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Tara Martinez

Dr. Lynda Davis

ENGL 20803 9:30

March 19, 2016

Visual Propaganda Argument - The Graduate

The Graduate, released in 1967 and directed my Mike Nichols, depicts a recent

college graduate, Ben Braddock and his coming of age story. The films first scene is set

with a big, lavish party that is being thrown by Bens parents in the celebration of his

recent graduation from college. Here it becomes clear that Ben is having anxiety about

making the transition to becoming an adult. While he is at the party, one of his parents

friends says a metaphor that carries the theme of the entire film, just one word. . .

plastics. Here in this scene the term plastics refers to the lifestyle of his parents

generation being about materialism, having unfulfilling jobs and living the cookie cutter

suburban life. The ongoing struggle that Ben has throughout the film is trying to choose

between living this plastic, materialistic, pre-thought out lifestyle or becoming his own

person is the most dominant theme throughout the film.

An important scene that follows the party is Mrs. Robinson, a friend of Bens

parents asks him to take her home and this is where she begins to seduce him. The

camera goes into a montage of the different body parts of Mrs. Robinson, and Bens

head and thoughts (Celeste). At this point the viewer get the sense of all that is already

overwhelming Ben about the idea of going into adulthood. Although nothing happens

between the Ben and Mrs. Robinson in this scene, it provides a preview of the ongoing
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struggle that Ben will have, deciding whether or not to conform to the ways and ideas of

his parents generation.

The sixties were known for being this youth centered, post war culture. The

people that had been born during the beginning of the baby boomer period, these were

also the first generation of children that had been born into suburbia lifestyle, were

starting to reach adulthood during this time. And by the later sixties the suburban dream

that the older generation had found so valuable was thought to have started becoming

under attack by this newer, younger generation. This younger generation had become

dissatisfied with the idea of materialism fueling every decision that were now having to

make reaching adulthood. Ben Braddock became a symbol for this new generation, he

showed the struggles and the pressures they were feeling by the older generation

before them. The viewer also got to see Ben show his fear that he had becoming an

adult and cause his transgressive behavior throughout the film (Beuka).

Throughout The Graduate many different symbols are used to show the lines

between the old generation that wanted the suburbia lifestyle and the new one that

fought back on this lifestyle. The symbols of materialism included swimming pools, large

spacious yards, nice cars, and barbeque pits; these were supposed to be the symbols

that represented all that was valued in the generation that did want to live the suburban

dream (Beuka). Along with these symbols, Mrs. Robinson is one of the largest symbols

that is present in the film, because she is the symbol that represents the dividing point

between the new younger generation fighting back and the older ones. Mrs. Robinson is

caught in the middle of the two sides and she acts as the division and the bridge

between Bens own adulthood and childhood. This is because at the start of the film the
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viewer can see that Ben is still in a more child-like state of mind, and the first step the

viewer sees him take out of this child-like behavior is with Mrs. Robinson. Another

symbol that sets a dividing line between his childhood and adulthood is the physical

setting that Ben is in. When Ben is in his bedroom in his house or floating in the pool

this is a representation of his childhood. The hotel room is a symbol of adulthood, and

when he decides to call Mrs. Robinson this is the symbolic of him moving out of

childhood and to adulthood. Ben is shown consistently in the back yard pool, showing

that a part of him does want to be home and then he will repeatedly flee his home. It Is

because of this the he viewer can tell that Ben is in an identity crisis throughout the film

(Celeste). Him continually going back and forth between the two physical settings and

internally fighting where he should be or what he is the right thing that he should be

doing at that point is a way that the director tries to make Ben relatable to the younger

audience. Nichols also shows the older generation that is watching that the suburban

lifestyle that they value is not what the younger generation wants and might even be

under attack.

The identity crisis that Ben is going throughout the film emasculates him in a way

because he does not immediately know what he wants to do with his life. Typically, in

films and television in the past men after graduation will fall into the role of being the

breadwinner of the household, marrying their wife and starting a family. Not only was

The Graduate one the first films that had this theme of dissatisfaction with suburban

lifestyle it was also one of the first to display the theme of emasculation, which would

only continue to grow in popularity in the following decades (Beuka). The film provided a

more realistic view of what was beginning to happen in households during that time
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period. Previous films and television in general had only shown the classic perfect

suburban family image. The film also took a step away from the restrictive gender roles

that were also present in television during the 50s. The Graduate offered the view of a

boy growing into his adulthood, while doing so the viewer sees Ben struggling to define

himself in his physical and social environment (Celeste). Ben has grown up in this

perfect suburban lifestyle and once he goes home from college he begins to question

whether or not he wants to be apart of this suburbia life that he has grown up in.

Once Ben decides to make the phone call to Mrs. Robinson to take the offer that

she had previously offered him, he starts to alienate himself from the suburban lifestyle

(Celeste). Mrs. Robinson was the product of the older generation that valued and had

always wanted the suburban dream, she reveals that she had accidently gotten

pregnant and that was how she started her journey to living her plastic life. The viewer

sees the regret that she now has, and in a way the viewer also gets the idea that she

might not feel like she got to choose the life she really wanted. The regret is also shown

by her giving Ben the offer to call her and meet her at the hotel (Beuka). Because she is

the symbol that is between the two generations, her being with Ben in sexual ways is

another way where she seems to be fighting against the older generation, but she also

is affecting Bens adulthood in negative ways. These sexual and social taboos that Ben

and Mrs. Robinson were taking apart of were especially looked down upon in the world

that they had lived in (Celeste). Again the reason that Ben and Mrs. Robinson seem to

take part in these taboos is because they are trying to set themselves apart from the

suburban life that they have always lived and hopefully in the process find whether they

actually do want it or not.

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The Graduate ends in probably the most ironic way possible. In the final scenes

of the film depict Ben trying to find out where Elaine Robinson, Mrs. Robinsons

daughter is getting married. His journey shows him driving all over the place asking

people where the wedding is, and eventually leaving his car on the side of the road. Ben

leaving his expensive bright red sports car behind and running on foot to meet Elaine is

also a symbol of him running away from the suburban life. Ben eventually makes it to

the wedding and then there is one of the most dramatic scenes of the entire film. The

scene has Ben yelling Elaines name through a glass window of the chapel as she is

about to say her vows. Elaine runs to Ben, as the two try to get out of the chapel their

parents are yelling and physically trying to keep them from leaving. This is another

symbol of their parents trying to force their lifestyle onto their children. Finally, Ben and

Elaine make it onto a bus to begin the rest of their lives together. The last shot of the

film shows Ben and Elaine sitting down on the bus, looking around, with the expressions

of their faces changing from smiles to looks of uncertainty to eventually what looks like

expressions of worry.

The irony of these final scenes is that throughout the entire film Ben and Elaine

are trying to be apart of this new generation that wants to be the opposite of the one

before them. Because these two do run off together they are committing or binding

themselves together. The same way that Mrs. Robinson became bound by her

accidental pregnancy to her husband. This commitment to one another is the first step

in the process of living the plastic life that they are ultimately trying to avoid. This initial

step that they have ended up taking together is what eventually leads to marriage, a

family, a good job, and having a house in the suburbs.

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Works Cited

Beuka, Robert. RETROSPECTIVES Just One. . . Plastics: Suburban Malaise,

Masculinity, and Oedipal Drive in The Graduate. Journal of Popular Film and

Televsion, 28:1, pgs 12-21. 2000.

Celeste, Reni. The Sound of Silence: Film Music and Lament, Quarterly Review of Film

and Video, 22:2, pgs 113-123. 2005.

The Graduate. Dir. Mike Nichols. Prod. Lawrence Turman, Richard Sylbert, George R.

Nelson, Harry Maret, Sherry Wilson, Patricia Zipprodt, and Sydney Guilaroff. By

Calder Willingham, Buck Henry, Robert Surtees, Sam O'Steen, Jack Solomon,

Paul Simon, and Dave Grusin. Perf. Buck Henry, Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman,

Katherine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, Brian Avery, Norman Fell,

Alice Ghostley, and Marion Lorne. An Embassy Pictures Release, 1967.

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Word Count: 1599

Authors Note: This is the final draft of my paper, the only concerns that I have with it

would be the flow. There was so much good information I felt like I had to work with I

just wanted to make it all flow nicely.