The Graduate and the Corruption of Youth

*This post was inspired by the podcast The Cine-Files ep "44 The Graduate"

The Graduate is one of those classic films that has only gotten better and more topical with age. Coming out at the tail end of the 1960s where film was challenging the notion of "us" in the societal machine of our nation it created an awkward, yet hilarious, narrative about a boy turning into a man with no guiding road telling him where his future lies. At the core of this unusual romantic comedy is a discussion about generations talking to each other, and miscommunication, and is ultimately a showcase of how the older generation has corrupted the youth.

The film begins with Benjamin Braddock's college graduation party. Benjamin sits in a dark room isolated from his family and the celebrations with only a fish tank to keep him company. Once he is forced to greet everyone downstairs you see how excited his parents, and their friends, are for him when completing something that was expected. No one at the party was of Benjamin's age, and the film cleverly shows the pressure and claustrophobia this achievement has brought onto Benjamin life through the camera work.

Back in his room, a symbol for how alone and weightless his world feels, Benjamin is interrupted by one of his parent's friends, Mrs. Robinson who literally barges into his life at that moment after stalking him in the background. Benjamin tries to tell her to leave but is over powered by her willingness and determination, something he doesn't have, and finds himself taking her home. Again, the scene progresses with him doing what's expected of him, taking a family friend home and making sure that she's safe, but is constantly uncomfortable and awkward around Mrs. Robinson once she starts hitting on him.

Ben's whole life has been according to his parent's plan. Good grades, college graduate, and eventually more, but after feeling disassociated with the world and no firm grasp on how to live his life he meets Mrs. Robinson whom forcibly shows him a road he can take, and while it's not a great road, nor a healthy one, it allowed Ben to find some solid ground when he was in a place of indescribable flux within himself, which is something his parents would never comprehend.

Growing up between the two great wars, and possibly participating in the second, Ben's parents had always known a world where a goal had been set in their life. Whether it was to fight with the intention of stabilizing their world, or to rebuild in an effort to achieve a perfect life for their kids, a clear goal at why they did everything was always present and looming over in their lives. However, Ben did not grow up that way. Being born just after WWII, and not taking in the world around him until much later, Ben's point of view had always been that of a psuedo-utopia.

For the first time in generations, if your family was well off, kids were growing up with infinite possibilities at life and yet they had no firm understanding of the world to guide them. The discussions, and shouting matches, Ben has with his family about Elaine show that his parents are projecting their experience onto him, and they expect he'll do everything to achieve their dreams. But when presented with an idea that Ben has for himself they question him, trying to force him onto the path that they know is right for him, but that he doesn't necessarily have the experience nor want for.

Mrs. Robinson is the literal interpretation of his parent's influence on Ben. She's the one with experience, she dictates everything he should be doing in order to achieve "her," or what her generation's expectation is of him, but once Ben gets the confidence and the experience needed to make his own decisions it's Mrs. Robinson, and her generation, that are fighting back telling him that what he's about to do is wrong, and it'll ruin his life and those around him. So naturally Ben fights back, because living in this psuedo-utopian space is holding back the new generation from gaining experience, something that Ben's parents think he should be protected from him.

When Ben goes on that date with Elaine he's at first nasty towards her, and tries everything in his power to make it the worst date possible because he was playing to Mrs. Robinson's wishes. After apologizing, and eating at a place filled with his age group, Ben starts opening up and really finding a connection with Elaine that he has not had before. He learns that her relationship with her parents are rocky too, but instead of being swallowed by their expectations like Ben she found a way to push through and find her own path. And so, Ben gains a new road in his life to grasp onto where he can see the sun shine and the figurative green meadows for all the eye can see, but it's already too late for him.

Elaine goes back to college, and while she had a good time with Ben her trust and budding love were broken once she heard the truth between him and her mother. Ben doesn't let that stop him, and pursues her the only way he knows how...by taking a page out of Mrs. Robinson's cougar book. He hunts her down, stalks her, follows her, and finally confronts her in a scene that is both creepy and funny. This scene really showcases the how Elaine and Ben are two sides of the same coin when discussing the youth in the late 60s. They don't know where their futures will end up, and the pressures of their family digging their fingers into their lives and lying to them so that they'd listen literally sends Elaine screaming from hearing this generational divide. After this, Elaine is taken out of school and forced to marry a boy that her father liked, but she only had a brief relationship with.

Ben, on a race against time, and Elaine are confronted with the power their parent's generation has over them. Taking her out of school and quickly getting married was not what Elaine wanted, but went with it as the only available option to appease her family. Ben, not okay with this, rushes to her across the state and interrupts her wedding. The camera work  with the close up of Ben's parent's and their friends at the beginning is mimicked here, but instead of happy faces its faces of rage and disgust as he steals Elaine away so that they could live together and out of their parent's powerful eye. Alas, the film ends with them on the bus driving away to freedom only to find that they've found the goal of their lives, to be with one another, and already achieved it and are once again lost for a purpose in life.

The Graduate is a key turning point for the youth in the United States. Flower power was coming up and the sins of the past were in the rear view mirror. In under two hours this movie created a film about the generational divide that talked about how, while good intentions, parent's were forcing their kids to not have their own lives, to shelter them from experiences, and ultimately had a say in every important accomplishment leaving them feeling depressed, lost, and inexperienced for the world before them.