One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Mental Illness in Pop Culture

Mental Illness in Pop Culture

We explore themes of freedom/oppression, empowerment, and escape as well as rampant religious symbolism within this Academy-Award-sweeping film that still holds up 40+ years later. Randall Patrick "Mac" MacMurphy (Jack Nicholson) bluffs his way into a mental institution to avoid hard labor and prison time despite his skeezy conning and conniving ways. However, during the time Mac spends as an informal helper among the hospital's patients and seemingly in contrast to professional helper Nurse Rached, Mac comes to have compassion, empathy, and a servant-leadership style that seems to facilitate transformational growth and development for all other patients, including his making the ultimate altruistic sacrifice. All characters experience redemption, find freedom from or within oppression and authenticity despite marginalizing and oppressive external forces. We also explore cultural identity and gender within what on the surface seems to just be a film about crazy white guys and one Native American. In this podcast series, we focus on pop culture portrayals of mental health issues and professional helping, believing that media both reflect and influence popular perception.