The Controversial Themes In The Film The Graduate

The Graduate is an interesting film revolving and or exploring the idea of the “american dream”. This film stands out in two primary ways. One of the two being the general themes that are presented in this film and the way in which they are presented. The second of the two being the way this movie is told as well as how the cinematography contributes to the overall story being displayed. This movie manages to poke the bear with its controversial themes that no one during this time period wanted to talk about.

The Graduate explores the controversial themes of the late 1960s America and does so in a great way. The very start of the film the audience follows around the main character, Ben, and he looks like he has just been to war. The way the footage is shown, it seems as if Ben is having a panic attack while everyone else is completely oblivious to it. This is especially the case during the graduation party that he never requested. The film begins its controversial themes as soon as we see Ben not knowing

One of the techniques that stood out to me was the mere fact that the movie kept rolling when there was not any characters on the set. In order to be a little more specific, there is a scene in which ben drives Mrs. Robinson home. After a bit of small talk there seems to be a building up of some tension. During this tension, when Mrs. Robinson is being playful with Ben the characters can be heard speaking; the audience knows where they are but we do not see them for a brief time. The reason this stands out is that it reminds me reading a book. When reading a dialogue between two individuals, the reader tends to create an image of how that conversation would go in their mind. The same principle applies in that scene, when the audience is deprived of an image of the characters they can almost see something that is not necessarily