Book Adaptations (pt. II)

Lili’s Pick: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Lanie’s Pick: The Outsiders

Turning the page to a new set of films adapted from books, this week we set our sights upon two bro-centric narratives of very different varieties. Having read and adored One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in high school (despite it being assigned by a horrendous English teacher) I was fairly confident that I would love this film—and for once, my confidence was not unfounded. Milos Forman’s adaptation of Ken Kesey’s beloved novel was aptly iconic, doing well to stay true to the book while adding an ethereal layer of cinematic sparkle. The entire cast brought each character to life in a way that made them even more familiar, lovable, and real, and Jack Nicholson embodied McMurphy with an almost eerie perfection. Nominated for nine Academy Awards and winning five, this film’s significance remains in tact, even in 2020, as we face a new mental health crisis—the likes of which even McMurphy would struggle to make humorous. This story belongs to no particular type of person or agenda or moment in time, it exists in a special, liminal space that only deals in stories of humanity. I wish I could say The Outsiders also fell into that space. Perhaps S.E. Hinton’s novel does a better job than Francis Ford Coppola’s retelling of the story, but I wasn’t as overcome with emotion—negative or positive—after viewing this movie. Brat-pack cast of bodacious babes aside, The Outsiders failed to make me feel much of anything. I may have missed something deeper, but this movie just gave me West Side Story vibes minus the music, with double the homoeroticism (regardless of the author’s adamant stance that none of the characters here are gay…). It wasn’t terrible, if it were I’m sure I would have more to say, but it just lacked the emotional depth that I was craving, and expecting.