Book vs. Movie

"One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey is a black comedy about the goings on in a mental institution.  It highlights the struggle of good vs. evil  and has become a highly touted book (as well as a personal favorite).  The movie, however, is not as highly regarded by some people, including Ken Kesey himself.  I think this is due in large part to the changes that were made to make the book into film.


A visual comparison can be seen on my Glogster account.

One major change that was made for the movie is the point of view of the story.  The book is narrated by the character of Chief Bromden, a patient at the ward.  Chief's narration allows the reader a glimpse into the larger themes of the book (man vs. machine, sexual oppression, religion).  However, the movie does not include any narration, and instead chooses to focus on McMurphy.  This shift in focus causes the movie to come across as more of a comedy.  This change may have been made to increase the appeal of the movie.  The book is quite humorous in its own right, but each bit of humor is a part of the larger themes.  The movie instead seems to focus on the comedy and not the reasons behind the comedy.  Chief is also missing from many scenes in the movie which doesn't allow us to see his transformation from scared little boy to grown Indian wrestler man.  This part of the story may also have been kept from the movie to preserve the lighthearted humor as opposed to the message of the book.

Another major difference between the two comes at a major turning point in the story.  In the book, McMurphy plans a fishing trip for the men.  He goes through the necessary channels and is able to use the trip to turn the other patients into men as well as show Nurse Ratched the power that he has against her.  In the movie, McMurphy hops a fence and steals a bus as inmates are boarding it for a trip.  The difference causes us to view movie McMurphy as rebel without a cause.  In the book, McMurphy does everything for a reason, including the fishing trip.  The change in scenes paints a different picture of McMurphy but is also less time consuming than the original writing.

In the book,  the tub room becomes available after the McMurphy fights for it.  Gaining the tub room is a large plot point in the battle between Ratched and McMurphy.  However, in the movie the tub room is open at the beginning.  This removes a large part of the story between our protagonist and antagonist.  This change may have been made in order to keep Nurse Ratched as less of an oppressive entitiy than in the book.