Cosi

In “Cosi”, Nowra positions us to condemn the values of a society which treats it’s mentally ill in barbaric and condescending ways. Discuss. Louis Nowra’s screenplay ‘Cosi’ explores the attitudes to and perception of the mentally ill in 1971. During this period Australia is at war and undergoing social reform. The perception of mental patients in the 70s can be seen as unethical and inhumane, with society grouping them with animals and locking them away in asylums with barbaric conditions. The 70s saw mental illness being neglected and kept in the dark and with movies that depict ‘mad’ people as animals; a negative connotation is placed upon these people. Nowra attempts to shed light on the issue and change our attitude by drawing sympathy for them through his play ‘Cosi’. Nowra aims to garner sympathy for mental patients through constructing his characters in ‘Cosi’ in a way that shows that these people are fully functional human beings. By carefully creating the personality of each character, Nowra is able to give an insight to the lives and minds of mental patients. This insight allows the audience to rethink their views on mental patients, like Roy. Roy is an exuberant character with high aspirations. We see Roy’s enthusiasm from the beginning with him eager to begin the production. His dreams of belonging in the theatre and his high aspirations; ‘aiming for the stars’, are a far cry from the insanity and madness that society portrays the mentally ill. Roy’s fabricated childhood stories about his mum singing Mozart to him shows his despair and agony. Roy is mentally disabled in that he wants a childhood so strongly that he creates a fictional tale. His overly enthusiasm for ‘cosmic harmony’ through Cosi fan Tutti is what makes the play work in the end. This aspiration of Roy’s can be seen as a symbol of hope. This poises the question to the audience of why such a person, with these human like aspirations, to be placed in a mental asylum' In a play where the line between insanity and sanity is so thin, we question whether some people outside the asylum, are indeed ‘mad’. The highly radical Nick openly promotes violence and he can be paralleled to Doug in the asylum, yet he is not placed in an asylum. The audience is likely to see that these people are no more different then to people outside the asylum. The need to change our values about mental patients is strengthened through Nowra’s depiction of the abhorrent conditions of the asylum. Through the use of symbolism Nowra is able to accurately show the audience the conditions of the asylum. In the first scene Nowra describes the theatre as ‘pitch black’ with a ‘heavy door’ only letting in a ‘chink of light’. This symbolises how mental intuitions are ignored and neglected. The dismissal state of the burnt out theatre may suggest that mental patients are incapable of using such facilities. This condescending view is reinforced by Nick and Lucy whom both wave off any thought that mental patients like Roy can perform theatre. However, their views are proved wrong and Lewis manages to direct a masterpiece. The fact that a few mental patients are able to produce such a masterpiece shows not only their mental capabilities but there determination and potential. It shows the audience that these people have the potential to achieve and their determination outweighs the criticism and condemnation of society. The journey that each character takes in the production of Cosi fan Tutti demonstrates the ‘more’ human side that society is to quick to look over. Nowra effectively draws sympathy from the audience through the development of characters and shows how they are constantly judged and condemned. These mental patients, human people, show great strength as humans and demonstrate to the audience that they deserve a place in society; we can not treat them in barbaric and condescending ways.