One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest: Mcmurphy’s Changes

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Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and Milo’s Forman’s movie adaptation are both great examples of famous American pieces. The movie and book however have a lot of drastic changes. This can be viewed positively or negatively as the reader is affected differently from the point of views. I found there were a lot of changes in the characters from book to movie. McMurphy’s character was not portrayed the same in the film as he was in the novel. Forman changed the point of view from Chief Bromden to Randle McMurphy’s to make the story seen from the hero’s point of view, giving the audience someone to relate with. The perspective changes everything. Chief, no longer the first person narrator, loses his intricate backstory, causing him to be secondary character yet still important. The movie focuses more on McMurphy as a christ symbol or hero instead. Another aspect the movie loses is Chief's “foggy” hallucinations. The combine is completely lost and nurse ratched’s seemed less evil in the movie as she did from the book. I wish that these scenes were incorporated but with the change of character point of view I can see why it would be hard to conquer such effect. Both the book and movie got to this point by Formans decision to change perspective from Chief to McMurphy. The movie changed organizationally: Randall McMurphy was not the same character as portrayed in the exquisite novel. McMurphy is described as “the new redheaded Admission, knows right away he's not a Chronic.” (22) Chief also describes him as big strong man who might be a little overweight , always wearing a motorcycle cap. In the novel, he is also forced to wear green like the other patients. In the movie, McMurphy is a complete different person then the guy described in the novel. Jack Nicholson, playing McMurphy, is brunette and not as strong natured and also wears a blue cap and

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