MovieChat Forums > One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Discussion > Nurse Ratched wasn't particularly evil, ...

Nurse Ratched wasn't particularly evil, she was just of ''the day''

posted 4 years ago by holly61 (901)
13 replies | jump to latest

She was just very connected to the system. And the system loathed the mentally and encouraged all its employees to treat these people as criminals and keep them caged (unfortunately, not that much has changed today).

Even the orderlies were also very disrespectful to the patients as the attitude (viewing mentally ill people as animals) had trickled down.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. This type of ''Nurse'' was about as common as bread and butter in psychiatric hospitals. Psychiatrists were even worse. Many referred to their job as like ''working in a zoo'' and admitted that they were a warehousing facility with throwaway people.

[–] davodikum (5990) 4 years ago

She was evil personified.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2390) 3 years ago

She was the system but she was also a victim of it. In order to have the job and what very little auhority she had (especially then) she had to go along--regardless of how she personally entered into it.

I understand completely. This is occuring during the disability rights movement first wave and the deinstiutionalization movement (perhaps naive) that people with mental disabilites could live out in the community Of course that and this movie did not anticipate either massive public resistance or large budget cuts to 'community' programs

The movie was chilling in 1975 but now it's frustrating of still how far we haven't come.

[–] Jinx (3040) 3 years ago

She was meant to be a complex character, people who make her out to be the personification of evil have missed out on the most elegant and intricate part of the story. It’s the roles we assume that shape us to do both good or bad. Put in a position of power over people, humans will eventually abuse that power.

Then there is the element of doing our job, much like the Nazis were just following orders, where we allow ourselves to be ruled by duty rather that thinking for ourselves.

[–] capuchin (2678) 2 years ago

Yeah. I was slightly confused the first time I encountered the 'Nurse Ratched is pure evil' reading of the character. I don't think I turn wholly against her until the moment she psychologically destroys Billy to maintain the status quo and keep order. And even then, she's not doing it out of personal malice. She's doing it because she fears losing control.

And you get that brief, instinctive 'Yes!' moment when McMurphy leaps for her, but then you have time to analyse the situation and think 'No, this man with a history of criminality should not be throttling that woman who is doing her job to the best of her ability.' So I only turned wholly against her briefly.

It's a much smarter, more nuanced film than many folk seem to give it credit for.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 2 years ago

She was always a nasty bitch and a control freak. I don't think she truly became evil until she intentionally knocked Billy down just to win the little battle she and McMurphy had. In the book from what I remember she felt like her back was against the wall when Billy stood up to her and bringing up his mother was the only way to knock him back into submission. That was when she became evil IMO.

The novel fleshes her out a lot more and you understand why she is saying and doing the things she does. The film doesn't do this, it's more subtle and you kind of have to figure out what she's thinking based off of her facial expressions.

[–] capuchin (2678) 2 years ago

Yeah. She's awful. (And Louise Fletcher is brilliant.) But I don't see her as pure evil any more than I see McMurphy as pure good.

I like some ambiguity in my films. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest supplies plenty.

(Oh, and it's over half a lifetime ago I read the book. I should revisit it at some point, as I remember very little.)

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 2 years ago

That is correct, McMurphy was no saint, in this particular case though he was legitimately trying to help Billy while Ratched was legitimately trying to hurt him.

[–] capuchin (2678) 2 years ago

Aye. And that's why it's the climax of the film -- the moment when you turn fully against Ratched, the moment when you fully see her selfish / institutional need for control overriding her humanity.

But do we want to see her throttled to death? I don't. I'm happy for her when she's back on the ward in her neck brace. I mean, I don't think she should be back on the ward -- I think she should be struck off -- but I don't think she knew the consequences of her actions when she took them. She's not the kind of 'movie evil' that deserves to die in the end.

[–] triplea (3577) 2 years ago

So you could say her prejudice was .... Institutionalized.

[–] SandyR (7417) 2 years ago

She's feminism. Notice the orderlies are African-American? The white man who likes to drink, fuck, and fight is so dangerous they give him a lobotomy. The only demographic that survives is the Native American.

[–] Otter (24464) 2 years ago

She isn't evil personified, she's institutional authority personified. AND everything the writer hated about women personified!

Which was evil personified in Kesey's opinion, since he obviously hated both authority and women, but the book and screenplay may have been more morally complex than the author intended. Kesey obviously loved his hero McMurray, but McMurphy isnt good, he's an Id with feet, the personification of chaos as Ratched in the personification of order. Chaos may be fun for a while but if it's allowed to run things, it's even more destructive than too much order. Ratchet did great harm, and if gender been given more time, so would McMurphy.

[–] Owlwise (1497) 2 years ago

She is meant to be an embodiment of a particular sort of evil, the person who convinces themself that they're doing the right thing, rather than admit to their hunger for power & control.