The movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is analyzed using psychoanalytic, reader-response, feminist, and Marxist criticism.

Falling into Theory - One Flew Over the CuckOo's Nest (Question #2) Psychoanalytic Approach Textual Passage Nurse Pilbo: Take your medicine, Mr. McMurphy McMurphy: What's in the horse pill? Nurse Pilbo: It's good for you. Don't get angry, Mr. McMurphy McMurphy: I'm not getting angry, Nurse Pilbo. I just don't like taking anything when I don't know what it is. I don't want anyone slippin' me saltpeter, if you know what I mean. Nurse Ratched: That's …

… all the theories. The other approaches lend themselves more easily to analyzing this movie, and I think they yield better results. However, this approach does shed some light on the way Ratched's regime came into being, and the methodologies used to attempt to subvert that regime. Perhaps if McMurphy would have studied Marxism, or perhaps read The Prince, he would have had the requisite ability to remove Ratched from power and free her captives.