The Graduate

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

Realistic! Vivacious! Pertinent! Charming! The Graduate is the perfect film, if “perfect” existed, to display the epitome of a post grad student who is in a quandary about their life and life in general for that matter. This point is one that was brought up during the lecture in class, and as soundtracks/music are already an important aspect of the film, Stacey Orrico’s lyrics “there’s gotta be more to life” swirled through my head at the right time. As the film begins, there is an immediate uncertainty within Benjamin not just with the fact that he feels there should be more to his life after college while not really knowing what that “more” is going to be, but also with the fact that he feels there is more to his life than living to become just like his parents. If you ask me, he seems like the film character to represent a hesitant Holden Caulfield, unready to slip into adulthood by any means necessary. The spark with this film and myself came instantaneously. Dustin Hoffman was simply hilarious with his awkward being and uniqueness. Graduating in May, I am going through that pre-Benjamin phase at this time in my life, and this screening couldn’t have come at a better time to provide some comic relief to this idea of “what next?”

2) Find a related article and summarize the content.

 “‘The Graduate' at 40: A Defiant and Astute Film to Be Proud of” written by Steven Winn is an article different than the preceding ones I have looked into for other films. Usually, I choose an article rooted in historical truth like how the individuals of the community dressed up for Gone With the Wind’s three-day premiere celebration in outfits to fit the time period. The articles are normally stuffed with facts about the film, and the actors/actresses during the time the particular film was released. While this article still has some of those characteristics, rarely do I choose an article like Winn’s that dares to pull something from the meaning of the film as a whole. Winn begins, for lack of a better word, slandering the film by saying, “the timing was all wrong, and so was the casting…’The Graduate,’ by all rights, should have been a bungle” (par. 1). At first, I did not know how to feel about the statement, but as the article progressed, Winn respectfully retracted those thoughts by recognizing praise from other critics, quoting students from 1967 about what the film meant to them, and even touching on the musical aspect of the film and how Simon and Garfunkel’s soundtrack acted as  a “second, heightened language for the film” (Winn, par. 8). Winn also recalls specific scenes from the film, letting readers in on moments that actors suggested to add that surprisingly ended up in the final product like when Benjamin kisses Mrs. Robinson before she is able to exhale the smoke from her cigarette. From personal comments by Dustin Hoffman himself to announcing the 40^th anniversary DVD, Winn delivers a lighthearted tone to the piece that I do not always see in other works.

***Link to article used***

Winn, Steven. "'The Graduate' at 40: A Defiant and Astute Film to Be

Proud of." SFGate. N.p., 10 Sept. 2007. Web. 01 Dec. 2015. <http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/The-Graduate-at-40-A-defiant-and-astute-film-2504455.php>.

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.

Instead of altering my thoughts about The Graduate, Winn actually just heightened my understanding of the film, its cast, and how much of a success it was, is, and will be for a very long time. What I did find interesting is how Winn mentions that in the 40^th anniversary DVD, Mike Nichols was seemingly new to montaging. I suppose this one particular statement did assist in making me think twice about Nichol’s camera use and techniques because it was done so well for someone who was unfamiliar with the concept. All in all, Winn said it best when noting, “in one precisely rendered scene after another, in its composite storytelling, modulated moods and overall texture, ‘The Graduate’ entered the bloodstream of the popular imagination” (par. 6).

4) Write a critical analysis of the film.

The Graduate! What more can I say? I feel as though at this point, it is okay to just utter the title of this $40 million producing brilliance and have that be enough to suffice for a journal with infinite space. Out of all of the screenings so far, The Graduate is one of the films where I had this overwhelming comfort while watching it because there were several moments I literally laughed out loud thinking, “that’s me!” when witnessing the way in which Hoffman delivered a line to just his facial expressions. This film truly holds a sort of contemporary resonance that will undoubtedly steal the hearts of many more generations to come. It has now become my job to make sure the message this film provides never dies, and that it can possibly help another student through their “what next” phase.

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

2) ( x ) If I 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 source 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.