The Graduate

Gregory Lopez
Film History
Journal
“The Graduate”
1) Fresh college graduate Benjamin Braddock is locked into an affair with Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's business partner and then finds himself falling in love with her teenage daughter, Elaine. Through their happenstances, Benjamin determines that they have nothing in common but also picks up that Mrs. Robinson was required to give up college and marry someone she did not love when she became pregnant with her daughter, Elaine. Mrs. Robinson stresses to Benjamin that he should unwind and appreciate his youth while he still can. Upon arriving to the Robinsons' home to take Elaine out again, Mrs. Robinson threatens to disclose to Elaine her previous relationship with Benjamin. However, Benjamin preemptively exclaims the specifics of his affair to Elaine before Mrs. Robinson can proceed with her threat. Upset and heartbroken, Elaine returns to Berkeley and cuts off all communication with Benjamin.
2) Throughout the 1960s an immediate social, political, and artistic change was happening in America as a new generation fought to regroup its understanding of gender in the face of how their parents understood it. During this time, the women’s liberation movement and new ideas about masculinity pursued to break out of the 1950s suburban example that had been the norm, predominantly in terms of male and female relationships. This shift was portrayed in several films of the 1960s and forms the thematic essential of the film “The Graduate.” What is most captivating about this certain film in terms of gender is the way it reproduces the shifting understanding of gender of both males and females and of different ages as well.
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3) The article relates to the screening because the film introduces two young people who are on the threshold of coming to terms with a new connotation of individuality and gender and also offer the older generation and its stable suburban standards. Wedged in the middle of these representations of gender is the mysterious character of Mrs. Robinson who exemplifies both the new understanding of femininity as well as the old masculine ideals that her suburban society is established upon. With such an impulsive combination of mismatched gender notions and generations, this film presents an almost perfect representation of the gender skirmishes of the 1960s.
4) “The Graduate” orbits around the story of Benjamin, a topical college graduate, who is at a main point in his life. Caught between adolescence and adulthood, he is examining meaning in the upper-middle class suburban world of his parents. While at home between schools, he begins a sexual relationship with the wife of a neighbor and family-friend, Mrs. Robinson. Uncomfortable with his own sexuality, Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson continue an affair for quite some time, during which she asks him to promise to stay away from her daughter, Elaine. Things become complex when Mr. Robinson and Benjamin’s father attempt to organize a date between the two young people. Not wanting to disrupt his mistress’ demand yet caught up in the wishes of his parents, Benjamin takes Elaine on a date, which is catastrophic as Benjamin tries to push her away. Ultimately, however, the affair between Mrs. Robinson and Benjamin is exposed and Elaine goes to school. Benjamin halts his affair and essentially stalks Elaine at college, hoping to win her back. She is engaged to a man her parents find reputable and is about to marry him, but at the last minute Benjamin takes a cross-country trip to try to stop her marriage. To the dismay of Mrs. Robinson and the other guests, he is successful and the two escape together. I thought this movie was a classic. It was a compelling screening that grasped my attention with ease, especially being a college student who is on the verge of graduating. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would absolutely watch it again.