One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Review

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Report written by Amy Soundis

The movie One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is a great example of how the mental hospital back in the 1970's where run. In this report I am going to discuss the man examples of primitive and today's methods for a mental hospital.

The biggest difference there is that a mental hospital and the mental hospital back then is;

One there is more freedom in the groups. If a group of people want to watch TV, like the World Series than in today's society you can do that. If you wanted to back in the 1970's according to the movie it had to be a majority rule and only if the nurse allowed you to watch the show.

Another difference is that there is dorm with only three men/women to a room, or you can be in a hospital with your own bedroom. There is a bathroom that you have to share and showers. There is no such thing as a bathtub or a swimming pool in the hospitals now a day. Back then there was a swimming pool, bath tub that you could get washed up in according to the movies.

Another difference is that there is no gambling allowed on the mental floor because people do not have any money and no smokes. At the hospital depicted by the movie you where able to gamble and you get to smoke. I do have to say that there is now a smoking law that says you cannot smoke in the hospital.

Another difference is that recreation time was spent in the movie going somewhere on the bus or playing outside. Now a day you are not allowed to leave the hospital ward even if there is a fire.

The techniques they use to make you calm down like electro shock therapy, and lobotomy is a lot safer now a day than it was back then.  

Group counseling has been throughout the ages of mental health but in today's world we see more confidentiality. Confidentiality means that whatever is said in the group will stay in the group and not be brought back up again unless that person wants to have the group hear about it again. This is only done to get more insight for that person with the problem.

In all One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest was one really great show. I absolutely loved it and saw it twice so that I could relies what the ending of the movie was. I believe that there is a reason we saw the movie in class and that reason was to show the class what a depiction of mental health, and the mental hospitals where like back then.