The Graduate (1967)

 Mike Nichols's "The Graduate"

My most recent excursion into Mike Nichols's "The Graduate" is a far different experience than when I first watched the film over a decade ago. I watched the film when I was in my late teens/early 20s and felt a kinship with the passivity and disconnect felt by Dustin Hoffman's Benjamin Braddock. However, as I enter my mid-30s, I no longer feel as emotionally connected to the character. In fact, I am far more critical and perturbed by Benjamin this go-around.

For those that don't know, "The Graduate" centers on a college graduate, Benjamin, who returns to his parents' home in Pasadena to spend the summer until he can decide what to do with his life. Drifting by in a malaise, Benjamin spends his summer drifting in the pool. Oh, and having an affair with Mrs. Robinson, the married neighbor who is twice his age. After spending many nights with Mrs. Robinson, Benjamin falls in love with her daughter, Elaine. After Elaine learns of his secret, she breaks up with him. He follows her to college town before ultimately stopping her wedding.

Obviously, "The Graduate" is one of the most culturally significant works out of the U.S. in the 1960s. Not only does it tonally convey the temperament of an entire generation, it cinematically helped break open the door to New Hollywood. To top it off, the songs, iconography, and the character of "Mrs. Robinson" became a cultural concept in and of itself. 

For these things, I certainly identify an objective respect and admiration I feel for the film. In doing so, I also don't fail to admit the film's ability to be upmost entertaining and thematically engaging.  However, I do feel less emotionally resonant with the psychology of the film. 

At the time in my life when I was around college-age and feeling both adrift and unsure of my future, the character of Benjamin Braddock resonated with me. The film speaks very evidently to a time in a young person's life when they are in between youth and adulthood. This middle period of figure out how to make your way in the world. 

Specifically, in the post-war age of capitalism, Benjamin feels similarly to a lot of youth. There is a certain expectation of immediate productivity. The American Dream is about going into the market and figuring out how you fit for the rest of your life. However, as "The Graduate" points out, the tradeoff doesn't quite seem desirable. The adult of the film are the end result of these labors. However, and especially in the case of Mrs. Robinson, they are all living in the regrets of the past and desirous of their youth and the freedoms it afforded.

"The Graduate" is certainly a film that should be mentioned and respected amongst the great works of the 1960s. Benjamin's specific thematic issues are assuredly familiar to anyone who's dealt with this period of life. It is also one of the most culturally significant pieces of American cinema ever.