Theory Analysis
In watching the movies One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest one could see Foucault’s theories in action. The movie takes place in an mental hospital with the main character being McMurphy he was never declared mental patent. McMurphy was just under review witch he thought would only take 60 days, but once he found out that the hospital could keep him as long as they would like he tried to escape. Another main character was the head nurse Mildred Ratched she was very strict and by the book. When they brought McMurphy into nurse Ratched institution it lead to the implantation of Foucault’s mechanisms of control. One aspect of Foucault’s theory one can be seen from the begging is observational hierarchies. The inmates are constantly under supervision, by having complete supervision the inmates are less likely to act out or does something they are not suppose to do. When McMurphy walked in the institute he was escorted by two men in white outfits. The inmates where supervised even while taking a shower or sleeping. They were allowed to play cards or watch television but the nurses were still able to see all the inmates at all times. With the constant supervision the nurse and doctors were able to assess the inmate’s behavior; this is where Foucault’s theory of examinations can be seen. When McMurphy took to other inmates for a joy ride on a boat the doctor’s and the head nurse came together for a meeting to reassess McMurphy. They were assessing weather or not McMurphy was mentally ill or not or even if they want to deal with him. The head nurse wanted to keep McMurphy she did not want to put their problem on another hospital. The institution put forth goals for the inmate to reach depending on if they reach them or not their program is changed. When McMurphy went on this joy ride with friends that was not the norm of the institution therefore they had to reassess McMurphy’s program. While the doctors and head nurse was reassessing McMurphy after his incident they were using their normalizing judgment according to Foucault. The doctors need to punish McMurphy because his behavior was not part of the norms therefore unacceptable. The goal of punishing McMurphy was so he would comply with the norms and obey the doctors and staff of the institution. According to Foucault normalization leads to obedience, this can be seen through out the movie. For example when Martini wanted his cigarettes he was then taken to the doctors where they shocked him so much he was not even able to walk out of the room on his own. After his punishment Martini was very obedient. Even though the institution went to some extremes for punishment it worked at that time. The institution need to have control over the inmates so they used Foucault’s three mechanisms of control to keep order and control in their institution.