Vertigo & Cuckoo's Nest Revision -> Key Scenes Summarised
Vertigo:
Opening Titles Scene:
- Woman eyes - Famous for being antagonist in Hitchcock films
- Notion of looking - Eyes - Being watched -> similar to Psycho after Marion is murdered / key motif of Hitchcock films - auteur
- Titles were a feature - Pre-cursor to Bond -> sets up the story + create intrigue as the audience asks questions
- Integral part of setting up the film
- Shapes used to make audience dizzy -> reflects Scottie's vertigo -> spiral also links to Scottie being on a downward spiral
- Swirls = dizzying + captivating -> rare technology for this time period so audience were intrigued
- Music is very dramatic -> hooks/grabs the attention of the audience -> emphasises watching a Hitchcock film -> Hitchcock as an auteur: wanted to make pure cinema, used elements of cinema to create a visceral reaction from his audience
- Heightens vulnerability
Police falling off roof scene:
- Heights - Vulnerability
- The way the scene is shot when Scottie is hanging off the building creates dizziness for the audience which makes them feel similar to how Scottie is feeling with his vertigo
- Very dramatic
Camera:
- Point of view shots -> James Stewart looking to the ground & looking up at the police officer -> connection with the audience -> connotes Scottie's fear of heights to the audience
- Traditionally films start with establishing shot
Mise-en-scene:
- Clothes signify their profession & statuses: The policeman are more important than the man being chased and this is emphasised by their uniform
- Natural low-key lighting (as the setting is nighttime). There is a contrast of the dark night & the street lights as this symbolises the police chase of being one of good ('light) vs evil ('dark')
- Props: guns signify the violent nature of this scene
Sound:
- Eerie non-diegetic music used to build up tension, draws in the audience as they are intrigued to see how this scene will play out
- Some diegetic sound is also used to heighten tension (e.g. when the policeman is telling Scottie to give him his hand)
- When the policeman falls from the building, the music gets deeper which echoes the sombre mood of this moment
Vertigo & the Maze Gaze:
- Male Gaze
- Objectificatoin
- Voyeurism
- The flower shop scene is an example of scene in Vertigo that exemplifies Hitchcock's use of the male gaze
Laura Malvey & the male Gaze:
- Theory pioneered during second-wave feminist era of 1970's, it has became highly influential with regard to film spectatorship
- In brief, spectators watch films from a male perspective; female characters are treated as objects rather than subjects; they are rarely protagonists: 'in herself the woman has not the slightest importance' (Budd Boetticher)
- They are often fetishised - this is an extension of Freudian/Lacanian psychoanalytical theory whereby women pose a threat to masculinity
In Vertigo, power & authority is represented in a variety of different ways. One of the characters which conveys the authoritative characteristics is Scottie, his misplaced in society this is most present in his attempt to regain his authority after he lost it after Madeleine died. His attempt at regaining control is presented as desperate and sad when he forces Judy to dye her hair so she looks identical to Madeleine because of the illusion created by by the idea of helping Madeleine helps Scottie see himself as an authoritative figure which the time of the film was seen as being manly. Scottie tries to grasp onto his authority to try to feel secure in himself. This can be linked to the context of the film as 1950's America was a time of fear in which men were desperately trying to hold onto their power partially due to the rise of the 2nd wave of the feminist movement and the wars America fought; men are trying to recapture an outdated sense of authority.
Furthermore, it it also very clear that Scottie is shown as a male authoritative figure throughout the film is through his dominant expression and approach to women. One scene where this is very clear is when Scottie jumps into the river to save Madeline and the scene that follows, Scottie is shown as an authoritative figure here because he takes action immediately jumping in to save the women. During the 1950's women were seen as a lower in power than men with men being the most powerful in society. Going to the scene after this Scottie took Madeleine back to his house and she is left powerless laying in the bed whilst Scottie makes her some tea. A common theme shown by most Hitchcock films is having a Blonde girl in it, this was usually done because Alfred Hitchcock liked blonde women and saw them as a tool in his films, someone who doesn't have any power except through sexual persuasions. However this is shown to be different in Vertigo where we find out Madeline had aided in the murder of Gavin's wife when we find this out we get a completely different outlook on women power within the film and how women act as a hidden power often unseen by the audience.
(notes from Eduqas)
Cinematography
• Disorientation from the beginning. The title comes out of a woman’s eye, then into a series of graphic spirals inducing dizziness before the first sequence. It sets up Scottie’s desire to let go, to fall. • The “vertigo” shot, a camera technique developed by Irmin Roberts. This is achieved by moving the camera in the opposite direction of the camera’s zoom.
• Subjective tracking shots follow Madeleine in San Francisco from Scottie’s point of view. Dreamlike sequences in soft focus in the cemetery and the hotel bedroom, ghostly images of Madeleine.
• Prevalence of shots from Scottie’s point of view to establish his obsession, the male gaze and the power of the look.
• Use of close ups to highlight significant aspects of Mise-en-Scène e.g. necklace on the painting of Carlotta.
Mise-en-Scène
• Use of symbolic colour throughout. Art direction by Hal Perreira, Henry Bumstead. Ernie’s restaurant: red walls, Madeleine in green, mirrors, doubles.
• Madeleine’s clothes, designed by Edith Head: the grey suit is all important.
• The location of the film was moved to San Francisco, the city of vertiginous streets, the phallic Coit Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge, the scene of Madeleine’s attempted “suicide”.
• Vertiginous setting of San Francisco contributes to the sense of falling from the opening shots that include the famous bridge to Scottie driving downhill in the sequence where he follows ‘Madeleine’ thereby falling into Elster’s trap.
• Use of green as a colour motif. The key examples include ‘Madeleine’s dress at Ernie’s, her car and Scottie’s sweater at the point when he really starts to believe that Carlotta is possessing ‘Madeleine’.
Editing
• At Ernie’s restaurant cut from Scottie watching to Madeleine in the background, then, as she passes him, cut to her profile.
• Opening sequence cuts between a police man reaching out, to Scottie dangling, to the ‘vertigo shot’.
• Long slow passages containing medium close ups of Scottie watching, cut to what he sees.
• Use of long takes in the scenes of Scottie following ‘Madeleine’ around San Francisco to allow the spectator time to engage with how he may be feeling.
• Position of flashback in the narrative encouraging the spectator to sympathise with Judy and perceive events from her perspective for the first time.
• Prevalence of eye line match cuts aligning the spectator with Scottie throughout the film until the flashback sequence in Judy’s room. After that, there are some shots from her point of view
Cuckoo's Nest:
(01:16) Imprisonment: virtually the first shot in the film – an ELS, low key image, shot on location in a cold and dark mountainous wilderness. The car delivering McMurphy to the psychiatric institution cuts the frame in two.
(02:05:31) Freedom: virtually the last shot of the film. Another ELS, low key image but this time of an individual, Chief, escaping into the Wilderness. Free at last.
Cinematography
- Cinematography is remarkable for its realism. Filmed on location in a real psychiatric institution the film is largely shot in a clinical, high key lit, environment. There are no shadows within which to hide from the stony, disapproving glare of Nurse Ratched.
- 01:44-2:07 Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) enters the film in a long take, deep focus shot, dressed in villainous black. She dominates the frame. A baleful red light hanging over her head creates unease. The sound is diegetic. Her face impassive. In her hand she jangles keys (an audial reminder of confinement) unlocking two doors enroute to the ward. She clearly is the boss.
- McMurphy (04:15) enters the building and the film, in handcuffs, flanked by two guards. Despite his implied weakness he still dominates the frame. A parallel to Nurse Ratched’s entrance. These two characters will clearly not get on.
Mise-En-Scene
- Everyone wears some kind of uniform – orderlies, nurses, doctors, patients. Uniforms serve to identify and separate the sane from the insane – and the healthy from the sick. Few of the patients have their own identity although Harding occasionally dresses differently as an attempt to separate himself from the other patients whom he considers himself superior to.
- Images of locks, chains, keys, bars and fences are dominant. Early on in the film we see Mancini being woken for the morning. He is chained to his bed with bars on his windows and door. He seems vulnerable – a caged beast. (02.22)
- The first exterior extreme long shot since McMurphy’s admission reveals the nature of the locked down ward – it is a prison not a hospital (20:13). In the foreground is the locked-down recreation yard and the scene of one of McMurphy’s many rebellious acts – getting the patients to work together, playing basketball and eventually beating the orderlies (01:04: 09).
Editing
- Largely continuity editing to maintain a high level of realism.
- 20:08-20:09 However the first group therapy session ends in disaster and chaos and we cut from a shallow focus, close-up, right of frame shot of McMurphy to a centrally framed CU of Nurse Ratched. They presumably are looking at each other: his gaze is one of disapproval as he realises her methods are unsound; she on the other hand is unrepentant and superior.
Sound
- The non-diegetic music that accompanies the two scenes from the beginning and end of the film are interesting: for the former it is a peculiar, off-key, bow-saw and wine glass arrangement that perfectly reflects McMurphy’s unusual character; for the latter, it is a tune where the underscoring of Native American drums adds further resonance to Chief’s escape as if he is returning to his ancient and ancestral way of life.
- Sound is literally a narrative device in the film – offering a point of conflict with Nurse Ratched and McMurphy. A key scene revolves around McMurphy’s irritation with the ward music which is played at such a loud volume that he can’t think. Music, often a liberating device in films of imprisonment such as The Shawshank Redemption, is here a tool of institutional oppression.
- 23:59 and 26:45 In an act of transgression (his first) McMurphy crosses the line and enters the nurse’s station – forbidden territory and of course the source of the music and the medication that oppresses all the men. McMurphy’s second transgressive act of not taking his medication follows soon after. Not happy to rebel quietly he shows Harding that the ward regime will not control him. (29:12).
- Later McMurphy attempts the impossible (the lifting of a sink unit) as a symbol of his refusal to be beaten. It is this very same act that Chief successfully appropriates as the means for his own escape at the end of the film. The ever recurring sound of metallic keys and locks creates an audial landscape of oppression and confinement – anchored by the visuals of bars and fences.
Representations: Gender, Age, Ethnicity
Gender
- The film is notable for having men existing in a passive relationship with at least one destructive and controlling woman –Nurse Ratched rules the henhouse! A number of the men (notably Harding and Billy) have psychological/sexual issues with women – their wife and mother respectively. However women are also presented as a means of sexual liberation and freedom – when Billy loses his virginity he also loses his stutter. That said the two girls McMurphy smuggles into the ward for a party are presented as morally lax and probably prostitutes. They are hardly models of their own empowerment and liberation.
Age
- This is not a major feature of the film, as most people featured are in their 30s or 40s. Billy is supposedly still a teenager and it is Nurse Ratched’s cruel mistreatment of him which eventually makes McMurphy tackle her. Billy’s crime is that he hasn’t felt the message of the counter-culture, his Mother and Nurse Ratched have too much of a malign influence on him – themselves representatives of a sexually repressed older generation.
Ethnicity
- There are some interesting ethnic representations in the film. The ward orderlies and night watchman are all played by black men. They are pawns used by the oppressive regime of Nurse Ratched and although they have institutional power and outrank the patients they are still clearly oppressed in that their roles are non-professional. The civil rights dream of social mobility has not impacted on ward politics which is a kind of ossified image of America with a black underclass emptying the trash. Another ideologically interesting representation is that of Chief – a representative of an ancient and indigenous culture (The Native American) demonised and destroyed by a militaristic white invader. It’s worth remembering that the Vietnam War (the bête noire of the counter-culture) was reaching its infamous conclusion with the fall of Saigon in 1975. The Chief’s eventual personal victory over the oppressive regime of the hospital can thus be read (at a push) as the Vietnamese triumph over the colonial might of the West
Aesthetics
-The colour palette of the film is clinical and washed out. Only the exotica of the girls at the end of the film adds some much needed colour to the environment. The decision to use the hospital referenced in the novel, Oregon State Hospital, is an attempt to focus the realism of the film.
http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2017-18/17-18_3-13/pdf/eng/one-flew-sequence-analysis-study-sheet.pdf -> Opening Scene notes from Eduqas
Opening Titles Scene:
- Woman eyes - Famous for being antagonist in Hitchcock films
- Notion of looking - Eyes - Being watched -> similar to Psycho after Marion is murdered / key motif of Hitchcock films - auteur
- Titles were a feature - Pre-cursor to Bond -> sets up the story + create intrigue as the audience asks questions
- Integral part of setting up the film
- Shapes used to make audience dizzy -> reflects Scottie's vertigo -> spiral also links to Scottie being on a downward spiral
- Swirls = dizzying + captivating -> rare technology for this time period so audience were intrigued
- Music is very dramatic -> hooks/grabs the attention of the audience -> emphasises watching a Hitchcock film -> Hitchcock as an auteur: wanted to make pure cinema, used elements of cinema to create a visceral reaction from his audience
- Heightens vulnerability
Police falling off roof scene:
- Heights - Vulnerability
- The way the scene is shot when Scottie is hanging off the building creates dizziness for the audience which makes them feel similar to how Scottie is feeling with his vertigo
- Very dramatic
Camera:
- Point of view shots -> James Stewart looking to the ground & looking up at the police officer -> connection with the audience -> connotes Scottie's fear of heights to the audience
- Traditionally films start with establishing shot
Mise-en-scene:
- Clothes signify their profession & statuses: The policeman are more important than the man being chased and this is emphasised by their uniform
- Natural low-key lighting (as the setting is nighttime). There is a contrast of the dark night & the street lights as this symbolises the police chase of being one of good ('light) vs evil ('dark')
- Props: guns signify the violent nature of this scene
Sound:
- Eerie non-diegetic music used to build up tension, draws in the audience as they are intrigued to see how this scene will play out
- Some diegetic sound is also used to heighten tension (e.g. when the policeman is telling Scottie to give him his hand)
- When the policeman falls from the building, the music gets deeper which echoes the sombre mood of this moment
Vertigo & the Maze Gaze:
- Male Gaze
- Objectificatoin
- Voyeurism
- The flower shop scene is an example of scene in Vertigo that exemplifies Hitchcock's use of the male gaze
Laura Malvey & the male Gaze:
- Theory pioneered during second-wave feminist era of 1970's, it has became highly influential with regard to film spectatorship
- In brief, spectators watch films from a male perspective; female characters are treated as objects rather than subjects; they are rarely protagonists: 'in herself the woman has not the slightest importance' (Budd Boetticher)
- They are often fetishised - this is an extension of Freudian/Lacanian psychoanalytical theory whereby women pose a threat to masculinity
In Vertigo, power & authority is represented in a variety of different ways. One of the characters which conveys the authoritative characteristics is Scottie, his misplaced in society this is most present in his attempt to regain his authority after he lost it after Madeleine died. His attempt at regaining control is presented as desperate and sad when he forces Judy to dye her hair so she looks identical to Madeleine because of the illusion created by by the idea of helping Madeleine helps Scottie see himself as an authoritative figure which the time of the film was seen as being manly. Scottie tries to grasp onto his authority to try to feel secure in himself. This can be linked to the context of the film as 1950's America was a time of fear in which men were desperately trying to hold onto their power partially due to the rise of the 2nd wave of the feminist movement and the wars America fought; men are trying to recapture an outdated sense of authority.
Furthermore, it it also very clear that Scottie is shown as a male authoritative figure throughout the film is through his dominant expression and approach to women. One scene where this is very clear is when Scottie jumps into the river to save Madeline and the scene that follows, Scottie is shown as an authoritative figure here because he takes action immediately jumping in to save the women. During the 1950's women were seen as a lower in power than men with men being the most powerful in society. Going to the scene after this Scottie took Madeleine back to his house and she is left powerless laying in the bed whilst Scottie makes her some tea. A common theme shown by most Hitchcock films is having a Blonde girl in it, this was usually done because Alfred Hitchcock liked blonde women and saw them as a tool in his films, someone who doesn't have any power except through sexual persuasions. However this is shown to be different in Vertigo where we find out Madeline had aided in the murder of Gavin's wife when we find this out we get a completely different outlook on women power within the film and how women act as a hidden power often unseen by the audience.
(notes from Eduqas)
Cinematography
• Disorientation from the beginning. The title comes out of a woman’s eye, then into a series of graphic spirals inducing dizziness before the first sequence. It sets up Scottie’s desire to let go, to fall. • The “vertigo” shot, a camera technique developed by Irmin Roberts. This is achieved by moving the camera in the opposite direction of the camera’s zoom.
• Subjective tracking shots follow Madeleine in San Francisco from Scottie’s point of view. Dreamlike sequences in soft focus in the cemetery and the hotel bedroom, ghostly images of Madeleine.
• Prevalence of shots from Scottie’s point of view to establish his obsession, the male gaze and the power of the look.
• Use of close ups to highlight significant aspects of Mise-en-Scène e.g. necklace on the painting of Carlotta.
Mise-en-Scène
• Use of symbolic colour throughout. Art direction by Hal Perreira, Henry Bumstead. Ernie’s restaurant: red walls, Madeleine in green, mirrors, doubles.
• Madeleine’s clothes, designed by Edith Head: the grey suit is all important.
• The location of the film was moved to San Francisco, the city of vertiginous streets, the phallic Coit Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge, the scene of Madeleine’s attempted “suicide”.
• Vertiginous setting of San Francisco contributes to the sense of falling from the opening shots that include the famous bridge to Scottie driving downhill in the sequence where he follows ‘Madeleine’ thereby falling into Elster’s trap.
• Use of green as a colour motif. The key examples include ‘Madeleine’s dress at Ernie’s, her car and Scottie’s sweater at the point when he really starts to believe that Carlotta is possessing ‘Madeleine’.
Editing
• At Ernie’s restaurant cut from Scottie watching to Madeleine in the background, then, as she passes him, cut to her profile.
• Opening sequence cuts between a police man reaching out, to Scottie dangling, to the ‘vertigo shot’.
• Long slow passages containing medium close ups of Scottie watching, cut to what he sees.
• Use of long takes in the scenes of Scottie following ‘Madeleine’ around San Francisco to allow the spectator time to engage with how he may be feeling.
• Position of flashback in the narrative encouraging the spectator to sympathise with Judy and perceive events from her perspective for the first time.
• Prevalence of eye line match cuts aligning the spectator with Scottie throughout the film until the flashback sequence in Judy’s room. After that, there are some shots from her point of view
Sound:
• Bernard Herrmann’s music inspired by Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, perhaps the most important micro feature of the film. It appears endless, chords that are never resolved, repeatedly broken. Herrmann’s love theme used when ‘Madeleine’ is on screen to indicate Scottie’s growing obsession/love for her.
• Numerous, lengthy passages without dialogue, only music.
• Judy’s voiceover as she reveals her story splits the narrative and changes the film.
• Cyclical nature of the score - Martin Scorcese said, ‘the music is also built around spirals and circles, fulfilment and despair’. The repetition could allude to obsessive recurring thoughts and poor mental health.
• Classical Music (Bach and Mozart) in scenes with Midge, lighter and more frivolous than Herrmann’s score reflecting the lighter tone of her interactions with Scottie. Their relationship, although complex, appears more conventional when compared to Scottie and ‘Madeleine’s.
Representations
• The representation of male sexuality with a man confronting his impotence and his repressed desires can be read as a comment on prefeminist gender politics in the late 1950s.
• Laura Mulvey‘s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975) examined the representation of sexual difference as active male/passive female, with women displayed as erotic objects for the characters within the film and the spectator. Mulvey suggested that the use of subjective camera from the male protagonist’s point of view results in the spectator identifying with the male.
• Scottie is undermined by his weakness and fascination with the mystery of Madeleine. Madeleine’s confession places the spectator in a position of knowledge, spectator changes identification because of this.
• Women as passive – consider Midge as a challenge to this and explore how she fares in the narrative as a result of her active nature. How does the alternate ending of the film change this? Aesthetics (i.e. the ‘look and feel’ of the film including visual style, influences, auteur, motifs)
• Title sequence’s innovative use of avantgarde film ideas in a mainstream narrative. Designed by Saul Bass accompanied by Bernard Herrmann’s score a combination of emotional dream imagery and abstraction by abstract film-maker John Whitney. He used a special pendulum that forms “modern art in motion” geometric oval shaped spirals called Lissajous waves.
• This is a film about watching. In the opening credits the woman’s face is only partially seen, she is looking, she and the location are unidentified. This woman does not feature in the film, she never appears again.
• The motif of the spiral structures the film: in the titles, Madeleine’s hair, the steps in the tower, the repetition.
• Hitchcock’s recurring use of mirrors, as in Psycho, to imply dual identities. The clearest examples are the sequence at Ernie’s, Scottie’s first visit to Judy’s room and the Ransohoff’s scene.
• Lengthy fluid camera movements contribute to the film appearing dreamlike at times.
• Ground breaking, inventive camera work. The clearest example is the ‘Vertigo effect’, the dolly zoom used to convey Scottie’s acrophobia. Though invented earlier this technique was first used in this film by camera operator Irmin Roberts
• Bernard Herrmann’s music inspired by Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, perhaps the most important micro feature of the film. It appears endless, chords that are never resolved, repeatedly broken. Herrmann’s love theme used when ‘Madeleine’ is on screen to indicate Scottie’s growing obsession/love for her.
• Numerous, lengthy passages without dialogue, only music.
• Judy’s voiceover as she reveals her story splits the narrative and changes the film.
• Cyclical nature of the score - Martin Scorcese said, ‘the music is also built around spirals and circles, fulfilment and despair’. The repetition could allude to obsessive recurring thoughts and poor mental health.
• Classical Music (Bach and Mozart) in scenes with Midge, lighter and more frivolous than Herrmann’s score reflecting the lighter tone of her interactions with Scottie. Their relationship, although complex, appears more conventional when compared to Scottie and ‘Madeleine’s.
Representations
• The representation of male sexuality with a man confronting his impotence and his repressed desires can be read as a comment on prefeminist gender politics in the late 1950s.
• Laura Mulvey‘s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975) examined the representation of sexual difference as active male/passive female, with women displayed as erotic objects for the characters within the film and the spectator. Mulvey suggested that the use of subjective camera from the male protagonist’s point of view results in the spectator identifying with the male.
• Scottie is undermined by his weakness and fascination with the mystery of Madeleine. Madeleine’s confession places the spectator in a position of knowledge, spectator changes identification because of this.
• Women as passive – consider Midge as a challenge to this and explore how she fares in the narrative as a result of her active nature. How does the alternate ending of the film change this? Aesthetics (i.e. the ‘look and feel’ of the film including visual style, influences, auteur, motifs)
• Title sequence’s innovative use of avantgarde film ideas in a mainstream narrative. Designed by Saul Bass accompanied by Bernard Herrmann’s score a combination of emotional dream imagery and abstraction by abstract film-maker John Whitney. He used a special pendulum that forms “modern art in motion” geometric oval shaped spirals called Lissajous waves.
• This is a film about watching. In the opening credits the woman’s face is only partially seen, she is looking, she and the location are unidentified. This woman does not feature in the film, she never appears again.
• The motif of the spiral structures the film: in the titles, Madeleine’s hair, the steps in the tower, the repetition.
• Hitchcock’s recurring use of mirrors, as in Psycho, to imply dual identities. The clearest examples are the sequence at Ernie’s, Scottie’s first visit to Judy’s room and the Ransohoff’s scene.
• Lengthy fluid camera movements contribute to the film appearing dreamlike at times.
• Ground breaking, inventive camera work. The clearest example is the ‘Vertigo effect’, the dolly zoom used to convey Scottie’s acrophobia. Though invented earlier this technique was first used in this film by camera operator Irmin Roberts
Cuckoo's Nest:
(01:16) Imprisonment: virtually the first shot in the film – an ELS, low key image, shot on location in a cold and dark mountainous wilderness. The car delivering McMurphy to the psychiatric institution cuts the frame in two.
(02:05:31) Freedom: virtually the last shot of the film. Another ELS, low key image but this time of an individual, Chief, escaping into the Wilderness. Free at last.
Cinematography
- Cinematography is remarkable for its realism. Filmed on location in a real psychiatric institution the film is largely shot in a clinical, high key lit, environment. There are no shadows within which to hide from the stony, disapproving glare of Nurse Ratched.
- 01:44-2:07 Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) enters the film in a long take, deep focus shot, dressed in villainous black. She dominates the frame. A baleful red light hanging over her head creates unease. The sound is diegetic. Her face impassive. In her hand she jangles keys (an audial reminder of confinement) unlocking two doors enroute to the ward. She clearly is the boss.
- McMurphy (04:15) enters the building and the film, in handcuffs, flanked by two guards. Despite his implied weakness he still dominates the frame. A parallel to Nurse Ratched’s entrance. These two characters will clearly not get on.
Mise-En-Scene
- Everyone wears some kind of uniform – orderlies, nurses, doctors, patients. Uniforms serve to identify and separate the sane from the insane – and the healthy from the sick. Few of the patients have their own identity although Harding occasionally dresses differently as an attempt to separate himself from the other patients whom he considers himself superior to.
- Images of locks, chains, keys, bars and fences are dominant. Early on in the film we see Mancini being woken for the morning. He is chained to his bed with bars on his windows and door. He seems vulnerable – a caged beast. (02.22)
- The first exterior extreme long shot since McMurphy’s admission reveals the nature of the locked down ward – it is a prison not a hospital (20:13). In the foreground is the locked-down recreation yard and the scene of one of McMurphy’s many rebellious acts – getting the patients to work together, playing basketball and eventually beating the orderlies (01:04: 09).
Editing
- Largely continuity editing to maintain a high level of realism.
- 20:08-20:09 However the first group therapy session ends in disaster and chaos and we cut from a shallow focus, close-up, right of frame shot of McMurphy to a centrally framed CU of Nurse Ratched. They presumably are looking at each other: his gaze is one of disapproval as he realises her methods are unsound; she on the other hand is unrepentant and superior.
Sound
- The non-diegetic music that accompanies the two scenes from the beginning and end of the film are interesting: for the former it is a peculiar, off-key, bow-saw and wine glass arrangement that perfectly reflects McMurphy’s unusual character; for the latter, it is a tune where the underscoring of Native American drums adds further resonance to Chief’s escape as if he is returning to his ancient and ancestral way of life.
- Sound is literally a narrative device in the film – offering a point of conflict with Nurse Ratched and McMurphy. A key scene revolves around McMurphy’s irritation with the ward music which is played at such a loud volume that he can’t think. Music, often a liberating device in films of imprisonment such as The Shawshank Redemption, is here a tool of institutional oppression.
- 23:59 and 26:45 In an act of transgression (his first) McMurphy crosses the line and enters the nurse’s station – forbidden territory and of course the source of the music and the medication that oppresses all the men. McMurphy’s second transgressive act of not taking his medication follows soon after. Not happy to rebel quietly he shows Harding that the ward regime will not control him. (29:12).
- Later McMurphy attempts the impossible (the lifting of a sink unit) as a symbol of his refusal to be beaten. It is this very same act that Chief successfully appropriates as the means for his own escape at the end of the film. The ever recurring sound of metallic keys and locks creates an audial landscape of oppression and confinement – anchored by the visuals of bars and fences.
Representations: Gender, Age, Ethnicity
Gender
- The film is notable for having men existing in a passive relationship with at least one destructive and controlling woman –Nurse Ratched rules the henhouse! A number of the men (notably Harding and Billy) have psychological/sexual issues with women – their wife and mother respectively. However women are also presented as a means of sexual liberation and freedom – when Billy loses his virginity he also loses his stutter. That said the two girls McMurphy smuggles into the ward for a party are presented as morally lax and probably prostitutes. They are hardly models of their own empowerment and liberation.
Age
- This is not a major feature of the film, as most people featured are in their 30s or 40s. Billy is supposedly still a teenager and it is Nurse Ratched’s cruel mistreatment of him which eventually makes McMurphy tackle her. Billy’s crime is that he hasn’t felt the message of the counter-culture, his Mother and Nurse Ratched have too much of a malign influence on him – themselves representatives of a sexually repressed older generation.
Ethnicity
- There are some interesting ethnic representations in the film. The ward orderlies and night watchman are all played by black men. They are pawns used by the oppressive regime of Nurse Ratched and although they have institutional power and outrank the patients they are still clearly oppressed in that their roles are non-professional. The civil rights dream of social mobility has not impacted on ward politics which is a kind of ossified image of America with a black underclass emptying the trash. Another ideologically interesting representation is that of Chief – a representative of an ancient and indigenous culture (The Native American) demonised and destroyed by a militaristic white invader. It’s worth remembering that the Vietnam War (the bête noire of the counter-culture) was reaching its infamous conclusion with the fall of Saigon in 1975. The Chief’s eventual personal victory over the oppressive regime of the hospital can thus be read (at a push) as the Vietnamese triumph over the colonial might of the West
Aesthetics
-The colour palette of the film is clinical and washed out. Only the exotica of the girls at the end of the film adds some much needed colour to the environment. The decision to use the hospital referenced in the novel, Oregon State Hospital, is an attempt to focus the realism of the film.
http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2017-18/17-18_3-13/pdf/eng/one-flew-sequence-analysis-study-sheet.pdf -> Opening Scene notes from Eduqas
Power + Authority: Cuckoo's Nest
McMurphy is a disruption to the status quo, he doesn't respect figures of authority, e.g. when he talks to dr spivey, his language is informal, another example is his relationship with nurse Ratched as he always seems to be the first one to question her power e.g. his demand to watch the world series foils her attempt to seize control and symbolises the rise of the individual against the system. Another example of his lack of respect for authortiy is when he enters the nurses office without permission.
Nurse Ratched: The other ward maids go along with what she does; e.g. not letting the inmates watch the world series shows the abuse of her power.
America has longmade heroes of figures who assert their individuality yet many american novelists have written about characters who's individualism conflicts with the societies around them. The character of McMurphy is also in congress (the opposite, doesn't fit it) with the institution he has been put into as he represents the life and colour of the outside world and the institution however is bereft (lacking) of colour and joy (reflected in the mise en scene) therefore McMurphy is presented as non conformative and unwilling to accept order and authority. His non conformity is evident in the first therapy scene where he is wearing colour.
The film is notable for having men existing in a passive relationship with at least one destructing and controlling woman. (Ratched believes what she is doing is right but cannot see that it is destructive, there is not a scene where she laughs at how the men are being hurt). Ratched comes across as aggressive because she is challenged on a higher level ( he is more confident to be rebellious) by McMurphy that she has to respond to with harsh words. She may feel as she has to come across as more authoritative than usual to maintain her power.
-A number of men have psychological/ sexual issues with women (Billy, Hardy)
- Nurse Ratched is presented as the antagonist to McMurphy and his goals
-The ward's night watchmen are all played by black men representing how they are inferior to the oppressive regime of Nurse Ratched- at the time they had just gained equal rights
-The Native american Chief, who represents his culture, has eventual personal victory over the oppressive regime of the hospital
McMurphy is a non conformist character, Forman's previous film 'Band' in his own country for shining a negative light on communism,
I reckon it could be represented by the way Nurse Ratched ignores the democratic vote which has connotations of a Communist regime"
Nurse R represents the displacement of power, power and authority is gained from fear around nurse watched , McMurphy gains power through peoples admiration for him and his social skills
Thomas Schatz argues that classical hollywood narrative device of plot, based on psychological desires and character goals, this was challenged by 1970s cinema when characters became plot functions. In new hollywood the characters are now the main focal point in the story whereas in classical hollywood the characters are a mere influence on the story by psychological desires and character goals
Equilibrium - This can be applied to OFOTCN as the stable situation of McMurphy being admitted into the hospital is presented to the viewer
Disruption
Goals - This is shown through McMurphy's goal to escape the asylum
Climax - Shown through McMurphy's deteriorating mental health state after Nurse Ratched finds out what happened during the 'escape night' and sends McMurphy to be tortured. However this dosen't completely apply to Todorov's model as McMurphy's goal of escaping is not achieved but the climax shares some aspects of Todorov's model as the climax does occur through intense drama & crisis.
New Equilibrium - This can't be applied too far as despite the Chief escape, McMurphy dies so his goal of leaving the hospital is ruined and his narrative his finished
Is there a clear protagonist and antagonist? - There is; McMurphy is presented as the protagonist as he is the character that the audience roots for and Nurse Ratched is presented as the antagonist due to her manipulative nature with the patients.
Nurse Ratched: The other ward maids go along with what she does; e.g. not letting the inmates watch the world series shows the abuse of her power.
America has longmade heroes of figures who assert their individuality yet many american novelists have written about characters who's individualism conflicts with the societies around them. The character of McMurphy is also in congress (the opposite, doesn't fit it) with the institution he has been put into as he represents the life and colour of the outside world and the institution however is bereft (lacking) of colour and joy (reflected in the mise en scene) therefore McMurphy is presented as non conformative and unwilling to accept order and authority. His non conformity is evident in the first therapy scene where he is wearing colour.
The film is notable for having men existing in a passive relationship with at least one destructing and controlling woman. (Ratched believes what she is doing is right but cannot see that it is destructive, there is not a scene where she laughs at how the men are being hurt). Ratched comes across as aggressive because she is challenged on a higher level ( he is more confident to be rebellious) by McMurphy that she has to respond to with harsh words. She may feel as she has to come across as more authoritative than usual to maintain her power.
-A number of men have psychological/ sexual issues with women (Billy, Hardy)
- Nurse Ratched is presented as the antagonist to McMurphy and his goals
-The ward's night watchmen are all played by black men representing how they are inferior to the oppressive regime of Nurse Ratched- at the time they had just gained equal rights
-The Native american Chief, who represents his culture, has eventual personal victory over the oppressive regime of the hospital
McMurphy is a non conformist character, Forman's previous film 'Band' in his own country for shining a negative light on communism,
I reckon it could be represented by the way Nurse Ratched ignores the democratic vote which has connotations of a Communist regime"
Nurse R represents the displacement of power, power and authority is gained from fear around nurse watched , McMurphy gains power through peoples admiration for him and his social skills
Thomas Schatz argues that classical hollywood narrative device of plot, based on psychological desires and character goals, this was challenged by 1970s cinema when characters became plot functions. In new hollywood the characters are now the main focal point in the story whereas in classical hollywood the characters are a mere influence on the story by psychological desires and character goals
Equilibrium - This can be applied to OFOTCN as the stable situation of McMurphy being admitted into the hospital is presented to the viewer
Disruption
Goals - This is shown through McMurphy's goal to escape the asylum
Climax - Shown through McMurphy's deteriorating mental health state after Nurse Ratched finds out what happened during the 'escape night' and sends McMurphy to be tortured. However this dosen't completely apply to Todorov's model as McMurphy's goal of escaping is not achieved but the climax shares some aspects of Todorov's model as the climax does occur through intense drama & crisis.
New Equilibrium - This can't be applied too far as despite the Chief escape, McMurphy dies so his goal of leaving the hospital is ruined and his narrative his finished
Is there a clear protagonist and antagonist? - There is; McMurphy is presented as the protagonist as he is the character that the audience roots for and Nurse Ratched is presented as the antagonist due to her manipulative nature with the patients.
Like Vertigo, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest makes strong use of repetition and structural parallels which draw attention to its formal features and structure.
· Can you identify any repeated scenes which help structure the narrative?
- The group meetings adds layers of depth to the characters as their conversations & body language give the audience a deeper insight into their characteristics and feelings. This helps structure the narrative as these meetings set the path on how the atmosphere inside the asylum is created
· Can you identify any scenes which function as a prolepsis (foreshadowing)to later scenes?
- McMurphy's unsuccessful trying of lifting the water basin to escape shows how he will always be trapped there whereas Chief's successful lifting of the water basin leads to his escape
- When McMurphy returns after the first time he is sent away, he pretends that he is no longer functioning properly and the treatment had a significant affect on his characteristics. The 2nd time he returns, he isn't pretending anymore and is 'dead' inside.
· For what reasons may Forman have decided to use the opening credits location and soundtrack as a mirror image of the ending?
- This is shown to present the freedom that occurred in McMurphy's life before the asylum and Chief's life after escaping the asylum as they are on the outside (?)
The Ending
Watch the ending of the film (DVD 2:01:10 – 2:06)
Record your observations of Forman’s use of each micro technique in order to convey messages and values.
Mise-en-scene
|
Cinematography
|
Editing
|
Sound
|
Colour is used to present the juxtaposition of the asylum & the outside; majority of scene has a very bland colour scheme which makes the institution seem washed out but Chief's escape is surrounded by a blue sky & green nature which makes it clear that life outside the hospital is more vibrant & hopeful.
|
Dark-lit lighting throughout the scene conveys the dark conclusion of McMurphy's story but the film uses natural light when Chief escapes which conveys the relief of escape the asylum & that he has broken free from this regime. This presents the message that the asylum is a place of darkness.
Characters presented through shadows & trapped behind 'bars'; conveys to the audience that they are literally behind bars in the institution & Chief's breaking of the window shows how he is no longer 'behind bars'
|
Slow pace in order to build the anticipation of Chief escaping which depicts the message of the importance of escaping the asylum. The long takes gives the audience time to taken in what has happened & that the Chief has finally achieved freedom.
|
The use of the music whist Chief escapes emphasises the freedom he is about to face now he has left the hospital. This juxtaposes with the lack of music during McMurphy's final moments which conveys the message that he is trapped by the hospital.
The music also takes a long time to build up which adds to the drama & the meaning behind Chief's escape and how monumental this moment is. |
- What feelings are you left with at the end of the narrative? Do you agree with Berliner’s view that ‘1970s narratives place a strong emphasis on irresolution’?
I agree with this some to some extent as there is irresolution to McMurphy's life and the films also doesn't resolve what will happen to Chief after he leaves the aslyum and the reaction of those still in the asylum to this chain of events. However there is some resolution as the Chief manages to escape and McMurphy's life has come full circle.
- Compare the endings between One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Vertigo. Which ending, to you, seems to have more resolution and closure? Is this in keeping with the respective times in which they were made?
I'd say Cuckoo's Nest had more resolution and closure which doesn't keep in line with the respective times that they were made.
Comments
Post a Comment