Water symbolism

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2006)

In this movie there was a great use of symbolism but the one that stood out the most was the illusion of water. Every time there was water in the movie it meant that Ben was trapped and something bad was about to happen. This went on throughout the whole movie consisting of his fish tank, his pool, and when it was raining out. Every time there was something to do with Ben getting caught or getting trapped into doing something there was water around him.
The first occurrence of this is right at the beginning of the movie when Ben first meets Mrs. Robinson. She convinces him that he needs to drive her home and this is when their whole affair starts because she tries to seduce him. In this scene Ben is looking through his fish tank when she walks in, like he is trapped in it, and then when they leave Mrs. Robinson throws the car keys in the tank and he gets them out and right then it shows that she has him trapped because she can get him to do anything she wants.
Another strong water image is when Ben and Mrs. Robinson decide to talk in the hotel room instead of do what they normally do. They talk and end up fighting and Ben is so close to ending it, but she convinces him to stay by manipulating him. So once again she has him wrapped around her finger. The illusion of water comes in this scene because there is a picture of a tsunami wave above the bed the whole time, so it is like he is trapped under the wave and can't get out.
When Ben goes to pick Elaine up the next day after they had a great night it is raining out. When he pulls up to Elaine's house, Mrs. Robinson gets in the car and tells him to drive and threatens to tell Elaine about the affair they are having. It is pouring out in this scene and it seems like Ben is trapped in the car because it is raining so hard out. Then he does go outside and gets soaked to tell Elaine what happened between him and Mrs. Robinson because he is in love with her and wants to be with her. Elaine gets mad at him of course and his happiness ends, just like he was happy and dry in the car before Mrs. Robinson got in and then he got soaked. It was good in the car but once he got out everything got worse.
There are a few other scenes when the use water as a symbol for being trapped, like when it is raining out when Mr. Robinson confronts him about the affair, and when Ben goes underwater when his mom says that she is going to invite all the Robinsons over, but those three are the strongest. It was definitely a movie with many symbols in it, but the using water to symbolize being trapped was a good idea. It was well represented and really added to the feeling of how Ben would have felt in the situation he was in. It showed how trapped and how deep he really was, and how he couldn't get out.