Keywords: graduate film analysis, the graduate essay
The phrase New Hollywood originally achieved comprehensive use to express a new influx of motion pictures and young film directors that surfaced between your "mid-to-late 1960s to the mid-to-late 1970s"; a phenomenon more frequently thought to be the Hollywood Renaissance. Amongst these young directors included Mike Nichols whose considerable box office strike The Graduate (1967), became one of the momentous, landmark videos of the period, and helped to put in motion an ground breaking modern epoch of film development. Freshness and originality (traceable to the French New Wave) in a embedded platform of traditional Hollywood style could be the most fitted way to typify the formal framework from the Graduate. Having surfaced from the post studio era of creation, an interval when Hollywood was creating a lot of successful cutting edge videos, The Graduate comes after popular styles by aiming to give a probing depiction of American culture. Through its mixture of old and new Hollywood stylistic conventions, The Graduate realistically captures the 1960s culture of vibrant alienation, disillusionment, opposition to the position quo and middle class principles, and the growing cynicism of your younger generation contrary to the older era.
An array of industrial factors was significant to both emergence of young directors like Mike Nichols and the changing content in videos of the Hollywood Renaissance. The decrease of vertically integrated companies as well as a large reduction in cinema attendances, contributed towards the stopping of the studio room system of production, and exposed the gateways for a thematically different style of film-making. Subsequently, "individual deals were put together:" a format that offered directors like Nichols more authority, money and flexibility to stamp their authority on film projects. Because of these rapid improvements in professional factors, American prices were also being challenged. The success of sexually explicit movies just like the Man with the Golden Arm, resulted in an modification of the development code. With barriers falling, Nichols was allowed to portray adultery, affairs and near nudity in The Graduate. Films no longer had to strictly aim for the family audience. Hence, Nichols pressed the limits, moving the limitations of both stylistic medium, and of taste. The thought of an older hitched girl (Mrs Robinson played by Anne Bancroft) eagerly seducing a young school graduate almost about half her age group (Benjamin Braddock performed by Dustin Hoffman) was regarded questionable by many older audiences at that time, yet proven very effectual in targeting youth audiences. The film was regarded as bringing something new to Hollywood.
However, but the Graduate has been bracketed as something of New Hollywood, it is important to notice that almost all of its scenes adhere to the classical design of editing, due to the fact continuity editing and enhancing and standard form was a proven successful solution in Hollywood movie theater; it remained perfect for constructing narratives that were visually uncomplicated to follow. The opening picture of this Graduate is especially constrained by the guidelines of classical Hollywood style for reasons like this, therefore that audiences are presented with a logical believable world. The film commences with a close-up of Benjamin Braddock's face - the white track record concentrates attention on his steely motionless gaze. The composition of the shot accentuates his look of disillusionment to the audience. It seems he's isolated, but the camera gradually zooms out, exposing him to be on an aeroplane packed with travellers. By filming his muted bodily motion on the automated walkway in one slow long take, the sense of Benjamin's isolation is heightened; Nichols is of course shaping up a narrative to reveal the disillusionment of the children culture of his day, so that we learn later, Benjamin's future reservations. Together with the popular non-diegetic soundtrack Sound of Silence, Benjamin's mood is properly encapsulated within the starting credits.
Since the lyrics of May seem of Silence coincide with Benjamin's behavior, it almost becomes another language for the film. The tune, produced by the folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel, became an instant reach with the junior culture of the 1960s; it reached number 1 on New Years day (1966). Within the opening, it matches well with the slow tempo and continuity of the landscape; the solemn advantage and dim emotional colouring of the monitor underline the internal troubles Benjamin is experiencing.
It is only when the shot of Benjamin exiting the airport terminal dissolves to a shot of him expressing his qualms about future dreams, that the visitors have the ability to distinguish the basis of his psychological commotion.
By presenting a normal old community who hardly understand Benjamin's troubles, the visitors build compassion towards Benjamin. With this second up close of his face, Benjamin conveys a slight look of apprehension as he will try to explain to his father (Mr. Braddock played by William Daniels) of his have to be 'different. ' However, Benjamin's worries about his future are apparently ignored. His daddy seems more worried about keeping up appearances and persuading his son to wait to the friends of the home-coming party. This scene attracts directly to the 1960s culture of younger isolation, because like several young people of his technology, Benjamin emerged from the safe haven of the university lifestyle, only to feel confounded and highly indecisive about his future career. His parents, however, emphasize their self-absorbed intentions by coaxing him downstairs as opposed to understanding his predicament; the party just seems such as a reason for them to parade their materials possessions with their friends. Hence, young people cherished the movie since it outlined their anxieties, and along the way it deposit parents as "self-obsessed immoral clods" who only found life through the thin lens of class structure and riches.
Another technique used to stand for the oblivious old era is when the middle-aged friends of the home-coming get together end up communicating in third person about Benjamin, even whilst he's positioned quite near to them. Coupled with their invasive ways (almost pressuring Benjamin into a remedy about his future), none of them truly understand Benjamin's dreams. In looking stressed and hesitant about future goals, Benjamin appears to be resisting the quintessence of the supposed American aspiration - a full American education, followed by a lucrative job. Like young people of his time, he is finding it difficult to come quickly to conditions with the institutionalised adult working life awaiting him. Through the party Benjamin is constantly surrounded by a swarm of older people who wish to praise his educational accomplishments or question him about his future; this only further adds to his claustrophobic way of thinking. Even after escaping the middle-aged crowd to refuge of his bedroom, he's interrupted by Mrs Robinson and seems trapped once more. Inside the same shot that Mrs Robinson is being framed in the doorway, Ben is also framed within the world of his fish tank - another mark of imprisonment that is repeated many times throughout the film. Indeed Benjamin is like a seafood himself - timid, introvert and being alone in an ocean of emptiness. The traditional editing and enhancing in the beginning of the film attains a smooth and faultless design of narration, allowing the audience to effortlessly track the way of the narrative; the viewers can feel the strain created when Benjamin's inner conflicts are crossed with a non-understanding more mature generation.
Further continuity editing and enhancing is utilized to uphold clear narrative action (an attribute of several successful films of the Hollywood Renaissance) as well as build-up the moments before the bedroom field, in which Mrs Robinson will try to seduce Benjamin. Within an establishing long shot of Mrs Robinson's house, Benjamin is persuaded to come with Mrs Robinson inside. As Benjamin gets into, he is ornamented by a porch manufactured from all goblet, making the environment outside entirely obvious. The huge trees and shrubs and thick green bushes outside, supply the appearance of an tropical jungle; this could be a metaphor to illustrate Mrs Robinson's quest for Benjamin. Also, in one of the most infamous casings within a body shot where Benjamin is framed perfectly under Mrs Robinson's knee, Mrs Robinson again assumes the more dominating position between them; she occupies the role of your predator whilst he becomes the young susceptible victim. These portrayals of any sexually aggressive woman perhaps symbolises how easily the more aged generation and world may lead a fretful, alienated individual astray if she or he deviates from forming a meaningful purpose towards life. Benjamin, who is already sensing lost, is captured off safeguard and becomes easy pickings for Mrs Robinson to take advantage.
From an commercial perspective, Mrs Robinson's pursuit of Benjamin is important in building her constructed gender role; she is neither a liberated girl (who'll leave her spouse and pursue her romantic dreams) nor a conformist faithful suburban housewife. During the 1960s, women assignments were moving from 1950s image of subservient housewives, to a more rebellious self-employed role. However, Mrs Robinson plays both the unhappy suburban housewife as well an explicitly intimate woman running after an affair. She actually is shown as asserting her specialist and erotic prowess over Benjamin, yet continues to be bound by her love-making and relationships with men; her representation is a result of the film industry's incapability to cut free from the conventional portrays of women so common throughout the annals of early Hollywood movie theater. Julia Anderson areas, "Most viewers weren't interested in watching, and Hollywood had not been interested in financing a determined female as a popular female business lead. " Thus, Mrs Robinson is a gripping protagonist - one of the very most renowned in Hollywood, in fact, however when her figure is measured in conditions of gender depiction, it is plain to see she is not gripping because of her achievements, but because of her villain like role. And her entire account circulates around her interactions with an associate of the contrary sex; therefore she remains a lady persona that is identified by her relationship with a guy, instead of her own defiant or heroic activities.
The magnitude of Mrs Robinson's overwhelming intimate needs bears resemblance to the dissatisfied, sexually frustrated housewife referred to by Betty Friedan in her Feminine mystique (1963). Although Mrs Robinson had been forced into matrimony therefore of becoming pregnant, she is devote a hopeless position to flee the matrimony, possibly since she has become financially determined by her husband. In having conformed to the archetypal housewife role somewhat than pursuing a specialist career, it could be argued that she has become consumed by the womanly mystique; a lifestyle which no matter true love helps to keep women, in many cases, interested due to the wealth of materials belongings and money they acquire. In Mrs Robinson's circumstance, the combination of a loveless romantic relationship and dreary housewife commitments makes her more at the mercy of an "increased intimate desire for foods. " Thus, Mrs Robinson only engages in the affair to utilize Benjamin as defence system to bring herself out of her miserable existence within matrimony.
The cinematography techniques used to capture Mrs Robinson's growing intimate wants for Benjamin, are types of a move away from classical Hollywood style; the lightning fast cuts and other disorientating effects in the bedroom scene create the feeling of restiveness, impatience and a great sense of erotic food cravings on Mrs Robinson's part. Among the reasons in using discontinuity techniques was because it was a significant component for motion pictures deserving to be categorised as part of a new wave or renaissance. In cases like this it is effectively used to stand for the turning point in the film; not only does indeed it highlight Mrs Robinson's intimate urges, but the high-speed editing concurrently demonstrates the growing pressure and awkwardness on Benjamin's part. This time he's framed over Mrs Robinson's make and it is clear to discover his uneasy reactions when provided by the totally unclothed Mrs Robinson. Through the use of a slow beginning to The Graduate and contrasting it with these bursts of quick cuts, the visible impact of the seduction is manufactured much increased to the audience; the entire power of Mrs Robinson's desire is projected onto the audience, who until recently has been comfortable experiencing the largely unnoticeable design of editing. Films just like the Graduate and others of the Hollywood Renaissance period directed to move from directing entire movies via tight continuity regimes; they aimed for a more recent exciting aspect of stylistic techniques and current gimmicks to mirror characters emotions. The actual fact that Benjamin is emotionally at a crisis himself, makes the next affair with a mature married woman even more worthless.
The whole sense of worthlessness encircling the affair between Mrs Robinson and Benjamin is brilliantly captured in the musically guaranteed montage, a section that uses immediate editing and special results - a more immediate use of discontinuity style considered to have been borrowed from the films of the French New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague). During the montage, one picture is edited such that it appears Benjamin is drifting between his parents house to the accommodation he shares with Mrs Robinson. Soon after, in a disorientating match-cut, Benjamin is shown climbing up onto his home pool raft and getting together with Mrs Robinson in the hotel foundation they share - perhaps another symbol to symbolise Benjamin's unpredictable manner in life, and his plunge to new lows by partaking in the affair. Within the number of jarring cuts that show Benjamin walking back and forth into these distinct spheres, the non-diegetic soundtracks Audio of Silence adopted and April Come SHE'LL play in the backdrop; in illustrating compressed narrative information within the montage, the sequences of occasions highlights their loveless affair, and demonstrates how Benjamin is submitting himself to Mrs Robinson to be able to block out the purposelessness and bleakness of his life over the summer. Nichols purposefully contradicts continuity here to stamp his make on the film; in borrowing successful components of the French New Influx, he is able to add that major ingredient of invention so important to films in and around his period, and use it portray the sensation of junior disillusionment express in his society.
It could be argued that the increased discontinuity techniques in the musically guaranteed montage have a far more political purpose rather than just reflecting personality moods. Insurance agencies a far more jarring sporadic style of editing, visitors becomes more alert to information in the film, and begin to question dominant ideologies in world. In this case, Benjamin's refusal in submitting to neither the "plastics" world of the old technology or any other city job shows his rejection of the position quo and middle income ideals; an identical rejection shown by the youngsters rebellion of the 1960s. More matter in emphasised on Benjamin's need to belong and discover his identity instead of following the traditional way of American life - fulfilling his education and joining a commercial, commercial based profession.
Through Benjamin's almost robotic, strained replies to his father questions, he's resisting the standardised American way of surviving in hopes to find a more fulfilling presence. Thus, his thoughts of aimlessness directly reflect the young ones generation of that time period who equally "drifted for prolonged intervals whilst seeking to determine an aim in life. " Benjamin's thoughts of discontent are justifiable because as Friedan would dispute, many teenagers who willingly conformed to commercial life in the past due 1960s realised that the "purposelessness with their work retained them from feeling like men. " For reasons like these, Benjamin refrains from following the old-fashioned way of living that his parents have occupied. Instead he gets into a passionless affair and drifts around at his parent's pool as a kind of escapism.
Pushing narrative limitations and including illicit representations of intimacy in the affair between Benjamin and Mrs Robinson were thoughtfully computed by the film to target the 1960s American youth rebellion culture. Within an period when the FILM Association of America (MPAA) no longer had the ultimate contribution in the film's report, Nichols was free from most strict censorships. This allowed him to openly forefront facets of the youthful counterculture; in doing this The Graduate targeted youthful people (the major theatre solution consumers in the late 1960s). Since more youthful people preferred motion pictures that "dealt more explicitly with love-making, " Nichols audience concentrating on strategy proved very cost effective and ticket sales rocketed with the film getting "a package office gross of $105m. " Large amounts of that gross total were down to Nichol's innovative film techniques which pushed home the thoughts of the youngsters counterculture - uncertainty, fear, and an over-all lack of route in life.
Another reason behind Nichols to own clear rejection of traditional unambiguous cinematic form (apparent in the moments earlier mentioned) was because many film directors who hired such techniques in various scenes of these films were held up in admiration at the time, whilst Hollywood films restricted by classic narrative flow were condemned. Motion pictures like Easy Rider and Bonnie and Clyde were typically greeted with huge success for his or her impressive trendy stylistic strategy. Described as a "amount of great artistic achievements predicated on 'new independence' and widespread experimentation, " these new formal styles became very profitable for providing huge pack office visits, and helped concrete the Hollywood Renaissance a "golden age in Hollywood history. "
Moreover, by using new off the beaten track techniques, Nichols perhaps shows his need to be organised in the same admiration of recently successful forward pondering directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chapin and Howard Hawks, who had been much-admired for his or her "high film art work, " and auteur status. Taking into consideration the new found freedom that directors of the Hollywood Renaissance acquired, the videos of the period have been generally understood in conditions of the work of the artistic auteur. Hence, Nichols too has been seen as a filmmaker creating his own private style of directing. For example
The field which celebrates Benjamin's 21st birthday is important in creating the internal burdens Benjamin is battling; a mindset which mirrors the junior alienation and counterculture of the 1960s. Through avant-garde techniques, Nichols positions the audiences in Benjamin's point of view (searching of a scuba diving face mask), and makes them to see Benjamin's feelings of entrapment as he makes his uneasy change from a guy to a mature man. Benjamin's visions show you a blurry image of his parent's faces; this together with muted looks of the middle-aged public could be representative of Benjamin being too caught up in his own thoughts to acknowledge anything, particularly the overbearing views of the more aged generation he desires to filter. Aswell as moving lethargically to the pool and lastly sinking to the bottom than it, this world cements the building blocks for his growing rebellion towards his elders. Just like the youth alienated culture of your day, Benjamin prefers to bare out the real world. Before he chooses to emerge in front of the birthday friends in his scuba outfit, Benjamin's replies to his father are loaded by unusually high pitched bleats of apprehension: "dad can we please speak about this for a second. " The anxiousness that punctuates Benjamin's brand deliveries accentuates his uptight mindset, and becomes a point of amount of resistance against his parents. Not merely does this add to the comedic component of the film, but by delivering funny in its blackest sort, these occasions positions the viewer to ridicule American materialistic principles - the need to flaunt material prosperity as a means of maintaining category hierarchies. The fact that Benjamin's dad feels the need to highlight the price tag on the scuba diving face mask to the birthday visitor only further affirms this.
As Benjamin goes sluggishly towards pool, it is interesting to notice the parallels of Nicholas's point of view images with Alfred Hitchcock's; they both create a similar feeling of pain in the audience. Like Hitchcock, Nichols too questions the root of regular individual behaviours by aligning the viewers to the protagonist's dissenting action through viewpoint. The increased volume of Benjamin's breathing appears to be a audio which transcends from realism to expressionism and it ties in well with Benjamin's stressed mood. In this manner viewer feels they are simply partaking in "scopophilic and often pervasive serves, " sharing a solid bond with Benjamin. As continuity editing paints a far more naturalistic bought world, these avant-garde techniques may very well be mirroring the disordered modern culture of the 1960s- fresh alienation and rebellion to middle class norms.
Moreover, Benjamin's behaviour and strained replies to his daddy are significant in building Benjamin's identity turmoil; an issue which displays the gender crisis of the 1960s. During the 1960s, new notions about masculinity were starting to surface; the counterculture desired to change the traditional one dimensional knowledge of man. In contexts to Benjamin's world, he encounters the suburban middle-class ideas of the older era and their traditional knowledge of manhood - a well rounded education, followed by a future in "plastics. " However, by rejecting this lifestyle in hopes to seek his true identity, Benjamin models himself on the present day image of the North american male - person who has a greater vision as opposed to conforming to the rather clear-cut life provided to him by his father - one that he is quickly likely to lead. Just like in The Graduate, the old era of Nichol's time did not notice that the gender tasks for men were changing; it was only due to the growing counterculture asserting new attitudes towards gender that finally produced a young politicised generation who have been on the lookout for their true individuality. The film thus mocks the original views of the more mature generation, particularly the materialistic riches and snobbery that Benjamin's father constantly parades to his friends.
In addition to the changing gender jobs of the 1960s, Dustin Hoffman's projection of an wholly different type of masculinity in The Graduate could be right down to industrial factors. In a period when the industry was at flux, more aged notions of legend electricity as highly desired goods were concurrently on the decrease; the rebirth of Hollywood cinema in the mid-to-late 1960s provided room for new personalities to be born. This allowed Nichols to go away from portraying the original male hero - person who was literally imposing, clearly motivated by an goal, and a man of more action alternatively than words. Nichols, on the other hand, presents the viewers with a male hero (Benjamin) who is small, introvert, uncomfortable, indecisive, and seems lost throughout the film. As The Graduate was coming into Hollywood cinema at the same time where movies were projecting high invention, it could be argued that Nichols opts to look for something new in his characters to represent this trend. Along the way he undermines classical narrative convention by portraying a male hero who does not have any clear motivations. Therefore as well as reflecting the changing gender dynamics of the period, Nichols gives go up to a fresh kind of star impersonation in his male hero.
Moreover, Katharine Ross's persona Elaine (the girl of Mrs Robinson and Benjamin's true love) also demonstrates the changing gender attitudes of the 1960s. At the same time when the women's motion was gathering in strength, therefore the depiction of women in Hollywood cinema was also shifting. By finally rejecting the chance of an mundane relationship and suburban lifestyle, Elaine liberates herself from the lifestyle forced on her behalf by her parents; she shows herself to be capable of making decisions about her future. However, in choosing to marry Benjamin, Elaine's representation demonstrates how matrimony was still deemed vital to the fulfilment of femininity in the 1960s. Nonetheless, the informed Elaine thinks independently, and like Benjamin, she chooses to get away from the elderly generational norms in favour for her self-fulfilment and intimate desires. The organization she attends on her behalf university education (Berkeley) is also an important place for constructing her forward thinking mentality since it was "the centre of radical moves including category, gender and politics. " By stopping the film with Elaine's loving break free, the film stays also stays touching the 1967s time of proclaimed summer months of love.
Even though there is a small change in the gender functions for the feminine protagonists, the women within the Graduate still comply with ingrained patriarchal norms, thus making the film something of its time. The 1960s was an interval where the second influx of feminism was attaining momentum, however in the face of these changes, inequality between the sexes remained; appropriately, the Hollywood industry only made modest adaptations in feminine character jobs to reveal this. Benjamin's mom and Mrs Robinson still inhabit a female role, behaving as subservient counterparts to their working husbands, and although Elaine can be an educated female, her part in the storyplot is mainly as a foil to Benjamin's quest for identity. In addition, in the photographs of Mrs Robinson's thighs and semi naked body, she may very well be what Laura Mulvey would express, an "object of the male gaze. " The leopard print out layer which Mrs Robinson wears on her first meeting with Benjamin at the hotel can be an important animal motif consultant of her sexually predatory dynamics; she adheres to the voyeuristic erotic pleasures of the male audience. Although it can be argued Mrs Robinson is an assertive sexual subject in her own right, the counter debate would assert that she just upholds sexual vitality over a in physical form petite, self-conscious, unconfident young man - one who's young enough to be her son. In casting two visually attractive women protagonists in Mrs Robinson and Elaine, The Graduate becomes another film of its time which fulfils the "neurotic needs of the male ego"
Furthermore, the affair between Mrs Robinson and Benjamin is principally a manifestation of an old fashioned male dream - having a sexual affair with an older married woman. From this viewpoint, The Graduate places constraints on its radicalism and alternatively offers a created form of narrative experimentation in order to attract widespread followers. By depicting this male fantasy, the film once more lives up to patriarchal norms.
Due to the patriarchal norms of the time, The Graduate also continues in regular Hollywood custom by normally focusing on a male protagonist in the narrative. The complete film revolves around Benjamin and, in typical fashion, the concentrate remains on his character development, identity have difficulty (making the adjustment from junior to adulthood), and the sexual connections he gets swept up in. Mrs Robinson and Elaine, who are the key women protagonists in the narrative, are only described in their sexual relationships with Benjamin. This demonstrates the Hollywood industry's inclination to heavily count on the individuality of the male hero. The major success in the Graduate just became another program for the industry to persist with notions of the male hero, whilst female characters acquired constraints on the freedom and remained largely marginalised.
Nonetheless, Elaine has a good way of measuring freedom, which is perhaps this along with her children which will make the psychologically and sexually suppressed Mrs Robinson jealous of her; subsequently Mrs Robinson perhaps has an affair with Benjamin to reclaim her lost children. To her, Benjamin supplies the only get away of happiness in an otherwise dreary traditional suburban housewife life with a man she no thoughts for. If the audience are created to realize Mrs Robinson and her spouse share separate beds, one becomes conscious that they only live under the incorrect pretence of an happy marriage to keep up looks in a rigid category structured society. It is aspects like these with which The Graduate is attacking the conformist ideals mounted on middle-class values. Due to the dark, biting satire of the film, one cannot help but find the whole situation amusing, especially the dialogue about the occasions Mr Robinson discovers the affair: in Benjamin's defence he says, "it didn't imply anythingwe could as well have been shaking handsI don't love your daily life, I really like your little girl sir" to which Mr Robinson replies, "As far as Elaine's concerned, you are to get her out of your filthy mindand that's all Ben, you'll pardon me easily don't shake hands to you. " Benjamin's uncomfortable, spontaneous replies are so absurd any particular one cannot help but laugh. The interchanging comments between them underpin the many comic moments of the film; humor gives an effective program to mock the societal ideals of the traditional American people - a primary exemplory case of this is when Benjamin, in his lifeless monotone tone of voice replies "no sir" to Mr Robinson's question about whether Benjamin respects him. The film's ability to confine all these serious moral issues into dark humour shows the growing self-assurance of filmmakers, and the freedom that allowed them to put together contentious film jobs around multiple genres.
Overall, although the period of changeover in the Hollywood industry during the fifties and sixties bought essential flexibility to filmmakers, The Graduate still remained an professional product; the film talks to a incessant helplessness on the planet, and inability to change and create change - for example, once the Graduate does portray action, it is performed by an isolated hero in a particularly antisocial method (going against societal norms and practices), further establishing that genuine change, collectively completed, is unattainable. Even though Benjamin and Elaine break free together in a typical "happy finishing, " they are doing it at the expense of leaving their own families in back of; after everything, the final shot of them looking blankly into space can be an uneasy one, especially Benjamin who produces the same look of disillusionment like the main one in the beginning of the film. Nichols will very well in artistically recording the themes of the 1960 counterculture; however, in a commercially dominated professional sphere, Nichols is inevitably indebted to remain within the constraints of total freedom of manifestation because he needs to receive the film funded. Through the use of calculated methods of aesthetic experimentation and having a very constructed radical story, The Graduate ensures cost-effective success and with it, the wide-spread appreciation of the film from audiences.
