...One flew east, one flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo's nest
- Children's Folk Rhyme
The Inspiration for One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (4min.)
"This is the story of America’s fight against authority."
"Reclaiming ‘Big Nurse’:
a feminist critique of Ken Kesey’s portrayal of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest"
by Philip Darbyshire
A feminist critique of the novel contends that the importance of ‘Big Nurse’ is less related to how realistic/unrealistic or good/bad she is as a nurse. Nurse Ratched is important because she exemplifies all that traditional masculinity abhors in women, and particularly in strong women in positions of power and influence.
The Lobotomist:
In the 1940s Dr. Walter Freeman gained fame for perfecting the lobotomy, then hailed as a miracle cure for the severely mentally ill. But within a few years, lobotomy was labeled one of the most barbaric mistakes of modern medicine. (54min.)