomy.

Contd.• McMurphy strong

interest in Chief, early on, foreshadows their, later to be, strong bond.

• McMurphy betting he can throw the water therapy box out and escape foreshadows Chief doing this in the end.

AnalysisForeshadowing Contd.

Foreshadowing• Nurse Ratchett’s

dislike for McMurphy, early on, foreshadows the struggles that ensue between them.

• McMurphy starting a vote to watch the baseball game foreshadows him being a trouble maker and turning people against Nurse Ratchett.

Contd.

• Billy’s reveal in group that he was almost married once, foreshadows him having sex with the girl McMurphy brought in because marriage is a play on words for Billy, meaning sex.

• Billy admitting to attempting suicide foreshadows his sad, successful attempt later on.

AnalysisDoctor to Patient Relationship

•Doctor is only seen twice in the movie, and only meets with McMurphy once. How does Mcmurphy get evaluated, get medications, or get better if he never sees the doctor?•Why is the doctor not important in a film like this? Isn’t a Doctor the way people get better?•Maybe this is part of the reason people didn’t get better?

AnalysisNurse to Patient Relationship

Nurse Ratchett

•Nurse Ratchett has all the power, even over the doctors. This is shown when she overturns the vote to keep McMurphy at the hospital, even though all of the therapist and doctors think he should go.•She has an Iron Grip, so to speak, over the entire hospital. What she says, goes.•She hates Mcmurphy for trying to stir up the schedule.•She is friends with Billy’s mom.•She uses her words and fear to make the patients listen to her and respect her.•Her mannerisms give the impression that she really is there to help and believes in the program they have.

AnalysisPatient to Patient Relationship

•Patient to patient relationship is the crux of the movie.•McMurphy makes everyone have fun, stirs things up, changes the schedule, and helps the other patients.•McMurphy gives the patients their voice back so they have a say in what goes on.•McMurphy breaks them out and shows them the world by taking them fishing.•Most importantly, McMuprhy makes the patients feel normal by treating them like any other person instead of the mentally ill.

AnalysisThe Hard Facts

Was the Movie Factual?• The movie was very factual and this is probably why it

sparked such a controversy because the audience wondered if this was what was really happening in these places.

• Also we have to take into account the time period it was created in. The 1970’s had much different hospitals then today's.

• My Grandma, the head of anesthesiology over the mentally ill and criminally insane ward at the Mayo Clinic said, ”The movie was very accurate from the white uniforms, the hats, the ECT, the orderlies being African American, the look of the ward, and the treatments used to help the patients were all the same.”

AnalysisQuestions???

What Questions Were Unanswered• Of course the biggest question was, was this

really what was going on in these hospitals. • What happened to Chief after he escaped? Was

he ever captured or did he make it.• What happened to McMurphy once he died?

Who found him? How did it effect Nurse Ratchett?

• What happened to Nurse Ratchett after Billy died because of her provoking?

• How had the Hospital changed from McMurphy being there, and him questioning the system?

AnalysisThe Overall Message?

•It is shocking what is occurring in our states mental institutions and we need not only be aware of it,

but we need to fix it. We can help our fellow citizens become better functioning in society and not just shove the problem under the rug.•This was the message the director was trying to get across, as he did an amazing job at making an accurate portrayal of a mental institution, and the graphic things that take place there.•I think this message was heard because, ironically, the time this movie was released was around the same time that these conditions changed.

Movie#2It’s Kind Of a Funny StoryDirector: Anna Boden/Ryan Fleck

It’s Kind Of a Funny Story

Summary• This movie is about a young man who checks

himself into a modern day psychiatric ward, at a hospital, because he is suicidal.

• Once he gets checked in and sees everyone there, he tries to have them let him go.

• They say he has to be there for a minumum of five days.

• He ends up making friends with everyone, helps them all more than any doctor did, and falls in love with a girl there.

It’s Kind Of a Funny Story

Summary Contd.• He realizes, through falling in love with this

girl and listening to her, that everything he has done in life is to please other people.

• So when he gets out he stops hanging out with most of his old friends, goes to an art school because he wants to, and makes a new life based on what he wants to do.

• The movie ends with him saying he still isn’t cured. Although, he’s much better and is going to make it.

AnalysisCamera Angles

Close-Ups• Close-ups are used in

the same way as the first movie.

• Close-ups were used to show a dramatic scene.

• They were also used to make you focus on one person and infer what the other actors were doing.

Panning• Panning again was used to

show all actors.• It was used to make a point.• A lot of times the panning

was used to foreshadow.• Panning was used a little

differently here in that it was mostly used to show what everyone was doing on the whole ward so you get a better idea of what Craig is dealing with.

AnalysisForeshadowing

•There wasn’t a lot of foreshadowing in this movie as it was a very simple movie, that shows a romance that fixes the situation.•Most of the foreshadowing was used to show how relationships would end up at the end of the movie.•For example, Bobby, one of Craig’s, soon to be best friend for the movie, is foreshadowed when Craig meets him first thing in the movie.•Also Bobby’s kindness to Craig Foreshadows him helping Craig Throughout his time at the hospital.•Bobby and Craig’s relationship is the only major foreshadowing shown in the movie.

AnalysisDoctor to Patient Relationship

•Craig’s relationship with his psychiatrist is much more in depth, and she has much more power than the doctor in movie one.•Craig is very shy at first and won’t open up to the doctor, so she has a hard time treating him. •After a couple days, Craig opens up because he wants to get better and the doctor is finally able to help him by putting him on the right medications.•This doctors power to say when Craig goes home is much different from the first movie where the doctor had no power and Nurse Ratchett had all the power.

AnalysisPatient to Patient Relationship

•There was almost not nurse to patient relationships as was in the first movie with Nurse Ratchett, so we will skip that slide.•As far as patient to patient relationships it is almost the same as Movie# 1.•Craig, the newcomer, ends up helping all the patients more than the doctors just by listening to them, and treating them like normal people.•The crux of the movie are these relationships as this is what helps everyone get better.•The other different part of this movie is the patients all have a happy ending because of there relations, opposed to movie #1.

AnalysisFacts, & Questions,

• Facts• The hospital was the exact same as psychiatric

wards today.• The medicines mentioned are the same.• The strong bond between patients, and them

helping each other is the same real-life.• Questions• There were no true questions left at the end, like

in movie#1. The director tied up all the loose ends and ended the movie on a happy romantic note.

AnalysisComparison, & Message

Comparison• This movie was a happy one

with a happy ending as opposed to Movie #1.

• The Patient interaction is the same.

• The doctor and Nurse interaction is exactly the opposite of movie #1.

• The reason for the complete opposite differences is that the director of this movie is sending a different message.

Message

• The message of this movie seemed to be that many people suffer from varying degrees of mental impairments, but if they reach out for help they will definitely receive it now.

Movie #3Trainspotting

Director: Danny Boyle

Trainspotting

Summary• This is a very simple, but graphic, British movie about the life of a

heroin addict.• It starts with him just getting into drugs, and other illegal activities.• Then it shows him in the worst throws of his addiction.• Next it shows him get clean but being unhappy even though he is

clean for years.• It ends with him doing heroin one last time and stealing a million

dollars from his friends that cause him to become a drug addict.• It ends with him running down the beach, with a huge smile, and a

million dollars in a duffle bag.• Lastly, I will be very brief with this film as it is very graphic, is not

complex, and it kind of glorifies drug use. Although it is not appropriate for school, it fits in very well with mental illness, and shows the complete opposite end of the spectrum. This is why I chose it.

AnalysisCamera Angles

•As we can see from the picture it is showing the close-up in the same way as the other films; to show a dramatic scene, where you probably can infer what the other actors are doing so they leave it out, while only focusing on the main character.•The panning was used to same too. It was used to show all the actors and what they were doing.•Although, the one different thing that they used panning for, in this movie, was to show drama. Due to the scenes being so graphic by showing them using drugs, a panning scene showing a group using drugs made it much more sad, and dramatic.

AnalysisForeshadowing

• They used foreshadowing quite a lot in this film. They used it so you would be in suspense waiting for something to happen because it was foreshadowed.

• For example, when Renton is first shown using drugs, the whole movie the audience is in suspense wondering what horrible things are going to happen because of his addiction.

AnalysisPatient to Patient Relationship

•Although there are no doctors or nurses in this movie, there is a lot of patient to patient interaction as this is what keeps Renton doing drugs, even though he is homeless, and his parent want him to come home and get clean.•He adopts this idea that his friends are all the family that he needs since he has drugs.•Although, as they die, get clean, get put in jail, get sick, etc, Renton is just being pulled down by them.•Once his parents are able to lock him in his room and force him to detox, he realizes how bad of an influence his friends were.•This movie shows the exact opposite, with the patients making the patients worse.•This is why hospitals are so controlled.

AnalysisComparison, & Message

• Comparison• This movie is the opposite of the others, no one really gets

better, and they make each other worse.• Also, this movie makes it seem like it’s better to have a

mental illness like addiction than to be cured.• Lastly, this is a British film so it has different, language, jokes,

connotations, etc.• Although this movie depicts exactly what will truly happen to

people that cannot get help, and this is why I picked it to contrast the others.

• Message• The message of this movie is to show people what really

happens to the mentally ill, and because of it’s graphic nature it is quite sad.