One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest and the Carceral - Assignment Example

Reading and Movie Review Punishment and discipline describe the past contemporary punitive system. In thefilm, “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest” and “The Carceral” advance these two social themes to a very large extent in terms of thematic organization and the context of the two literary materials. In “Carceral in Discpline and Punish,” Foucault provides an in depth analysis of punishment in the social context and the way in which changing power relations largely affected this form of penal punishment. In a careful and well thought out literary composition, Foucault opens up by describing the penal situation within the eighteenth century landscape, which placed more emphasis on corporal punishment and execution in the public eyes. On one hand, punishment was viewed as a ritual and meted on the prisoner’s body. Execution re-affirmed the authority bestowed upon the kings and authorities and in most cases, the public become a witness. The story then shifts to changing the prison service to make it more efficient. (Foucault) On the other hand, the film “One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest” examines the themes of individuality and rebellion. The story is about McMurphy who gets himself in trouble breaching the law. Perhaps aware of the inhuman conditions of the regular prisons, McMurphy plays insanity so that he may be sent to the insanity ward, which works out well for him. Contrary to his expectation, McMurphy has to endure and stand witness to the progressive abuse and oppression by Nurse Ratched, who achieves power and dominance through the mistakes of other convicts. McMurphy regroups with other convicts to plan a rebellion against the Nurse. (Kesey) Answer 1: In particular, reference to the film “One Flew over Cuckoo’s nest” Foucault arguments in this case describes the kind of training and that was meted upon the prisoners. He describes the carefully planned acts of punishment that the prisoners received as having been organized and executed in the careful model so that the prisoner would be “… both docile and capable.” In more or less the same magnitude, the mental prison also advances fulfills this training. For instance, when Rawler cuts off his tentacles in the disturbed patient ward, Bromden remarks, “all the guy had to do was to wait” suggesting that the prison would still have castrated him. Equally, as the film ends, Nurse Ratched suggests installing more “drastic measure” on McMurphy, which she calls “an operation” which implies lobotomy an issue that McMurphy refers to as castration. Going back to Foucault assertions, these operations are meant to eliminate someone’s individuality, freedom and ability to express sexual desires. Kesey and Foucault infer the same thing here as the operations being symbolically equivalent. (Kesey) Answer 2: In technical meaning, “docile bodies” is a quiet and easy to control person and unlikely to lead to any trouble. It is suggested throughout the novel that expression of sexuality and repression of the same leads to insanity and docility. The castrating ability of Nurse Ratched leaves prisoners as “comical little creatures unable to achieve masculinity even in the rabbit world”. Women are described as threatening and terrifying individuals. Bromden and McMurphy both tend to narrate the suffering and mental incapacitation of the patients at the hands of Nurse Ratched and the prison supervisor. There is therefore a perceived opinion to agree with Harding who asserts, “We are victims of matriarchy here” (Kesey) which makes the males “docile bodies”. (Foucault) Equally, Bromden recalls how Maxwell Taber was rendered docile through series electrical shock waves when he tried to inquire information concerning his health records. Answer 3: In this regard, Foucault suggests that the core function of disciplinary training is dependent on three main factors: hierarchical observations, regular judgment and close examination. Close assessment is crucial as it ensures efficiency and success on how the process of corrective prisons operates. For instance, Bromden suggests that the public relations man always leads a tour of the correctional facility. At the same time upon McMurphy’s arrival, he notices that the ward is divided into two sections: the acute and the chronic. For ease of assessment, the acute is considered curable while the Chronic is “machines that flaws inside that can’t be repaired”. The system also encourages an inmate-monitoring affair where Nurse Ratched encourages the convicts to spy on each other’s activities, so that they are rewarded by being offered more time to sleep in the morning hours. (Kesey) Further, Nurse Ratched operates her schedule on a tight time scale, so that she can be able to control every activity occurring in the ward with due accuracy. The aides she has chosen for her assistance execute their functions with cruelty and submissiveness. Answer 4: Foucault suggests that within the correctional centers, the general observation techniques represent systems of hierarchy and normalizing judgment. In this case, he asserts that the hospitals functions as an examination machine so that the individual can be analyzed for various observed features and his or her actions documented. He creates the development not merely as a process but also analyzing the institutions that are in it. His links of the observation concept to the scientific principles displays his historical interest in the subject matter but also focuses on how the system places theory before evidence. When Nurse Ratched suggests to the other nurses that she can deal with McMurphy’s situations, she does not only illustrate how she cunningly takes charge of the situation in the ward but also her stamp of her authority over other nurses. Her choice to retain McMurphy in the ward illustrates her desires to stop McMurphy from achieving the martyr status. The “Scientificity” of the process of relying on theory than evidence when Nurse Ratched takes control of McMurphy is also exposed when he conforms to the ward’s rules and norms as they determines his future. Answer 5: Definition of therapy by Nurse Ratched In the film, Nurse Ratched is the lead nurse who describes medication for other patients, their privileges and provision of basic requirements including food and sanitation. Often than not, Nurse Ratched provokes these privileges when displeased by a patient. Her description of therapy consists of her own mechanisms of making patients behave in a manner that only pleases her, while she humiliates someone who goes against her. She derives her greatest success in the ‘therapy’ mechanism Billy Bibbit who literally cannot act against her orders. Other patients however view this therapy as a way to humiliate them. Bromden, the oldest in this facility calls Ratched therapy as combine, implying an oppressive strength within the society and authority. Her therapeutic measures according to Bromden consist of wires, magnets, and contraptions that are employed by Nurse Ratched in manipulating her patients. At the same time, Bromden recalls how Maxwell Taber was rendered docile through series electrical shock waves when he tried to inquire information concerning his health records. Answer 6: For Foucault, the mechanism of discipline seeks to control the citizens in the same manner knowledge and power operates. Related to this point are Foucault’s accounts of the roles of the correctional centers in society and requires sound corrective authority to perform the corrective mechanisms. While adopting the same line of thought, Nurse Ratched comes out very vividly as one having the disciplinary career in the wards. She controls the ward with an iron fist and masks her human nature and womanhood behind a patronizing pretense. In this process, she carefully selects her aides with precision for their submissiveness, and destroys her patients’ self-esteem nature using clearly designed manipulative approach. With this, she is able to function for the ‘disciplinary career’ as she is slowly exhausting humanity from her patients. Answer 7: A closer analysis as one watches the film provides a complex situation in judging who is more dangerous between the protagonist and the antagonist. On one hand, Nurse Ratched comes out more vividly as the film’s antagonist who seeks to discharge her corrective measures on the convicts. Her dangerous ways of dealing with them makes them to fear her every single moment in the play not limiting McMurphy who also opts to obey her as he feels she determines her future. However, McMurphy’s arrival in the facility changes this perception. He questions the existing norms and rules as applied in the wards and sets in a new life in the prison. It is argued that through the entire film no single voice overtakes his big, loud, sexual, and filthy voice. Chief Bromden in fact offers insights into understanding McMurphy’s real agenda that he is not insane but he seeks to manipulate the systems to his gain. An analysis of his character shows that he constantly associates himself with sexuality, freedom and self-determination things that are in contrary with the mental oppressed ward under the direct supervision of Nurse Ratchet. However, McMurphy’s ability to undo the situation is foreshadowed by Maxwell Taber’s story who was considered a manipulator just as McMurphy. Even Nurse Ratchet is afraid of his intentions and at the end of the film; he gathers the cellmates around him to rebel against Ratched. Answer 8: Foucault argues that the prison creates a system where abusive treatments are normalized. The justification of this he asserts that prisons are “Omni-disciplinary” through creating an isolating mechanism from other prisoners and the whole world itself. Secondly, Foucault argues that the normalization process is further advanced through regulating prisoner’s life and engagements. Largely, the prisons also assume the operationalization of a sentence by putting mechanisms to enforce it. The eighteenth century prison period, Foucault reveals that determined the length and quality of the sentence rather than the crime committed. It is the same normalization process is evident in the film whereby the prison authorities determine which ward one goes. Answer 9: In totality, the prison and the prison authorities determine what is good for the patients largely influenced by subjective opinion rather than objective. In the case of “One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest” the narrator provides vivid examples how Nurse Ratched determines the therapy mix for her patients. When a patient wants to know his medical condition and evaluate it against the prescribed medication, he or she id silenced, a case is told of Maxwell Taber. At the same time, when the film opens, we are exposed of a diverging opinion on which ward McMurphy should occupy between the nurses and Nurse Ratched, these were based purely on subjective opinions rather than the medical evidence of an objective approach to the issue. Bromden also tells his story by suggesting how the aides do unnecessary manual labor like sweep the halls. Answer 10: Up to this end, the foregoing discussions have been centered on examining “Foucauldian” concepts as depicted in the film “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest”. It becomes imperative to conclude that so far the concept of discipline, power and knowledge, and parrhesia come out more clearly in the film. However, largely the concept of masculine subjection is displayed in the film where one party takes control of the other. The prison managers entirely take control of the wardens limiting their ability to make informed choices on what affects them. At the same time, Nurse Ratchet using oppressive mechanisms takes control of her inmates and punishes those who do not conform. Specific examples are given of Taber and Billy Bibbit. Works cited Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish. USA: Vintage Books Edition, 1979. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Dir. Milos Forman. Perf. Ken Kesey. 1975. Read More