The Graduate Movie Essay

The Graduate is a story about a recent college graduate, Ben Braddock, who has found himself trapped in superficial or “plastic” world around him. When Mrs. Robinson, who was the wife of his father’s business partner, advances on him, with uncertainty he ends up having an affair with her. This affair becomes conflicted when he realized he has strong emotions for Elaine, who is Mrs. Robinson’s daughter. After confessing of the affair to Elaine he finds himself heartbroken. Then, when Ben learns that Elaine is getting married he takes arms against his troubles and manages to win Elaine. The movie ends with a shot of the two of them in the back of a bus with no expressions on their faces. After watching the film twice, I began to observe that much of the film I would say are about distance and separation, whether it was related to the locale, age, or even the dissonances of perception. The plot was driven along by Ben's attempts to confront such distances, bridge the gaps or deal with the usefulness of the attempts. I thought that the drive-through scene

In order for us to care about this character as an audience we must be able to feel what the hero feels and be actively engaged in his decisions throughout the film. This is achieved to a great extent through the careful shot selections and also through the framing of the cameras. You are able to observe closely that the cinematography is very rich with symbolism and is often shown in the point of view of the protagonist in the film, causing the us as a audience to feel the way that the protagonist feels giving us a sense of empathy and support for the protagonist. To prove this point the direction and cinematography will often be