The films that I chose to compare for my New Hollywood analysis are 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and 2015’s Suffragette. Though they were filmed forty years apart and are about contrasting subjects, they both share the theme of rebellion. As far as structure goes, a notable difference between the two films is that in one, a new person is brought into a group and begins the rebellion, whereas in the other, a new person joins a group of rebels.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Jack Nicholson’s character, McMurphy (“Mac”), is transferred from prison into a mental institution for statutory rape of a fifteen year old girl. Upon arriving at the institution, he is placed into the ward of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). Mac instantly conflicts with Nurse Ratched’s cruel ways, which are used to root fear into the patients. He begins rebel against her, and leads his fellow inmates into revolting as well. The opening scene of Suffragette has a group of women throwing rocks at shop windows, to bring awareness for women’s rights. A passerby, Maud (Carey Mulligan), is caught in the line of fire. She is inspired by the…show more content… In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Mac wants to watch the World Series, but Nurse Ratched tells him he needs to get a majority vote. He attempts to get others to vote along with him, to no avail. Nurse Ratched adjourns the meeting, and a moment later the Chief decides to vote. Mac asks Nurse Ratched to turn the television on, and she tells him the meeting was adjourned and therefore the vote was closed. A similar event takes place in Suffragette. The women go in front of an all-male jury panel to speech on why they deserve rights. Later on the women learn that the men had already decided they would not side in their favor even before they spoke to panel. [I can’t find a clip for this scene.] In both cases, the rebels do not let the establishment get them
