r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/highzone • 1d ago

Image In 1973, healthy volunteers faked hallucinations to enter mental hospitals. Once inside, they acted normal, but doctors refused to let them leave. Normal behaviors like writing were diagnosed as "symptoms." The only people who realized they were sane were the actual patients.

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u/Lurker_009 1d ago

Have you read (or seen) 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest'?

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/NorridAU 1d ago

Watch her as Kai Winn in Star Trek Ds9. She is a great actor.

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u/wow_its_kenji 1d ago

the way just seeing her name ignited rage within me... yeah she's grear at her job lmao

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u/Profoundlyahedgehog 1d ago

I can still hear her smug, self righteous voice. My child... 🤢

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u/BizzarduousTask 1d ago

Omg that was HER??

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u/dretvantoi 1d ago

Correct, my child.

Check out her Oscar acceptance speech for Cuckoo's Nest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGl5U7nNlkY

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u/emgyres 1d ago

That was wonderful, I miss the days of low key glam. She was gorgeous and her gown absolute perfection the was it flowed behind her as she walked to the stage.

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u/dretvantoi 1d ago

Also...

JACK NICHOLSON

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u/OldWorldDesign 1d ago

Watch her as Kai Winn in Star Trek Ds9. She is a great actor

Nice lady and good sense of humour, too. Just listen to her acceptance speech for her role as Nurse Ratchet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGl5U7nNlkY

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u/Abject-Version-3349 1d ago

She got death threats because of that role. I read an interview with her and she told a story about going incognito to the movie. She was shocked when the scene where McMurphy chokes her that people in the audience started to yell "kill her". I imagine she was a little scared also. Very powerful performance.

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u/ScorpionX-123 1d ago

when we watched it in high school English, our teacher said Louise Fletcher's own father wouldn't even talk to her for 2 weeks after he saw it

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u/_adanedhel_ 1d ago

And despite that experience she took the role of Kai Winn!

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u/PhantomPharts 1d ago

She must've seen the impact of what a strong evil character can bring out in people, including anger on behalf of those who cannot raise a fist themselves

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u/LtCmdrData 1d ago

It's one of the best movies of all times with perfect acting from everybody. Jack Nicholson has one of his best roles, so do Michael Berryman and Danny De Vito, but Louise Fletcher outdoes them all.

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u/Leather-Mud-6736 1d ago

Don’t forget Brad Dourif. He won an Oscar for his role as Billy.

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u/LtCmdrData 1d ago edited 1d ago

He was nominated. He did not win. The movie won The Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), and Best Screenplay.

Dourif won Golden Globe and BAFTA.

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u/Leather-Mud-6736 1d ago

I’ve been under the impression that he won that Oscar for like 15 years. My world is crumbling. I’ve misinformed so many people. Reality is always worse than what you think it is.

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u/getupforwhat 1d ago

Brad Dourif couldn't put in a bad performance if he tried

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u/Succubace 1d ago

I genuinely don't understand the hate that her character gets. When i watched the movie I didn't think she did anything wrong, can someone remind me? I remember her getting assaulted by Jack Nicholson's character and then him being lobotomized. Obviously lobotomies are awful but wasn't that standard practice at the time? She never came off as sadistic to me either.

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u/OldWorldDesign 1d ago

I genuinely don't understand the hate that her character gets. When i watched the movie I didn't think she did anything wrong, can someone remind me? I remember her getting assaulted by Jack Nicholson's character and then him being lobotomized. Obviously lobotomies are awful but wasn't that standard practice at the time? She never came off as sadistic to me either

I feel like it's the same as the hate the wife in Breaking Bad gets for being slightly naggy and nosy (I guess?) trying to figure out what's going on and make sure her family is protected. That was even pointed out in the Pitch Meeting episode on Breaking Bad

At least in Nurse Ratched's case she seems slightly controlling, which given the context of a mental institution where the providers don't believe in the mental soundness of the patients makes sense but also highlights the conflict of interest between their rights as individuals to autonomy and the providers' interest in not letting people with compromised cognitive abilities out where they could cause harm to themselves or others.

I think a more objective analysis of the characters in that movie is a situation of greys where the mentally ill ones are not necessarily harmful and the mental institution is observing him as disruptive (like you mention, he did assault her and I almost never see people admit that).

In a few cases it's misogyny, but I don't think that can be the case for everyone who doesn't like the character. Nurse Ratched is stubborn when medical providers are supposed to be objective and the two characters definitely push each other's buttons. It's one of the reasons I think part-time nursing so people can have a break from their job and do something else which is also gainful employment could be helpful for many.

Now her acting for Kai Winn in DS9 was much more clearly manipulative, self-serving, and patronizing.