The Graduate

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening. 

In class, we learned that The Graduate was a 1967 film directed by Mike Nichols. Nichols is one of only 12 prolific people who have won an Emmy, an Oscar, a Tony and a Grammy. He was also awarded with the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 2010. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on The Graduate. His other notable films include Silkwood, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Remains of the Day and Working Girl. He was also married to Diane Sawyer.

The Graduate was written by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry and grossed over $40 million at the box office, making it a success. The Graduate was nominated for seven awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography but only won for Best Director.

This movie featured Dustin Hoffman’s first starring role as Benjamin Braddock. He was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor but lost out. He later won Oscars for Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man. The movie also starred Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson who won an Oscar for her role in The Miracle Worker and Katharine Ross who appeared in films such as Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid and Stepford Wives.

The Graduate was notable for being one of the first true youth rebellion movies that illustrated the generation gap between the Baby Boomers and their parents. It showed the protagonist struggling with what to do after graduation and provided a view into societal values by way of satire.

The Graduate was done in a modern expressionist form. There were obvious camera shots and cutting, as well as awareness of film as an intrusive art. The film was meant to be part of the art, rather than unobtrusive, reminiscent of Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane. The cuts and camera movements were made obvious to viewers. Scenes were connected via sounds and dialogue. Songs start in one scene and end in another. The action also overlaps. Nichols used techniques such as the long lens to compress space, dramatic time changes through matching cuts, rapid cutting and editing, and rolling focus to change perception.

In the first third of the film, the framing is tight to symbolize how uptight Benjamin is. At that point, he is a track star, doesn’t smoke, talks as little as possible and is nervous, isolated, and confused about his future. Adults constantly crowd him and tell him what he should do. The camera loosens as Benjamin becomes more worldly, changes clothes, smokes, drinks, becomes more confide and rebellions and begins speaking and questioning more.

The film was also revolutionary for using songs by Simon and Garfunkel in its soundtrack rather than a typical movie score. Some sequences are done with just the soundtrack for noise. Sound is what leads the story. The Graduate also featured iconic scenes such as Ben rushing Elaine out of the church which has been spoofed several times, including by Mike Myers in Wayne’s World.

 2)  Find a related article and summarize the content.  (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) You can use the library or the internet.  Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content.

http://www.biography.com/people/mike-nichols-9422944

 Director Mike Nichols was born on November 6, 1931 in Berlin, Germany. At the age of seven, he and his brother Robert  immigrated to the United States where his family name was changed from Peschkowsky to Nichols. They moved to escape the Nazi regime as his parents were both Jews.  His father Paul had already arrived in America and his mother Brigitte met them there two years later. When he arrived in the United States, Nichols could only speak two phrases in English, “I don’t speak English,” and “Please don’t kiss me.”

 His father set up a medical practice in New York where Nichols was raised. After Paul Nichols died, his sons and wife struggled financially. Nichols found work to support himself while he studied at the University of Chicago, before returning to New York to study acting under the tutelage of Lee Strasberg.

Nichols then went back to Chicago where he began a comedy troupe where he met performance partner Elaine May. They worked together successfully during the late 1950’s and ten years later took their act to Broadway, where they gained the adoration of both audiences and critics.

Nichols then moved behind the scenes and became a director on Broadway, debuting with Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park which earned him his first Tony Award in 1964. Soon after, he won Tony Awards for his direction on the plays Luv and The Odd Couple.

He then moved on to film when he directed 1966’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. He took home the Academy Award for his directing on The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman. Throughout the 1960’s and 70’s, Nichols continued to work on both stage and screen, winning two more Tony Awards for Prisoner of Second Avenue and Annie, and Oscar nominations for Silkwood and Working Girl.

In his later years, Nichols worked on a diverse array of projects, from musicals to comedies to dramas. He found success with Closer, Spamalot, and Charlie Wilson’s War. Some of his last projects included the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, for which he won his sixth Tony, Betrayal, and an HBO adaptation of Terence McNally’s Master Class.

Nichols was married several times. He married ABC anchor Diane Sawyer in 1988 and stayed with her until his death. He also had three children, Daisy, Max and Jenny. Nichols died at the age of 83 on November 19, 2014 after suffering cardiac arrest. Despite his death, Nichols’s legend lives on as one of only a small collection of people to have won Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy Awards.

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.  How did the article support or change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.

After reading the article, I can see parallels between Mike Nichols and the film version of Benjamin Braddock. I know that in the original book, Benjamin is attractive and blonde. He is a more WASP-like character that would have appeared to fit in more with the others in the film.

The film version is played by Dustin Hoffman, who like Nichols was Jewish, although Hoffman was born in the United States. Like film Benjamin, Nichols was an outsider in the culture he was brought into. Benjamin spoke little in the first act of the movie, often answering in monosyllables. Nichols only knew two English phrases when he came to America. Benjamin didn’t fit in at first. Neither did Nichols.

However, like Benjamin, Nichols flourished as he got older. While Benjamin became more worldly and outspoken, Nichols went out and worked, gaining experience and finding his own voice in different creative mediums. I believe this is what influenced Nichols into putting his own creative input into the film version of this already well known work.

It is also worth noting that film executives at first vetoed the idea of casting non-WASP Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin, wanting instead to have Robert Redford star in the movie. But Nichols fought, and ultimately won, making movie history in the process.

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including  your personal opinion,  formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article.  I am less interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this)  than I am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director.

The Graduate was the first film to not only bridge but unveil the generation gap between the youth and the parents of the 1960’s. It kickstarted a wave of teenage and young adult rebellion movies that has never ceased and remains impactful almost 50 years after it’s initial release.

Dustin Hoffman acts wonderfully as the young main character, though a college graduate, acts at times like a lost child who doesn’t know which direction to turn to. He’s naïve and awkward, but can also be sweet and charming as he comes out of his shell. Anne Bancroft also stars in the film as Mrs. Robinson, and bring vitalized energy into every scene in which she appears, even as she becomes colder and more villainous. She always remains cool and poised, making her appear like the cat that has gotten the mouse. Either Benjamin or Mrs. Robinson’s daughter Elaine could serve as the mouse, as she manipulates both of them into meeting her needs.

The innocence of youth is played with. Ben is a nice young man but he is still manipulated into an affair with the wife of his father’s business partner, who he has known since he was young. He is able to feel compassion, such as when he apologizes to Elaine for making her feel bad on their date, but at the same time, shows little regard for the way his actions affect others. He never once stops to think how his parents may be affected by the affair. While the Robinsons are at Ben’s “Welcome Home” party and are invited to Ben’s home several times, all while Mr. Robinson encourages Ben to take out his daughter, both of Ben’s parents are noticeably absent at Elaine’s wedding, implying that they were left out due to the Robinsons’ betrayed and angry feelings about their son.

Though the film came out in 1967, The Graduate still feels modern, barring some of the outfits and changed societal norms, such as the Robinsons offering Ben drinks before he drives home and most of the characters smoking in public. It’s almost strange to think that it was made before other “old” films, such as The Godfather, Jaws, and Star Wars.

This film was also instrumental in the shift from movies using composed orchestrations as their soundtrack, to actual pop music from a famous band, in this case; Simon and Garfunkel. Songs like “The Sound of Silence” and “Mrs. Robinson” can still be heard on the radio today. The impact of The Graduate can still be seen today, with countless movies, songs, and television shows making references to its most iconic scenes, such as Ben taking Elaine away from the church, and Ben being seen through Mrs. Robinson’s legs when he says the famous line “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me.”

Most notable, however, is probably the famous ending with it’s “What now…?” feel. Ben and Elaine have escaped her family and are seemingly free to live as they choose. However, they have no plans; no idea of where to go and Elaine is still technically married. This makes the ending somewhat bittersweet and calls back to Ben’s earlier feelings of being directionless. It is also probably why so many people can relate to the film and it’s characters and why The Graduate will continue to be popular with future generations.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

1) (x) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

2) (x) If I have reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

3) (x) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

4) (x) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

5) (x) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

6) (x) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the sources within the paper and in the bibliography.

7) (x) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.

8) (x) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.