The Graduate

The Graduate uses many cinema techniques in throughout the film to really aid the viewer in being a part of the movie.  The very first scene of the movie is a close-up shot of Ben Braddock sitting in an airplane seat, and the camera slowly zooms out into a long-shot.  The very next scene of the movie is one of the most famous and one that has been reproduced by countless films after this one.  The scene is the tracking scene of Ben moving along the automatic walkway through the airport.  For me, both of these scenes gave me the sense that Ben was sort of lost and confused.  Next was the scene of Ben coming downstairs to meet the guest of his welcoming party after graduating college.  We already have the feeling that Ben is uncomfortable, but we get a better sense of that through the camera as Ben first makes his way into the party.  The camera is very close on Ben and the guest as they talk and it gave me the sense of awkwardness and being uncomfortable.  The next scene that stuck out to me was Ben’s 21st birthday.  It’s the point of view shot as Ben is looking out of the goggles of his scuba gear.  I got a sense that Ben feels trapped by his parents, and this can be seen in this scene as he's trying to surface the water we see his parents pushing him back under the water.

I noticed a lot of use of symbolism used throughout this film.  One symbol being used was the colors black and white.  The color combination is used several times throughout the film, including the awning of the Robinson household.  I think that the black and white are symbols for Ben being locked in a life he doesn’t necessarily want. His parents are strongly pushing for him to go to graduate school, however Ben purposely avoids it.  Another symbolism was Ben and his aquarium.  To me, I made the connection that Ben was sort of like the fish in that aquarium.  He’s just kind of aimlessly floating through life with no real purpose or intent.  This is evident to me when Mr. Braddock confronts Ben while he's floating in the pool.  Mr. Braddock asks Ben what he’s doing and Ben’s reply was simply just drifting.  Another symbol that struck me as ironic was Elaine’s room.  Mrs. Robinson used the portrait of Elaine as an excuse to get Ben upstairs.  Then Mrs. Robinson appears naked in front of Ben in Elaine's room, and finally makes her true intent known to Ben.  I think the purpose was to forecast Ben future relationship with Elaine to us, and I find it ironic that the start of Ben and Mrs. Robison starts in Elaine’s room as well as end because that's where Elaine is when she discovers the truth.

One question that was left unanswered was what happens to Ben and Elaine after they run off together. We never find that out, and to me the ending scene doesn’t give any indication on whether they stay together down the road.  They seem to be in love with one another, and he travels all that way to find her, and when he does she ends up running from the church with him.  They both seem to have abandoned their parents to start a life together.  To me this all seems fast because they barely know each other and only had one real date.  It seems like it was all an infatuation with one another because in that last scene they finally have each other.  Nothing is stopping them and as they sit there in the back of that bus, they don't seem all that happy.  It’s almost to me as if they wanted each other so badly because they knew it was not approved, yet when they finally had it in their grasps it lost its value.