Rant and Ramble

I just got home from seeing a production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" with my husband and another couple. How do I feel? I'm not sure. I think the text makes some very interesting and valid commentary on the manner in which power is distributed, and the tendency of current western society to pathologize that which is non normative. Despite racist language, I thought the play's treatment of Chief Bromdon was moving, compelling and hinted at a progressively critical reading of treaties, reserve and welfare systems, and racism more generally. I really felt like the play lacked a female character to counter Nurse Ratched. The only female characters present were the tyrannical bitch, the silent and sexually abused nurse who walks around with her head down and/or in fear, and the "cheap" women that are mostly eye candy (one of whom is named Candy). Is there something critical here that I'm missing? Possibly. I found the party break up scene, in which Ratched and Candy are together on stage very interesting- Ratched demeans Candy to the point of not allowing her to leave, and does not allow her to speak. Is there a possible reading here, other than that the powerful woman destroys the really problematic sexualized woman who is clearly the type preferred by the men of the play? Is this (<<--) reading complicated by the fact that the "men" of the play have all been pathologized? What do other people here think?

In the spirit of being confused and sad I am drinking a beer (a St. James Pale Ale, which gives away my location and also shows I have excellent taste!) and remembering other points in time in which I felt the same way, Such as the time that I was student teaching and brought in "The Laramie Project" for my 9/10 double credit English class to read. We had previously studied the "Maus" books, and they responded in really mature and empathetic ways. How did they respond to this? By arguing and generally being quite angry about this text being toted around as fact (!). They refused to believe that this could possibly have happened in 1990, and shut down critical discussion immediately. Why? I have no idea. Maybe they were outraged that something so terrible could happened in 1990, or today, or maybe they identified very closely with a young teen in a middle-of-nowhere kind of place who doesn't quite fit in, and were outraged that he could be treated so... terribly. I really don't know.

Bah, do other people have stories like these?