The Graduate

Gus Perez

Film History

Journal

The Graduate

1.     The discussion for “The Graduate” was simply that Benjamin Braddock, a recently college graduate comes home and soon enough finds himself in an affair with Mrs. Robinson, a close friend of the family and his fathers business partner. It is only after that, Benjamin rejoins with the Robinsons daughter, Elaine after she is on break from her college. At first Ben shows no emotion towards Elaine, until he takes the time to talk and catch up with her making him realize that he has a profound love for her and deciding he does not want to have an affair with Mrs. Robinson anymore after coming to conclusion that he has nothing in common with her and her being too old. Mrs. Robinson then threatens Ben that if he continues to see Elaine she will expose their affair to her daughter. Ben chooses to confess the secret to Elaine him self before Mrs. Robinson does, causing Elaine to be heartbroken and not wanting to talk to Benjamin anymore.

2.     The Graduate is one of the key, groundbreaking films of the late 1960s, that helped to set in motion to a new era of filmmaking. The influential film is a biting satire/comedy about a recent nebbish, East Coast college graduate who finds himself alienated and adrift in the shifting, social and sexual mores of the 1960s, and questioning the values of society. The themes of the film also mirrored the changes occurring in Hollywood, as new vanguards of younger directors were coming to the forefront. http://www.filmsite.org/grad.html

3.     The article relates to the screening because it simply talks about the growing generations of the youths in the late sixties, that was filled with youths rebelling against war, society was more exposing of sex and how a college graduate from the east coast tries to fit himself back at home in the west coast and tries to establish himself and soon falls in love with the daughter of the women whom he was having an affair with.

4.     I personally enjoyed the film “The Graduate” simply because Benjamin went through all the struggles to get Elaine back and winning her heart despite having told her that he had an affair with her mother before falling in love with her. The film also showed an image of what life was like for a college graduate at the time and how parents expect the most out of you and how society at the time was especially in a time when our country was involved in war.