Representation of gender in 'Vertigo' and 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'

Vertigo

• The male character loses his strength and power as he becomes more obsessed with the female. 

This happens in vertigo when Scottie sees Judy ,who looks identical to Madeleine although she is dead, he falls in love with Judy but manipulates her appearance to look like Madeleine and becomes obsessed with changing her which strips his strength away from him as he has no control or power. 

• The representations of gender reflect the pre-feminist gender politics of the late 1950s.

This is shown in vertigo by the way Scottie treats Judy when he manipulates her become Madeleine he says " I'll look after you " which suggests that women are incapable of looking after themselves and men are more dominant. Also in the film the occupation roles show the inequality between the genders as women are seen to be working in flower shops and clothing shops. Whereas the men in Vertigo are police officers, detectives or company owners. 

• The audience's point of view switches to the female character after they (the audience)are made aware of her deeds through her confession. This strengthens the female character. 

In vertigo, the female character is strengthened by when she reveals she is Madeleine and Judy which shows how she manipulated Scottie although she is seen to be more inferior because of her gender. By doing this is shows that she is intelligent and has more power over men and opposes to what men though of women in the 50's.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

• the male characters are "metaphorically castrated " by sexless and loveless females who lack femininity.

In OFOTCN this is shown when Nurse Ratched finds out that Billy and Candy have had sex and she threatens to tell Billy's mum causing Billy to stutter more frequently this represents his fear for his mother showing the Nurse has more power over billy.

• In comparison to the submissive representation of females in the other films , females are worthy of admiration through their strength and resilience. 

This is shown when Nurse Ratched tells the patients to take their medicine and McMurphy refuses, Nurse Ratched orders him to, showing her power and authority over the patients. She tells McMurphy she'll have to make him take it another way if he won't take it orally.

• Masculinity is represented as passive in contrast to stereotypical cinema representations. 

In one flew over , masculinity is represented as passive by how McMurphy reacts to when Billy has committed suicide , he attacks the nurse whereas the other patients don't react and stay quiet showing McMurphy isn't passive put the patients are.

Mise-en-scene in the credits of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

• what does the imagery of the opening shots (the credit sequence) suggest to the audience?

In the opening sequence the credits show Mountains covered in snow which conveys the bleakness of the film, and then a car cutting through the darkness with McMurphy inside this represents that his character is vibrant and full of life which contrasts to the Mountain. The mountains in the credit sequence could portray the mental institution and how McMurphy differs from this.

• Compare the different ways that we are introduced to the two main characters Nurse Ratched and McMurphy 

Nurse Ratched is the first character shown at the beginning of the film, this could represent her dominance over other people including her patients in the institution. Also in the opening sequence she enters the mental institution through a caged door with a red light shone above it. The colour red has associations with war, danger , power, rage, anger, leadership and malice. Red is widely used to indicate danger (high voltage signs, traffic lights). Nurse Ratched in the credit sequence wears a black outfit , this conveys that she has a more sinister side to her character than what is shown directly. Also black has connotations of power, formality, death, evil, and mystery. Black is a mysterious colour and could denote strength and authority. Black contrasts with brighter colours, such as blue ( the colours McMurphy wears ) this can signify the difference between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy and how as the film progresses their characters might clash. The colour blue is associated with knowledge, tranquillity and intelligence this conveys McMurphy's character and highlights the contrasts between him and the authority figure in the film. Rebellion is suggested in the opening sequence when McMurphy arrives at the mental institution wearing a leather jacket which shows that he is a defiant and free-willed character. In the credit sequence Nurse Ratched is represented as the most dominant and superior character as this conveys the 1970's gender roles and how they were challenged by women , this is also shown by how McMurphy is displayed as being inferior. The difference between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy could foreshadow the conflict later in the film.

Vertigo - Plot Summary

PLOT SUMMARY -


The film Vertigo is based a police detective, John 'Scottie' Ferguson who is asked by an old friend, Gavin Elster to privately investigate his wife, Madeleine's eccentric behaviour in which Gavin believes that she is the reincarnation of her dead ancestor Carlotta Valdes. John agrees to this and then follows madeleine throughout the day only to then rescue her from attempting suicide off San Francisco Bay. As the film progresses and they spend more time together and they begin to fall in love. Later in the film Scottie takes Madeleine to the old Mission San Juan Bautista and they enter a Bell tower, Madeleine runs off from John and he chases after her up the steeple only to be startled by the height as he suffers from Acrophobia which stops him from saving Madeleine as we realise she jumped off. John feels responsible for her death and a few months later he meets Judy Barton who is identical to Madeleine and he begins to idolise Judy and wants to alter Judy's looks such as her hair colour and her clothes to resemble Madeleine. But John soon realises that Judy is actually madeleine and this was a scheme to cover up the fact Gavin killed his wife by using Judy to act as Madeleine and pretend to be her and act possessed to convince John, who suffers from acrophobia that she fell to her death although John didn't witness it because of his fear which meant he couldn't make it to the top of the steeple. By the end of the film John takes Judy back to the steeple where Madeleine supposedly committed suicide, a nun enters the steeple claiming she heard noises and this frightens Judy causing her to fall backwards off the edge plummeting to her death.

The narrative in the film portrays the different gender roles of the time it was made (1958), obsession in relationships and mental health issues.