Dr. Dean Brooks and the Meaning of
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” as Enactment in the
Film
When Dr. Dean Brooks took on the character of Dr. Spivey in
“One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest,” little was known until “Completely Cuckoo”, a
version of
the behind the scenes enactments, that his office scene with Jack
Nicholson,
was adlibbed and not practiced as a part of the script. The two of
them enacted the entire scene as though this were a real intake.
As a part of my exhibit, I have included Dr. Dean Brooks, (who
speaks out against dehumanization in) and the drawings of him
from the office scene. This shows that the movie is not just a
dramatization for Hollywood, but something that could have
taken place. Other parts of the movie, which he helped to direct,
have influenced how “insane” people are viewed within our
society. Dr. Joe Treleaven and Dr. Prasanna Pati, actual
physicians, play the roles of medical doctors in the film.. Actors
William Sampson, Danny DeVito, Jack Nicholson, Sydney Lassick,
William Redfield, Louise Fletcher, and others their characters as
possibly more than what is perceived as real.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was based on how we view
people with mental illnesses. Biases and discriminations
determine our definition of how people who are “crazy” should
be. In the end we hope that the population of people who watch
the movie will have a different outlook on how people behave
when afflicted by mental illness. To know a person’s mental
illness is to be in it.
To empathize with someone else’s pain is to understand the
intention behind making this movie. Those who have been truly
incarcerated appreciate this meaning and understand how it feels
to be mocked, criticized, made fun of, and insulted in such a way
that we begin to understand the meaning of what Dr. Dean
Brooks referred to as “dehumanizing”. In his article, “Bushel of
Shoes,” Brooks asks if all of us could look at what it is like to be
“without shoes” so that we can begin to understand the very
meaning of what those with mental illnesses go through. We are
they, and they are we, one of each other. Many people can say
that at one point or another they have suffered from mental
depression. In our lives we are the more fortunate to have the
correct genetic and chemical balance to never go beyond that
barrier. To go beyond the barrier is to become incarcerated and
faced with “Guilty Except for Insanity.” No longer can we make
fun of or devalue the meaning behind the movie “One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest” from a societal viewpoint.