the guys in public mental institutions who have five-star mothers would be well in the minority.
That may be true. However, Ratched does point out that Billy's mother is there for him, visits him, cares that the young woman he'd been "engaged" to was "beneath him..." The idea that the mother has no right to interfere in Billy's life is McMurphy's. And McMurphy's pov has to do exclusively with the subject of her interference with Billy's ability to get laid. So the pov being forwarded by the story is specifically McMurphy's - as I watched the story, I couldn't find any "fair" evidence that Billy's mother was actually the root of Billy's problems. Doubtless, he had to get away from her, as the story points out - with Billy's growing health and then suicidal crisis at the end when Ratched threatens him with telling his mother about his fucking McMurphy's slut, but blaming Billy's serious problems on the mother and Ratched, and not on McMurphy who was problematically (in my view) imposing his belief structure on an impressionable and mentally imbalanced young man, is very clearly the interpretation of the play, not necessarily the fair one. In fact, when Ratched turned to McMurphy and blamed him for causing Billy's suicide, I found myself shrugging in agreement - it may have been unfair of her to blame him exclusively and not take responsibility herself (I think, actually, Linda Hamilton could have made Nurse Ratched more sympathetic at that point, too bad!), but in my viewing, both characters shared the blame.
But I did feel there wasn't a very good reason to just blame Billy's mother by default, when the only pov heaping blame on her was McMurphy's, and I thought he had his own agenda - an agenda of hanging with the guys, in which women were defined as either fun objects to fuck (the sluts, Billy's fiance), or scary repressive overlords (Ratched & Billy's mother).
In fact, I found it really gratifying that the director gave the lobotomized character the crucifiction pose - when the novel very clearly symbolized McMurphy as the Christ figure (which I found ridiculous even in the 10th grade).
That may be true. However, Ratched does point out that Billy's mother is there for him, visits him, cares that the young woman he'd been "engaged" to was "beneath him..." The idea that the mother has no right to interfere in Billy's life is McMurphy's. And McMurphy's pov has to do exclusively with the subject of her interference with Billy's ability to get laid. So the pov being forwarded by the story is specifically McMurphy's - as I watched the story, I couldn't find any "fair" evidence that Billy's mother was actually the root of Billy's problems. Doubtless, he had to get away from her, as the story points out - with Billy's growing health and then suicidal crisis at the end when Ratched threatens him with telling his mother about his fucking McMurphy's slut, but blaming Billy's serious problems on the mother and Ratched, and not on McMurphy who was problematically (in my view) imposing his belief structure on an impressionable and mentally imbalanced young man, is very clearly the interpretation of the play, not necessarily the fair one. In fact, when Ratched turned to McMurphy and blamed him for causing Billy's suicide, I found myself shrugging in agreement - it may have been unfair of her to blame him exclusively and not take responsibility herself (I think, actually, Linda Hamilton could have made Nurse Ratched more sympathetic at that point, too bad!), but in my viewing, both characters shared the blame.
But I did feel there wasn't a very good reason to just blame Billy's mother by default, when the only pov heaping blame on her was McMurphy's, and I thought he had his own agenda - an agenda of hanging with the guys, in which women were defined as either fun objects to fuck (the sluts, Billy's fiance), or scary repressive overlords (Ratched & Billy's mother).
In fact, I found it really gratifying that the director gave the lobotomized character the crucifiction pose - when the novel very clearly symbolized McMurphy as the Christ figure (which I found ridiculous even in the 10th grade).
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