Film Reflections

1. Patch Adams

‘Patch Adams’ is a film that is based on real life narration of one Robin Williams, a man who
had a depression and later discovered his passion in helping people at their most vulnerable state;
sick. I felt a lot of compassion and remorseful as well as caring to patients due to the way it is
depicted in the movie. Patch made me feel compassionate with the way he concentrated on
patients, something absent in normal clinical setting. Patch wanted to help and connect with
people. I was remorseful to learn what patients go through in their trying times. Patch showed
what respectful treatment and humanization in the care for the elderly is. He also shows the
importance of listening to patients’ wants and feelings at their worst moments in life.
The deviants character in the film is Patch himself. He used unorthodox means to treat
patients. He devised new ways of treating patients. Donning a clown’s nose, Patch brings
laughter and fun in the hospital wards. Dean Walcott was not amused by what Patch is doing and
wants him expelled despite being the best student in class. Patch was an idealist and believes in
treating a person and the soul as separate entities. Patch stated and I quote, “the purpose of a
doctor or any human in general should not be to simply delay the death of the patient, but to
increase the person's quality of life.”
Patch was reprimanded. He faced a trial for practicing medicine without a medical license,
putting the lives of patients at danger. He made his case by explaining his unconventional
methods of treating patients which he found to be normal.
The behaviors in the Patch Adam’s film were not deviant. It showed the true nature of a real
world. Patch tried to show people how society perceives live and the way people are living in
denial. According to Patch people are detached from the reality in life. People are no more

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compassionate, do not focus on their core job and do not focus on provide solutions to daily
challenges. The little things we do in life mean a lot to other people’s lives.
2. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

The film is about a group of patients who are in a mental asylum and are against a staff. After
watching the film a felt enlightened with what is happening inside a mental asylum. Through the
lenses of McMurphy, a convict sent to the institution as a form of punishment, one can clearly
know the activities happening inside a mental institution. McMurphy managed to test the
regulations established within the institution and enabled the physically and mentally challenged
persons to rediscover their potential. Through his leadership, we are able to learn how the
systems work in the mental institutions. Through McMurphy, we are able to know how power is
exercised. Nurse Ratched is a stickler for the rules which she exercised to the fullest. Her
authority created a theme which can be termed as ‘women as castrators.’
The deviant personality in this film is McMurphy, the protagonist in the film who potrays a
larger than life character. He made everybody on the ward active and showed them that their
lives are worthy and not the way Nurse Ratched had made them believe. McMurphy motivated
everybody to action, a behavior which is contrary to what Nurse Ratched does to them. Most of
the scenes in the film, McMurphy showed defiance which took the form of spontaneous and
other instances innocent rebel. He made outrageous dares and political organizing like the need
to change the ward schedule in order to watch World Series. He also smuggled alcoholic drinks
to the ward that got everyone drunk. McMurphy took the inmates to a fishing trip using a stolen
boat.
Kesey portrays disciplinary power and discipline in a mental asylum where power is meant to
accomplish its aim; ‘training’ inmates as well as its outcome which is to realize docility-utility

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that is forced from the prisoners. The strategies used to achieve the desired goal are enclosure
(establishing a dividing line between abnormal and normal subjects), partitioning (each subject
has his own place), time table (Nurse Ratched set the wall clock whenever she wishes),
surveillance (observing inmates to prevent any disorder or turmoil), normalizing judgment
(Nurse Ratched warns McMurphy against imminent punishment for disrespecting rules of the
disciplines) and accumulation of knowledge (Big Nurse watch every step of inmates and records
any actions and reactions in order to take proper action).
The behaviors in the film were not criminal in nature


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