One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Inciting Moment Analysis
The first part of the movie is the set-up. You get to find out what the movie is about, and the main characters get introduced. The conflict between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy is already getting clear, and the tension between them is rising. You get all the information you need to understand the movie.
The set-up ends with the inciting moment. The inciting moment in One flew over the cuckoo's nest is the scene where McMurphy and the other patients play a basketball game. During this scene it is becomes clear that the rebellious actions of McMurphy have an affect of the other patients as well, because The Chief is listening to him. You can see Nurse Ratched looking down on them from her window, probably thinking about the affect that new patient McMurphy is going to have on the other patients and life in the institution in general.
The inciting moment is the start of the rising action stage. The rising action takes the conflict even further. The story is developing, and so are the characters. In this movie, it means that McMurphy is showing his rebellious side more and more. The conflict between him and Nurse Ratched is getting clearer as well/
The …show more content…
turning point of the movie is when McMurphy receives shock therapy. The viewer thinks that the Nurse Ratched has "won", that the "system" proved to be stronger than McMurphy. The other patients don't know what has happened to him, they think he has either escaped or is being held in another ward. The movie seems to go to an end.
Then there is the climax of the movie.
The Chief goes to talk to McMurphy when he's brought onto the ward again, and finds out he has had a frontal lobotomy, and that he is no longer the rebellious man he once knew. He then suffocates him with his pillow, because he realises that McMurphy wouldn't want to live like this. The Chief then lifts up the wash station, throws it through the window and escapes. This is the climax, because it shows that McMurphy has actually achieved what he wanted to achieve: show at least one other person on the ward that he's got his life in his own hands, that anyone is capable of making his own choices. The system should not be allowed to control your life; you should take control into your own hands. McMurphy is dead, but it wasn't for nothing. His spirit lives on in the
Chief.
There is one very obvious conflict structure in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. This conflict structure is present during the whole movie, and it is really important for the whole story.
Protagonist: Randall Patrick McMurphy
Antagonist: Nurse Ratched
Tritagonist: The Chief
The conflict between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy is also a conflict between Freedom vs. Captiveness / control. Nurse Ratched, being a total control freak, can't stand McMurphy's rebellious behaviour. Where the nurse wants to do everything according to rules, and keep everything structured, McMurphy is always looking for ways to break the rules and live by spontaneous actions. Nurse Ratched does truly believe that the way she treats the patients on the ward is the right way, and that it helps them. McMurphy however, believes differently. His opinion is that being rebellious and not just following the rules like robots will help the other patients to find their true selves back. He believes that the structure and dependency keeps them insane, and throughout the whole movie he tries to teach the other patients that their way to getting better is really in their own hands. These two totally different opinions are the basis of a conflict that feeds the whole movie.
Everything in the movie supports this conflict structure. The two characters in the movie are totally different. Nurse Ratched does always stay calm, looking serious. McMurphy is often seen talking loud and chaotic, and he is laughing a lot. Where the nurse is wearing mostly white clothes, McMurphy's clothes are often darker of colour.
The Chief is the tritagonist in the movie. He is the helper of McMurphy. In the beginning of the movie it is not very clear yet. The Chief doesn't talk, nor does it look like he understands anything McMurphy says to him. But when the movie develops, The Chief is developing as well. He is starting to learn more and more things from McMurphy. So when at first he was silent, dependent, following Nurse Ratched's rules, he is now becoming more rebellious like McMurphy himself. This is a thread for Nurse Ratched, because she realises it's not just McMurphy anymore that she is facing, but the other patients (represented by The Chief) are also starting to follow him in his behaviour and his way of thinking. So now it is two against one. This makes The Chief the Tritagonist of the movie.
There is also another very important conflict in the movie, represented by McMurphy (protagonist) and by Nurse Ratched (antagonist). This is the conflict between "the system" and "the people". Nurse Ratched represents the system, whereas McMurphy represents the majority of the people that have to live by the system but try to break free from it. This also has something to do with the conflict described earlier. Nurse Ratched tries to keep everything structured; she wants everyone to follow the rules of her system, THE system. She does truly believe in the system, she thinks living by the rules is the way everything should be. McMurphy however realises that the system only makes sure that the people living by its rules are tame, not causing any problems, but they can't be their real selves. If you are any different than the system wants you to be, you are crazy, insane The patients on the ward are the tritagonists in this conflict, the helpers of McMurphy. They are the cast-outs of the system, they have their strange habits, and they are different than they are expected to be. They are so stuck in the system that they are on the ward voluntarily, because they believe they are crazy as well. They represent the whole society, in which everyone has their own little habits and problems, that are trying to be denied by the system. Everyone should just be normal, act normal, not stand out. Later in the movie they are learning to see that they are not just "crazy people", but real people as well. They are finding their dignity again.
McMurphy teaches them this. This also helps him to stand up against Nurse Ratched. He is not alone in his battle against the system anymore; the other patients are helping him in this battle. In the end The Chief turns out to be the smartest of all, living by the rules of Nurse Ratched, waiting for his turn to break free and escape. The helpers of Nurse Ratched in the movie are the "black boys", the other nurses. They are doing everything Nurse Ratched says, they don't stand up to her ever, they just take everything she says for granted. They are all followers of Nurse Ratched, thus of the system.
The set-up ends with the inciting moment. The inciting moment in One flew over the cuckoo's nest is the scene where McMurphy and the other patients play a basketball game. During this scene it is becomes clear that the rebellious actions of McMurphy have an affect of the other patients as well, because The Chief is listening to him. You can see Nurse Ratched looking down on them from her window, probably thinking about the affect that new patient McMurphy is going to have on the other patients and life in the institution in general.
The inciting moment is the start of the rising action stage. The rising action takes the conflict even further. The story is developing, and so are the characters. In this movie, it means that McMurphy is showing his rebellious side more and more. The conflict between him and Nurse Ratched is getting clearer as well/
The …show more content…
turning point of the movie is when McMurphy receives shock therapy. The viewer thinks that the Nurse Ratched has "won", that the "system" proved to be stronger than McMurphy. The other patients don't know what has happened to him, they think he has either escaped or is being held in another ward. The movie seems to go to an end.
Then there is the climax of the movie.
The Chief goes to talk to McMurphy when he's brought onto the ward again, and finds out he has had a frontal lobotomy, and that he is no longer the rebellious man he once knew. He then suffocates him with his pillow, because he realises that McMurphy wouldn't want to live like this. The Chief then lifts up the wash station, throws it through the window and escapes. This is the climax, because it shows that McMurphy has actually achieved what he wanted to achieve: show at least one other person on the ward that he's got his life in his own hands, that anyone is capable of making his own choices. The system should not be allowed to control your life; you should take control into your own hands. McMurphy is dead, but it wasn't for nothing. His spirit lives on in the
Chief.
There is one very obvious conflict structure in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. This conflict structure is present during the whole movie, and it is really important for the whole story.
Protagonist: Randall Patrick McMurphy
Antagonist: Nurse Ratched
Tritagonist: The Chief
The conflict between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy is also a conflict between Freedom vs. Captiveness / control. Nurse Ratched, being a total control freak, can't stand McMurphy's rebellious behaviour. Where the nurse wants to do everything according to rules, and keep everything structured, McMurphy is always looking for ways to break the rules and live by spontaneous actions. Nurse Ratched does truly believe that the way she treats the patients on the ward is the right way, and that it helps them. McMurphy however, believes differently. His opinion is that being rebellious and not just following the rules like robots will help the other patients to find their true selves back. He believes that the structure and dependency keeps them insane, and throughout the whole movie he tries to teach the other patients that their way to getting better is really in their own hands. These two totally different opinions are the basis of a conflict that feeds the whole movie.
Everything in the movie supports this conflict structure. The two characters in the movie are totally different. Nurse Ratched does always stay calm, looking serious. McMurphy is often seen talking loud and chaotic, and he is laughing a lot. Where the nurse is wearing mostly white clothes, McMurphy's clothes are often darker of colour.
The Chief is the tritagonist in the movie. He is the helper of McMurphy. In the beginning of the movie it is not very clear yet. The Chief doesn't talk, nor does it look like he understands anything McMurphy says to him. But when the movie develops, The Chief is developing as well. He is starting to learn more and more things from McMurphy. So when at first he was silent, dependent, following Nurse Ratched's rules, he is now becoming more rebellious like McMurphy himself. This is a thread for Nurse Ratched, because she realises it's not just McMurphy anymore that she is facing, but the other patients (represented by The Chief) are also starting to follow him in his behaviour and his way of thinking. So now it is two against one. This makes The Chief the Tritagonist of the movie.
There is also another very important conflict in the movie, represented by McMurphy (protagonist) and by Nurse Ratched (antagonist). This is the conflict between "the system" and "the people". Nurse Ratched represents the system, whereas McMurphy represents the majority of the people that have to live by the system but try to break free from it. This also has something to do with the conflict described earlier. Nurse Ratched tries to keep everything structured; she wants everyone to follow the rules of her system, THE system. She does truly believe in the system, she thinks living by the rules is the way everything should be. McMurphy however realises that the system only makes sure that the people living by its rules are tame, not causing any problems, but they can't be their real selves. If you are any different than the system wants you to be, you are crazy, insane The patients on the ward are the tritagonists in this conflict, the helpers of McMurphy. They are the cast-outs of the system, they have their strange habits, and they are different than they are expected to be. They are so stuck in the system that they are on the ward voluntarily, because they believe they are crazy as well. They represent the whole society, in which everyone has their own little habits and problems, that are trying to be denied by the system. Everyone should just be normal, act normal, not stand out. Later in the movie they are learning to see that they are not just "crazy people", but real people as well. They are finding their dignity again.
McMurphy teaches them this. This also helps him to stand up against Nurse Ratched. He is not alone in his battle against the system anymore; the other patients are helping him in this battle. In the end The Chief turns out to be the smartest of all, living by the rules of Nurse Ratched, waiting for his turn to break free and escape. The helpers of Nurse Ratched in the movie are the "black boys", the other nurses. They are doing everything Nurse Ratched says, they don't stand up to her ever, they just take everything she says for granted. They are all followers of Nurse Ratched, thus of the system.