friends today we stand together on the precipice of history
nurse mildred ratched from one flew over the cuckoo's nest is one of the most
famous movie villains of all time the character is known for her abusive
passive aggressive treatment of the patients of an oregon psychiatric
hospital exposed any glimpse of your backside mr
brawny will be brief as it would cause even the most hardened observer to
promptly avert their eyes
she's so cruel in fact that a patient ends up killing himself
but that's not the same mildred ratchet portrayed in netflix as new as ryan
murphy project set in 1947 to 1950 murphy's latest
psychological thriller stars sarah paulson is the sinister mildred ratchet
who starts out the season deliberately offending everyone she meets
performing lobotomies earned innocent priests and portraying the hallmark
emotional repression that made louise fletcher's nurse ratched so sinister
no one is talking to you oh someone's cranky
she sure could use a peach that is my peach
there aren't a lot of similarities between the two nurse ratchets ratchet
makes clear attempts to draw parallels between the old nurse ratched and the
new oh look my peach
there's a moment for example when mildred convinces a suffering patient at
the lucia state hospital to kill himself rather than his suicide being driven by
nurse ratchet's cruelty like in cuckoo's nest
paulson's ratchet convinces this man to kill himself out of her angel of mercy
complex fletcher's cruelty was more stemmed from
a disdain for people with mental illnesses
as the show goes on viewers learn how her angel of mercy complex got her
kicked out the military during world war ii and how it drives her need to help
save her brother edmund tolleson indeed paulson's character evolves into
a much more sympathetic complex and vulnerable woman throughout
the season to make a villain more sympathetic is of
course the intention of any villain origin story
but the end of season one leaves mildred in such a far-off place from her
cuckoo's nest persona it's hard to imagine how the show is
going to complete this arc
one flew over the cuckoo's nest is scary because it's a metaphor for bureaucratic
corruption there's one big difference in one flew
over the cuckoo's nest that sets it apart from netflix's rasht
in cuckoo's nest nurse ratchet is emblematic of the oppressive system that
tells anyone who steers from the status quo that they're broken
she is able to act the way she does because the rules are in her favor
enratched mildred breaks every rule to make things turn out in her favor
the bureaucracy of the american psychiatric system is what made cuckoo's
nest such a terrifying film and a fittingly harsh critique on american
society netflix's ratchet argues that the nurse
was once an outcast too and the abuse she suffered in her past
is what made her into the monster she was
then when she does i would like you to say yes i can't stand that woman
that is out of the question i'll say it again when she asks you to the dance you
will say yes but nurse ratchet is a much more
chilling villain if she and the other people in power
believe it is morally right to treat mental patients with such cruelty
ratchet herself is not evil rather she is the shining example of the corrupt
systems of power nurse ratchet in cuckoo's nest is more
like nurse betsy bucket in that they both believe in the harmful
medical experiments being conducted on patients
they don't question the doctor's practices although even betsy evolves
past this that's sweetheart so i guess what i'm
wondering is this mildred and ratchet on the other hand
is an outspoken critic of procedures like boiling patients alive
although she is fascinated by lobotomies and even performs one herself
she eventually changes course and helps patients escape lucia state hospital
so they no longer have to endure abuse given how rached sees season one set up
the story it will be difficult for the show to
successfully land the transition of mildred ratchet
from an abused outsider who fights for the oppressed to the physical embodiment
of the corrupt system she tried so hard to undo
but as history has shown anything can happen in a ryan murphy show
and if i had to i would do it all over
again
azdis can happen in a ryan murphy show as dust
can happen in a ryan murphy show as dust can happen in orion