Film Analysis

Name

Institution

Date
There are various political themes that are presented in the film. One of the political themes

highlighted is conformity as a threat to freedom. The films seek to outline the theme that men

conforming to authoritarian rules has an impact on their mental freedom. The impact is also felt

on their physical attributes. This is learnt by McMurphy when he realizes that it was more

freedom being in the prison that he was compared to being Nurse Ratched’s ward. While in

prison he could watch World Series which is not the case while in Nurse Ratched’s war where

there is restriction on watching television. Nurse Ratched serve as symbol for authoritarian

regime that does not consider the comfort of the patients. Nurse Ratched creates a feeling of non-

existence of rules. This is mainly because she bends the rules so that she can achieve her desired

results. This makes McMurphy question himself whether the institution actually has rules. The

dictatorship regime of Nurse Ratched is more evident in her disregard for democracy. In one

instance, the patients unanimously side with McMurphy to watch world series. Nurse Ratched

declines this by indicating that the nine patients who voted do not represent a majority.

Another political theme brought in the film is the contradiction between tyranny and sanity.

From context of the movies, Nurse Ratched is mandated with ensuring sanity of the patients.

This is however not the case as her totalitarian regime negatively impacts the mental health of

the patients. McMurphy is against this and tries to enlightened the patients that they are men and

not loonies. He adopts fishing and basketball to help enlighten the patients on the authority

adopted by Nurse Ratched. This seems to work as the patients start questioning the authority of

Nurse Ratched. The authoritarian leadership style adopted by Nurse Ratched mirrors Mill

obedience study. Mill indicated that individuals are likely to practice obedience if there are

established consequences for disobedience. Nurse Ratched does not welcome any suggestion

from the patients and any person that violates her rules is likely to face a punishment.
Analysis of the authority adopted by Nurse Ratched leads to the discussion on realism and

idealist point of view in management. Chapter 3 of the readings indicate that ‘Idealists tend to

believe that humans are basically good and care for others’ whereas ‘Realists tend to believe that

human beings care only about maximizing their own self-interests and they expect no more from

their leaders.’ The leadership style adopted by Nurse Ratched falls under the realist category.

She bends the rules in order to meet her interest like disqualifying the votes of the patients to

watch world series. The reading also indicates that ‘Regardless of the type of government they

head, it can be argued that all leaders try to maximize their self-interests.’ Nurse Ratched aims to

maintain her authority in the facility through her dictatorship regime. Van Belle (32) indicates

that in films there is the projection of two contrasting character; ideal and real. Van Belle (33)

indicates that the two contrasting themes are brought by different characters. The ideal character

paints a picture of how a perfect society and politics is supposed to be. This is different from the

real character who paints the actual picture of what is happening in the society. In the film, Nurse

Ratched plays the role of real character. Her dictatorial regime brings out the current nature of

administrations across the globe. McMurphy plays the contrasting character of ideal. McMurphy

strives to impose a more democratic regime. He realizes that he cannot achieve this on his own

and tries to educate the patients at the facility about fighting for their rights.
Reference

Van Belle, D. A. (2020). A novel approach to politics: Introducing political science through

books, movies, and popular culture. CQ Press.