In the 1960s, American society was in turmoil, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union reached its climax, the black civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr. was in full swing, the United States was involved in the Vietnam War, and President Kennedy was assassinated.....
As early as the Chinese Yuan Dynasty Zhang Yanghao's "Hillside Sheep Tong Cares for the Ancients" there is a record of the idea of "xing, the people suffer; death, the people suffer".
Therefore, this series of major events that are very easy to cause turmoil has made the pursuit of freedom and the defenders of the system once again tit-for-tat, and has also enabled a series of writers and artists to create countless works that reflect dissatisfaction with the American social system. Famous writer Ken Kessey's "Flying Over the Madhouse" came into being! So in this work, and even in the history of human cognition, who is the winner of freedom and institutions?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >1</h1>
"Flying Over the Madhouse" won five awards
At the 48th Academy Awards in 1976, "Flying Over the Madhouse" won five awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Adaptation, and Best Director.
How influential is this movie?
It is a miracle in the Film Industry in the United States and even the world, and it is an insurmountable classic, and it is called "a compulsory course in film and television performance".
Such a classic movie, then its director is not a generalist!
Director Milos Foreman, whose work also includes The Biography of Mozart, The Hair of the Vietnam War, A Brief History of Decay, Chaplin's Artistic Life, and many others, has won dozens of film awards, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Suri World Film Festival and the Directors Guild of America Awards!
After knowing the past and present lives of this movie, let's take a look at its specific plot!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" what does > film say? </h1>
In order to make it easier for readers who have not seen the movie to understand, let's briefly describe the plot of the movie.
Main scenario
Deep in the jungle surrounded by mountains, a lonely psychiatric hospital.
Main characters
McMurphy, a somewhat clever little jerk with a cheerful personality, came here to escape farm work.
Stuttering young Billy.
A middle-aged man who doesn't understand whether his wife is cheating or not.
A deaf and dumb Indian chieftain, strong as an ox, Ziffer.
There is also a group of young people who are either nervous or grumpy...
The head nurse, a very controlling, cold and fierce middle-aged woman
The newcomer Murphy almost became the leader of the patients because of his cheerful personality, playing ball and gambling, all of which made the strictly disciplined head nurse feel threatened.
Gradually, the boring life made Murphy unbearable, so he proposed to watch a baseball game, but the dull head nurse tried to refuse, and the angry Murphy told the TV about a baseball game that did not exist, which made everyone happy.
Finally, one day, Murphy found an opportunity to climb over the wall and take a few patients outside to have some brazenness. Murphy, who thought he would be put back on the farm, continued to be left here.
Later, after Murphy learns that he will be locked up in the hospital forever and that Ziever is not deaf and mute, he convinces Ziffer to escape with him.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve, and after the nurses left work, Murphy bribed the guards and engaged in an unprecedented carnival in the ward, after which Murphy, who wanted to escape with Billy, got drunk with everyone.
The next day, under the threat of the head nurse, the timid Billy confesses to McMurphy and then commits suicide, and an angry Murphy tries to put the head nurse to death, but is knocked unconscious by the guards.
When all calm returned, McMurphy was forced to undergo a "frontal lobectomy," a brutal procedure that could turn people into idiots. Ziever's eager attempt to wake him up and escape was futile. Filled with grief and anger, Ziffer suffocated Murphy, smashed the bars, flew over the madhouse, and walked in the direction of the rising sun...
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the class metaphorically used by each character</h1>
The film cleverly condensed the American social landscape of the time into a small hospital.
1. McMurphy — A representative of individualism yearning for freedom
He is not excellent, it may be a thief in society, it may be an alcoholic who walks all day in nightclubs and bars, and it may be the so-called "bar spirit" who now fights a war of words without a word. Represents the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, those social youth who are wild and laissez-faire at heart, full of infinite desire for freedom. But don't they have the right to pursue freedom? Shouldn't it be treated humanely?
McMurphy
2. Chiver, Chieftain of the Indians — A representative of those who are silent and wait for the right moment
As the only character in the film to escape the day, Ziffer's body pinned on the author's strong desire for changes in the American system at that time. The gradual demise of the Indians, as natives of the Lands of the Americas before the discovery of the New World, was undoubtedly the beginning of American civilization. The Indian chieftain, as a natural enemy of the ancestors of the United States at the beginning, resisted the mainstream discourse power of the United States, and resisted the management system prescribed by the Americans. So when he finally smashed the window, in the cheers of the patients, rushed out of the shackles, flew over the madhouse that McMurphy did not have time to fly over, and walked toward the morning sun, he had to make everyone moved.
Indian Chief Ziffer
3. Head Nurse — Representative of an institutionalized social leader
McMurphy's arrival broke the original lifeless, seemingly regulated ward order, but it greatly threatened the control of the head nurse, she tried her best to control McMurphy's desire for freedom, the word nurse in his body, can not express concern for patients. What we see is nothing more than a manager, a leader who is always maintaining the system and ensuring that the authority is not broken.
matron
4. Psychiatric hospitals — representatives of organizations with a comprehensive system
As one of the biggest metaphors in the film, the mental hospital represents all organized institutions that can make a religion, a faction, or even a nation. In various institutionalized environments, there are pioneers like McMurphy who pursue personal freedom and yearn for the liberation of all sentient beings; there are rulers like the head nurse who are determined to maintain the integrity of the system with all their hearts; there are also ordinary people like middle-aged men who voluntarily enter mental hospitals, Ziffer who pretends to be deaf and dumb, and Billy, who is cowardly and timid, floating with sentient beings, not knowing where the road is, and swaying like a wall of grass.
Is this kind of blossoming flowers and the variety of life forms also a fixed law that is difficult to escape in each era? At what moment does the contest between freedom and institution stop?
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > freedom and institutions, one is indispensable</h1>
1. There is only institution, not freedom
Mark Twain said that freedom is worth fighting for, no matter what the cost.
Paul Richter said that only a free soul can keep its youth forever.
It can be seen that the yearning for freedom is one of the important thinkers in everyone's heart, and the pursuit of freedom is also the right that everyone should have innately, and these rights should not be deprived by those conventional social cultures and legal standards with strong coercive force.
These rights to yearn for freedom are reflected in Murphy's repeated attempts to fly over the insane asylum, in Chief Ziffer's lifting of the sink to smash the iron window and ushering in the morning sun.
It is not difficult to find that there are still many people who are sleepy, but with this pioneer, they have an example of the pursuit of freedom and action, and we do not know whether they will awaken and embark on the road to freedom, or continue to live a system-abiding life in accordance with the rules and regulations, and survive under the will of others.
It is also not difficult to find throughout human history that over-institutionalized organizations often fail to develop sustainably, long-term, and healthy.
More than two thousand years ago, the Qin state unified the six kingdoms, so that the land of China, which had been divided for hundreds of years, was once again unified, which was very spirited, but in just a few decades, such a powerful dynasty was overthrown.
Isn't it because of complicated government decrees, excessive systems, and free space that have been shrunk again and again, and finally the good rivers and mountains have become other people's wedding dresses!
It can be seen that excessive institutionalization will often trigger people's revolutions to break through the shackles and pursue the freedom they yearn for!
2. There is only freedom, no system
However, from another point of view, if the head nurse does not interfere, the hospital has no rules and regulations to restrain the patients, what should be done and what should not be done, let Murphy's willfulness and misdeeds, let him gamble well, provoke wrongdoing, and not be punished, can this hospital still be opened? Does this mean that freedom without restraint will eventually bury the whole collective?
U.S. Secretary of the Navy Burke said, "I think the freedom to integrate with institutions is the only freedom." Freedom must not only coexist with institutions and morals, but must also be indispensable to them. ”
As the saying goes, "no rules, no squares".
It can be seen that in the thinking of the ancient Chinese, the system is also indispensable to a collective.
A phrase that I have to learn since I was in elementary school is called "obeying the law"
Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, entered Guanzhong and agreed with his subordinates on the three chapters of the law, "Those who kill people will be executed, those who hurt people will be convicted, and those who steal will also be convicted!". In this way, Liu Bang was loved by all the people and was able to establish a powerful Han Dynasty.
When Cao Cao went out on a campaign, it was the wheat season, and he issued a military order that the place where the army passed was not allowed to trample on the wheat fields of the people, and as a result, the frightened people of his carriage rushed into a wheat field. Cao Cao replaced his head with his hair, cutting his hair to apologize.
Liu Chuanzhi, the helmsman of Lenovo Group, made a rule that the meeting was late for 5 minutes, and as a result, one day the meeting was held, and he punished himself for 5 minutes because of the delay, which showed the rigor of the system.
Institutions, both ancient and modern, play an indispensable role in a collective. The so-called "state law, family rules", this is the truth.
3. There is both freedom and institution
From the above two perspectives, it is not difficult to find that if an organization wants to continue to develop, sufficient freedom and perfect systems are indispensable.
Roman Roland said that the absolute freedom of a man is madness, and the absolute freedom of a country is chaos.
Montesquieu said that freedom is the right to act arbitrarily within the limits permitted by law.
In one of the four famous works that everyone is familiar with, "Journey to the West", in the section of three dozen white bone essences, Sun Wukong drew a circle for Tang Monk before leaving, letting Tang Monk stay inside to ensure safety, but Tang Monk did not listen to advice, walked out of this circle, and was eventually captured by White Bone Spirit.
The circle drawn by Sun Wukong in this story represents the system, and the area within the circle represents freedom, but the Tang monks yearn for greater freedom and violate the system. Fall into the trap of the white bone essence.
If Sun Wukong draws a larger circle and gives a larger range of freedom, will he be able to avoid this difficulty?
Back in this film, if the head nurse can change her mind and give patients enough freedom and richer activities to meet their basic needs, will there still be this contradiction?
Murphy wants to watch a TV game and alleviate the long-tedious life, which seems not so excessive, why can't he satisfy him?
The system is too strict, the free space is too small, and people will eventually rebel.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks:</h1>
Fu Ke said: "Mental hospitals are an important part of modern civilization. "Its significance is that modern man can do it, to determine whether a person is a normal person, what kind of person can be deprived of the right to liberty, but who has such qualifications?
Although in this movie, the system prevails, but who can guarantee that there is no second and third Murphy? Who can guarantee that the next Murphy will succeed for freedom?
Since 1792 BC, when The King of the Ancient Babylonian Kingdom, Hammurabi, formulated the first code in human history, the Code of Hammurabi, the idea of institutions has begun to penetrate the hearts of the people, and to this day, the game between freedom and institutions has never stopped.....
Freedom and institutions complement each other and restrain each other, just like the two sides of the same coin, one is indispensable.
We need to maintain a balance between the two in order to continue to evolve in a dynamic.
Perhaps in some corner of the world, the game between freedom and institutions, once again like the plot of "Flying Over the Madhouse", began to brew quietly, and was about to be staged...