CUCKOO+SEMINAR

Film release in 1975 (novel published in 1962) Directed by Milos Forman Starring:  **Awards: Won many Oscars, including “The Big Five” - Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay** 
 * //One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest //**
 * Jack Nicholson : R.P. McMurphy
 * Louise Fletcher: Nurse Ratched
 * Will Sampson: Chief Bromden
 * Danny Devito: Martini
 * Christopher Lloyd: Taber

OVERVIEW
 * We will be viewing this film during class on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. I encourage you to take notes on the chart on the back of this sheet as you watch. **Our seminar on Friday ** will be focused primarily on the most interesting and important differences between the film and the novel. We will use the topics on the back of this sheet to help guide us, but may branch out in other directions during the course of the discussion. **Your performance in this seminar could earn you a maximum of 75 points.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">FORMAT ** <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">We will be utilizing a FISHBOWL format for our discussion, meaning you will spend half of your time in the inner circle and half in the outer circle. Your job in each will be : >>
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">INNER CIRCLE (55 points)
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Decide how the discussion will proceed
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Discuss film and novel in a thoughtful and detailed manner
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Utilize evidence from the novel and film wherever and whenever possible
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Ask follow-up questions of each other and help everyone to get involved
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Come to a consensus on each question and move on to the next topic
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">OUTER CIRCLE (20 points)
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Observe your assigned classmate closely
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Take notes on participation – what best points does he/she make? do you agree or disagree with him/her?
 * o <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Assess classmate’s performance based on rubric [NOTE : The grade you assign will not effect your classmates’s grade, but the thoroughness and accuracy of your assessment will effect your own score.]

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">1) There are problems to consider when adapting first-person point-of-view from literary fiction to the cinematic narrative. What is the filmmakers' response to those problems in //One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest?// What changes occur because of the change of point of view?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">TOPICS TO FOCUS DISCUSSION : **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">2) Is Chief Bromden an "auxiliary" character in the film? Why or why not?

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">3) What do you see as the theme of the novel? Does it change in the film? If so, to what? How does this affect the overall texture or meaning of the story?

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">4) How does the relationship between McMurphy and Chief Bromden change from the book to the film?

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">5) John Zubizarreta, in his article "The Disparity of Point of View," states that the conflict between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched "takes on the proportion of myth: man versus woman, good versus evil, freedom versus confinement, individuality versus conformity, sex and death in perpetual antithesis." Which of these do feel is most strongly emphasized in the film? In the book? Why?

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">6) Are the same symbols from the book present in the film? What are they? Why are they significant? Which symbols are left out? Are there symbols added?

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua',serif; font-size: 10pt;">7) What was your personal reaction to this novel and film? What appealed to you/ did not appeal to you? What points resonated with you?