Good evening and welcome to tonight’s episode of Learning Literature. Tonight we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Gattaca by analysing the techniques text producers employ to construct representations of social issues relating to marginalised groups. We will focus on two classic pieces of literature, Ken Kessey’s, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, as well as Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca. Through a range of techniques, the text producers have included representations of freedom and independence, power, as well as discrimination in each of their respective texts.
One of the more apparent themes seen in both texts is that of discrimination against marginalised groups. Both texts send a clear message, that regardless of the circumstances,
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In Cuckoo’s Nest, those who are considered sane, are simply part of “The Combine”, unable to think for themselves, and are only there to do their part to keep the machine running smoothly. The machinery analogies used throughout the novel are metaphorical of how ridged society is in terms of what is normal. In a society where everyone is expected to act and think the same way, is there really any room for independence? This shows that it is only those who don’t conform to societal norms and expectations, the ’mentally ill’, who are truly independent. The same thing can be seen in Gattaca in terms of the genetically superior. The text producers are clearly saying that once you start removing the quirks and flaws that every human has, you start removing what makes them them. Whilst they are a better fit in the machinery of society, they have no independence, everyone becomes identical to each other. This is seen early on in the film at Vincent’s work. Everyone blends together. Their costuming is uniform, they make no mistakes, and even their cubicles are indistinguishable. It is only those with flaws, such as Vincent, with his imperfect genome, as well as Eugene, with his paralysed legs and substance abuse, that have any kind of independence or …show more content…
The marginalised groups in both texts, the ‘mentally ill’ as well as the genetically inferior are constantly seen trying to gain control of power. For example, in Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy, the novel’s protagonist, is seen to have the primary goal of trying to change the power dynamics at the mental ward in favour of the patients. McMurphy is often seen pushing the boundaries of the ward rules in order to show that Nurse Ratched’s power is nothing more than an illusion. Kessey showed this through the motif of glass. Glass is commonly referred to in the novel, and Is symbolic of the divide between those with, and those without power. When McMurphy smashed through the nurse’s window to get a pack of cigarettes, it was representative of McMurphy breaking through the invisible divide and shattering the illusion of power the Nurse held over the ward. Similarly, in Gattaca, a shift in the power dynamic can be seen when Vincent fakes his identity to progress from the underclass of society to become one of the elites. These shifts in power are representative of the struggle and hardship that marginalised groups in society have had to overcome. This is also seen through the symbolic nature of the scene when Eugene drags himself up the staircase in Gattaca. The staircase itself is in the shape of a double helix, the shape of DNA. This climb symbolises him overcoming the limitations society has placed on him due to his
The similarities are prolific in their presence in certain parts of the novel, the very context of both stories shows similarities, both are dealing with an oppressed factor that is set free by an outsider who teaches and challenges the system in which the oppressed are caught.
Authority and power and chaos and order are the main discourses that are present in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Arthur Millar’s The Crucible. Through the context of each novel both authors use different dialogue, plots and situations to get their viewpoint across to the audience. In comparing the two texts with the similarities and differences, it is clear that both authors have had a different effect on the audience of today. It would appear as though both texts are focused around the theme of power and disempowerment, with the authors using different techniques to get their point across to the audience. Both texts will be discussed further through comparing and contrasting and discussing the description of the discourses present in both texts.
Ken Kesey?s masterpiece novel One Flew over the Cuckoo?s Nest uses many themes, symbols, and imagery to illustrate the reality of the lives of a group of mental patients. The element of control is a central, arguably the largest, and the most important theme in the novel. The element of control revolves around the two main characters of the novel, Randle P. McMurphy, and Nurse Ratched. These two characters are the exact antithesis of each other, and they both seek to get their own way. They both realize that in order to get their own way, they must gain control over their rival and the ward. McMurphy and Nurse Ratched have different methods of attaining and using what control they have. They have different motives for seeking control over others. They also have different perceptions of the amount of control they possess. Throughout the novel, these two characters engulf themselves in an epic struggle for the most control. This struggle for control proves to be futile for both characters as they watch what control they thought had collapse like a house of cards. The element of control in Cuckoo?s Nest contains a certain definition. Control as it applies to the characters in Cuckoo?s Nest means that one character has substantial influence over the actions of another character. This control can influence another character?s attitudes, emotions, reactions, or even how they live their day-to-day life. The character of Chief Bromden provides an excellent example of how strong an influence control has over a character in Cuckoo?s Nest. The Chief has multiple delusions in which he imagines society as a dreadful machine he calls ?The Combine?. The Chief believes The Combine uses se...
From a young age we are taught the saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” While this may be helpful for grade school children that are being bullied by their peers, it has some problems as it trivializes the importance that words can have. The words that people choose for themselves, as well as the words that others ascribe to a person, have an unmeasurable importance to how people can understand themselves. These labels can be a significant source of oppression or liberation for many people who identify within them. In Eli Clare’s memoir, Exile and Pride, looks at the importance of words as he explores the labels he’s associated with. He does this through mixing discussion of the histories and modern representation
The human body and mind are the most complex and intricate tools known to man. The connection between the two are remarkable, the way body feels pain and the mind is able to understand from where and how the pain is being formed, the way the body lags and drops when the mind does not have enough sleep and rest. Most curiously, it is the way our body and mind speak to each other without really knowing. It is the uncomfortable feeling in your chest, the tenseness of your shoulders and the goose-bumps on your arms that are the very basics of human intuition. Intuition is knowing something without having a logical or reasonable explanation to follow the feeling. But it is when our intuition overcomes our ability to think that we become paranoid; constantly looking over our shoulders, noticing people and objects that were never noticed before, and having this retching feeling that someone is out to get you. Paranoia is a thought process where anxiety and fear accumulate to the point where the person suffers from irritation and delusions. It is often developed through an inner guilty conscience which threatens the self. It is that exact tingling sensation in your stomach, the tightness in your throat and the eerie feeling that you are being watched that makes James and Hitchcock's pieces realistically fantastical. The alternate worlds illustrated in these pieces are not of those of dreams and fairy tales, nor those people superheroes or chimeras, but a realist world, where the minds of the characters are exposed and the only source of reliability. James depicts a young woman who struggles to be a heroine for her wards, only to be torn between the lines of sanity as she questions the existence of two ghosts, while Hitchcock’s psycho can ...
The author of One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest, allows the reader to explore different psychoanalytic issues in literature. The ability to use works literature to learn about real world conflicts allows us to use prior knowledge to interact with these problems in reality. Ken Kesey, the author of the above novel and Carl Jung, author of “The Archetype and the Collective Unconscious” wrote how the mind can be easily overtaken by many outside factors from the past or present. The novel takes place in an asylum that is aimed to contain individuals that have a mental issue or problem. The doctors and care takers are seen as tyrants and barriers that inhibit the patients to improve their health, while the patients are limited by their initial conditions
Within the first paragraphs of Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man”, the narrator, or more commonly known as the “invisible man” (3), invites us into his past, bracing us for the rollercoaster ride of a lifetime he has survived. However, we as readers quickly grasp the literary lens outlined by Thomas Foster’s “How to Read Literature like a Professor” within the story, creating an in depth tale of an oppressed man’s troubled life, rather than shallowly glancing at his existence like a stale article in a local newspaper. Themes such as location and vision, whether symbolic or literal, play substantial roles throughout the entirety of “The Invisible Man”, returning us to specific chapters in Foster’s book focusing on the quest, the geography, and the true vision.
¡§Texts both inform us of the social identities available to us, and problematize them; both police our social selves and subvert them.¡¨
Hooks, Bell. "Narratives of Struggle." Critical Fictions:The Poltics of Imagnitive Writing. N.p.: Dia Center for the Arts, 1991. 53-61. Print.
In the book One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey the use of Christ imagery is overall effective. One of the first images was the fishing trip planned by McMurphy because only twelve people went and Jesus took twelve disciples with him on a fishing trip. Billy Bibbits turning on McMurphy near the end by admitting that he was involved in McMurphys plan was like Judas admitting he participated with Jesus. Towards the end of the story McMurphy is a martyr just like Jesus because the patients aren’t free until he dies. Those are a few examples of how Kesey uses Christ imagery in his book.
Huxley Living in a genetically perfect world is not necessarily a great achievement to mankind. It makes one think, "where do you draw the line in the advancement of eugenics?" Both worlds, the Brave New one and Gattaca, are alternative futures (clearly dystopic), written and shown in a believable way (not as much in BNW, though) through the use of satire. Also, for GATTACA, the director incorporates the traditional elements of movie - a murder-mystery tied in with a love story PLUS a science fiction touch - very effectively. Satire in Huxley's novel is glaringly obvious (mockery of the education system and the morals of today along with many more topics), as he writes with the purpose of teaching and humoring at the same time. However, with GATTACA, the satirical messages are not immediately perceivable - even after having seen the movie three times.
In Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, the author refers to the many struggles people individually face in life. Through the conflict between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy, the novel explores the themes of individuality and rebellion against conformity. With these themes, Kesey makes various points which help us understand which situations of repression can lead an individual to insanity. These points include: the effects of sexual repression, woman as castrators, and the pressures we face from society to conform. Through these points, Kesey encourages the reader to consider that people react differently in the face of repression, and makes the reader realize the value of alternative states of perception, rather than simply writing them off as "crazy."
Ken Kesey in his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest question a lot of things that you think almost everyday. With this famous portrait of a mental institute its rebellious patients and domineering caretakers counter-culture icon Kesey is doing a whole lot more than just spinning a great yarn. He is asking us to stop and consider how what we call "normal" is forced upon each and every one of us. Stepping out of line, going against the grain, swimming upstream whatever your metaphor, there is a steep price to pay for that kind of behavior. The novel tells McMurphys tale, along with the tales of other inmates who suffer under the yoke of the authoritarian Nurse Ratched it is the story of any person who has felt suffocated and confined by our
Both these texts as we can see relate to prejudice in the way that it effects peoples discissions and therefore has an unfair impact on society.
An exceptionally tall, Native American, Chief Bromden, trapped in the Oregon psychiatric ward, suffers from the psychological condition of paranoid schizophrenia. This fictional character in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest struggles with extreme mental illness, but he also falls victim to the choking grasp of society, which worsens Bromden’s condition. Paranoid schizophrenia is a rare mental illness that leads to heavy delusions and hallucinations among other, less serious, symptoms. Through the love and compassion that Bromden’s inmate, Randle Patrick McMurphy, gives Chief Bromden, he is able to briefly overcome paranoid schizophrenia and escape the dehumanizing psychiatric ward that he is held prisoner in.