Generation Gap

Rating: 8/10 (30 April 2013)

The film The Graduate is about a young man who has recently graduated college and returns home to find himself stuck between figuring out what he wants to do with his life, and what his parents expect him to do. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as Ben, the recent graduate, Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson, the seductive family friend that starts Ben's rebellion, and Katharine Ross as Elaine Robinson, Mrs. Robison's daughter who Ben ends up falling in love with.
This film shows a young man's confusion, desire for isolation, and struggle against his parents and society's demands. The opening two scenes in this film set the mood for the theme with the camera angles and musical score. Simon and Garfunkel's 'sound of silence" is playing as Ben is coming home on the plane and his trip through the airport. Even though there is much going on around him, the focus is on his expressionless face and the score can be heard along side the pilot announcing the landing and the chatter at the terminal; sounds of silence.
Ben's desire for isolation continues into the next scene where his parents have thrown a graduation party for him; incidentally it doesn't seem to have any of his friends, just his parent's friends in attendance. The camera is focused close up on Ben as he bounces around the room like a pinball trying to escape the crowd and be alone. You can hear other people calling out for him, but the camera stays sharp on Ben. It is Mrs. Robinson that is finally able to hold his attention when she asks for a ride home, and eventually takes advantage of his self – confusion and manipulates him into an affair.
I imagine this film identified well with the generation when this film was made. The 60's were a time of free love and rebellion against the rules and the establishment. This film adds fuel to that fire with Ben's parents, who care more about his accomplishments making them look better to their friends, and Mrs. Robinson who takes advantage of Ben so she can perhaps recapture a lost youth. Both of them are trying to control and own Ben. The rest of the film is Ben trying to break free of His parents and Mrs. Robinson's control and do what he wants to do, and be with whom he wants to be with.