Lecture 11:
Shifting Mediums
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Ken Kesey (novel)
Laurence Hauben and Bo Goldman (screenplay)
Professor Daniel Cutrara
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Previous Lesson
• TV and Film
Convergence
• Narrative
Complexity
• Deadwood
2
This Lesson
• Adaptation
• One Flew Over The
Cuckoo’s Nest
• From novel to play
to film.
• Assignments
3
Adaptation
Lesson 11: Part I
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Why Adapt?
• Story already developed
– Books, short stories, plays
• Intriguing World already developed
– Pirates of the Caribbean, videogames
• Pre-established Audience
– Automatic Market
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Challenges to Adaptation
• Fiction
– Internal vs External
– Novels
• Simplifying characters
and plot
– Short Stories
• Making sure you have
enough story
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Challenges (2)
• Plays
– Opening it up from
the stage
• Musicals
– Selling it to a 21st
C. audience
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Challenges (3)
• Graphic
Novels/Comics
– Filling in the frame
• Videogames
– Expanding the
narrative
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One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Lesson 11: Part II
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Backstory
• Novel
– 1962, Ken Kesey worked
as a night watchman at a
mental institution
– The Period: rebellion,
experimentation
– Reception: well received,
critically.
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The Novel
• What Makes it
Compelling?
– The Tone and Point of
View
– Use of Imagery and
Motifs
– Compelling Characters
– Multi-layered Conflict
– Structure and Plot
– Theme
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Tone and Point of View
• Pause the Lecture and take a look at
the first few pages of the novel.
• How is Chief Bromden introduced?
• What is his world like?
• What is real and what is the truth?
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Tone and Point of View (2)
• How is Chief Bromden introduced?
– First person point of view. Harmless
observer.
• What is his world like?
– Conspiracy of institutional control.
• What is real and what is the truth?
– His perceptions may be more true than the
physical reality.
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Imagery and Motifs
• Machine vs human
– Surveillance,
mechanical control
• Western motif
– Lone Ranger and Tonto
• Christ motif
– Fishing trip, disciples,
crucifixion
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Compelling Characters
• Randall P. McMurphy
– Reluctant hero
• Nurse Ratched
– Controlling through
manipulation
• Chief Bromden
– Awakening to strength
• The Ward
– Billy, Harding, Cheswick, etc.
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Multi-layered Conflict
• McMurphy vs
Nurse Ratched
• Men vs Women
• Individual vs the
Institution
• The rebel Hero in
relationship to
community.
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4 Part Structure
• Tracks McMurphy’s transformation
– McMurphy takes on Nurse Ratched.
– Riding high then feeling duped, toes the
line until he sees how needy the men are.
– Fathers the men, basketball, fishing trip,
they begin to feel their power.
– Nurse undermines their confidence.
Betrayal and the ultimate sacrifice
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Planting and Payoff
• The water control panel
– A method of therapy
abandoned
– A symbol of resistance
– A test of full growth
– A betrayal of the patients
– A means of escape
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Surprise
• Major Reversals
– Discovery that
McMurphy’s stay is
indefinite
– Cheswick’s suicide
– Billy’s suicide
– The Chief killing
McMurphy
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Theme
• What is the message
of the novel?
– Who is sane?
– What is it to be
human in the face of
a soulless institution?
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Representation
• African Americans
– Angry brutes
• The orderlies
chosen for their
hatred of whites.
– The Clown
• Turkle, friendly,
ineffectual, loves the
booze and women.
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Representation (Cont’d)
• Women
– Whores with
hearts of gold
• Candy and Sandy
– Ball cutters
• Nurse Ratched,
Billy’s mother,
Chief’s mother
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Backstory (Too Dark)
• Kirk Douglas options rights, can’t find
backers for a film- too depressing, mental
illness.
• One studio had some suggestions. “Maybe if
McMurphy doesn't choke the nurse, and maybe if Billy
Bibbitt doesn't commit suicide, and maybe if Chief doesn't
perform the mercy killing of McMurphy, maybe they would
be interested.”
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The Play
• Kirk Douglas decides to stage it to gain
interest. Kesey is comfortable with the
adaptation.
– The 3 Act version adapted by Dale Wasserman
with Kirk Douglas as the lead receives mixed
reviews and closes after a six month run on
Broadway in 1964.
– Wasserman’s revised 2 Act version has a
successful off Broadway run in 1971.
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Adapting for the Stage
• Pause the lecture
and take a look at
the excerpt from the
Stage Play.
• What is the point of
view and tone?
• The location?
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From Novel to Play
• The location is simplified
– The main room becomes the central focus
• Tone and point of view
– Carries over Chief Bromden’s story and
perspective.
• Characters, plot, and structure
– Simplification required cutting scenes and
characters.
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Backstory (The Film)
• Kirk Douglas hands property over to son
Michael. Still couldn’t get studio financing.
– Saul Zaentz, Fantasy Films
– The producers put up 4 million dollars, it ended
up grossing 100 million. Nicholson’s contract
gave him 10% of the gross.
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Critical Success
• In the running for 1975
– Jaws, Dog Day Afternoon, Nashville, Barry
Lyndon
• Winner of 8 Academy Awards including
– Best Picture
– Best Director
– Best Actor
– Best Actress
– Best Adapted Screenplay
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The Director
• Milos Forman
– Kirk Douglas had sent him the
script in the 60’s but he never
received it. Czech censors
confiscated it.
– As a director he is able to
capture the struggle against
the institution.
– Michael Douglas recruits him.
Milos Forman
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Casting
• The Novel was
considered anti-feminist.
– 70s Women’s movement
• Anne Bancroft, Faye
Dunaway, Jane Fonda, and
Ellen Burstyn passed on role
of Big Nurse.
• Jack Nicholson
– Kirk Douglas had wanted to
play McMurphy
Kirk Douglas
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The Screenplay
• Ken Kesey did initial
drafts of the script but
they were too surreal
• The Screenwriters
– Laurence Hauben
• Friend of Douglas
– Bo Goldman
• Represented by
Forman’s agent
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The Film
• Changes from Script to Screen
– From prose to celluloid.
• Story conveyed through author’s word choice
and reader’s imagination now director’s visuals
and sound.
• Narrative shifts from novel to film
– Complex to simple
• Structure and plot
– Internal to external
• Point of View and Tone
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The Opening (Script)
• Pause the lecture
and take a look at
the opening of the
screenplay.
– How is this
different from the
play and novel?
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The Prison Scene
• Major shift
– Breaks from the novel in tone and pov
– McMurphy becomes protagonist
– Tone becomes realistic
• With further development came
realization that scene no longer was
needed.
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The Opening (Film)
• Pause the lecture and take a look at the
first clip from One Flew over the
Cuckoo’s Nest.
– How is this different from the script and the
novel?
– How does it introduce characters?
– What is the tone?
– How does the soundtrack enrich the
narrative?
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McMurphy’s Arrival
• Introductions
– Prison scene
unnecessary
– The patients subdued
– McMurphy energized
– Soundtrack carries
themes for McMurphy
and Chief Bromden
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Simplification of Plot
• 4 parts becomes 3 acts
– Cheswick’s suicide eliminated.
– The planned fishing expedition becomes
impromptu.
– Instead of a substantial section of the
novel, McMurphy’s toeing the line is only
for one scene.
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Re-Structuring
• Pause the lecture and watch the second
clip of the group therapy session from
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
– How does McMurphy change from
beginning to end?
– How does this adapt the events from the
novel?
– What is gained? What is lost?
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Re-Structuring (Cont’d)
• Collapsing the Novel
– McMurphy’s arc elided,
efforts to reform cut,
internal struggle cut
– Shower scene after
fishing trip cut, saves
time and character
– What is gained?
Brevity. What is lost?
Depth.
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Complicating the Group
• The addition of Taber
– Foil to Harding
– Redirects some of the Nurse Ratched
conflict
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The Showdown
• Pause the lecture and watch the third
clip from One Flew over the Cuckoo’s
Nest.
– What makes this climax inevitable?
– How is it different from the novel?
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Inevitable Climax
• McMurphy vs Ratched
– What makes this
inevitable?
• Film vs Novel
– In the novel, it is a long
journey for McMurphy,
parallels Passion.
– In the film it is more like
a boxing match, with the
final round expected.
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Final Effect
• Resolution more limited
in scope
– Pay off
• Disciples transformation lost
• Bromden not central
– Greater realism, lesser
symbolism
• Conflict not as monumental
• two strong willed people
rather than man vs woman
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The Wrap Up
• Adapting the Original Story to different
mediums
• Stories can be told well in different ways
with varying effect.
• The medium does make a difference.
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Assignments
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Lesson 11: Part III
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E-Board Post #1
• Approximately 200 words. Pick a film
that has been adapted from a prior
source and explain why you think it
works well or not.
• Comment on two of your peers.
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End of Lecture 11
300 (2006)
Frank Miller and Lynn Varley (graphic novel)
Zack Snyder & Kurt Johnstad and Michael Gordon (screenplay)
Next Lecture:
Between the Frames…
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