Monday, November 7, 2011

Why Ken Kesey did not like the movie version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

There are many reasons why Ken Kesey did not like the movie interpretation of his book One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. One of the reasons I think he may not have liked it was because in the book, he made everything seem so serious, while in the move, it wasn't as serious and humor was added on to a lot of the events. Even though McMurphy isn't exactly meant to be a serious character, I think his character in the movie was too much. Even though in the book he was sort of therapeutic for the men, in the movie, he was portrayed kind of as a nuisance to them. It seemed as he was always trying to annoy them get them to break the rules. He did that as well in the book, but in the movie his character took it too far. "What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it" (Forman). I think in the movie McMurphy knew that he was in the ward for good and he tried to make himself feel better by convincing the other guys they weren't crazy and they didn't exactly belong there. If McMurphy told the the other guys they weren't crazy, he'd believe he wasn't crazy. That's something I don't think the book really portrayed. And that's not how Kesey portrayed McMurphy so that could be a reason he didn't really like the movie. 
Another reason he may have not liked the movie was because a lot of Chief's important parts were taken out. I feel like it was a little hard to understand the movie without Chief's narrations. They were a crucial part of the book. His narrations made it easier to understand what was going on with all his description. "Nobody complains about all the fog. I know why, now:as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe" (Kesey 128). Chief's point of view in the book was very important and it was kind of disappointing to not have it in the book.