Film Analysis of “The Graduate”
The 1967 film by Mike Nicoles “The Graduate” is about Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate, who is at a crossroads in his life. He is caught between adolescence and adulthood searching for the meaning of his upper middle class suburban world of his parents. He then began a sexual relationship with the wife of his father’s business partner, Mrs. Robinson. Uncomfortable with his sexuality, Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson continue an affair during which she asked him to stay away from her daughter, Elaine. Things became complicated when Benjamin was pushed to go out with Elaine and he falls in love with her. Mrs. Robinson sabotaged the relationship and eventually the affair between Mrs. Robinson and
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In the beginning scene when his father enters the room, the camera continues to focus on Benjamin while his father’s image is blurred sitting in front of Benjamin and blocking most of his face. His mother later enters the room and stands in front of the camera completely obscuring Benjamin. These scenes shows that his parents are constantly getting in Benjamin’s way of his feelings and he cannot see past the image of his parent identity like he is destine to become them. Although he tells his father that he wants to be “different”, Benjamin does not have control of his own life. When Benjamin does not want to come down to see the guests and he “needs to be alone for a while” because he is ‘worried about his future’ his parent does not even care a bit and insist that he goes down stair because they are eager to show him to the guest. As he head toward the steps, there was portrait of a clown at the top of the stairs symbolizing that he is headed to a social circus as if he was in a costume putting on an act like they are show casing him for entertainment and no one takes him seriously.
As Benjamin transition out of adolescent, he constantly struggles with the decision regarding his future and to find the best way of becoming a man. Ironically, it is his relationship with Mrs. Robinson that helps Benjamin transformation
The nursing home that Benjamin knew as a boy always welcomed him back home. Benjamin returned to New Orleans in 1945 and back to his mother Queenie. Daisy visits with him after his return; both are nearing the same age in appearance. At this point Daisy tries to seduce Benjamin but Benjamin refuses her efforts. Its as though Benjamin is aware of his own age, Scheidt (2017) mentions that during middle age
The first section is seen through Benjamin’s eyes takes place on April 7, 1928, Saturday before Easter Sunday. It was Benjy’s thirty-third birthday. However, Benjy has mental ill; he has the mind of a child and does not understand the connection of things around him. He remembers nothing except the past with his sister, Caddy. Throughout Benjamin section, “fire” is mentioned more than forty times. Benjy is fascinated by the fire: “What is fire to Benjy? It is something he can see as more immediate and concrete than anything with perhaps the exception of Caddy” (Martin 2). Benjamin seems to live mostly in the past before Caddy moved out of the house. Sometimes, Benjy gets upset and panic while living in the memory or when Luster, who is watching him, teases him.
This chapter begins in a rough spot, Ben's mom needs to explain to the boys their need to catch up in school, and how they would accomplish the task. Ben speaks about wanting to know his mother's decision, however at the last minute; he becomes worried and decides he would rather not hear the verdict.
Returning to “Little Dom’s” is an adversity for Ben as he has found it difficult to go to any of the places that he and Catherine went to together while she was still alive. He didn’t like to go to any of these places as they reminded him of her. A coffee shop called “Little Dom’s” was especially challenging for Benjamin as that is the place he met Catherine.
Looking further at the conventions of Classical and Art cinema in the movie The Graduate, it becomes quite evident that there are elements of both Classical Hollywood cinema and Art cinema in the film. The movie begins with college graduate Benjamin Braddock, coming back home after finishing his studies at university. At his graduation party, Benjamin is bombarded by family and friends with questions concerning his future. Eventually, he retreats to his room for a moment’s silence. Mrs. Robinson then makes an introduction, and asks Benjamin to drive her home.
He was exploited by his own kind . Although he has seen the pattern of exploitation and pain and unhappiness, he himself had the power to change it, but he didn’t bother to try to make the difference. Through his conformity his quality of life suffered, then got better gradually and then worsened again under the rule of the pigs. Conformity cost Benjamin
Unlike his father, who cannot accept the reality of Benjamin's physical appearance, the outside world is only capable of responding to nothing other than Benjamin's physical appearance. For example, even though Yale accepts Benjamin's application for college entrance, the university refuses to accept him in person because he looks old enough to be his own father. he continues to age in reverse. Eventually, Benjamin is young enough to go kindergarten, and finally too young even for that. As he gets smaller and smaller, he forgets all the things he’s ever done in life.
A major component of Benjamin being detached from everyone else on the farm was his adverseness to communicating with the other animals. Unlike the majority of other animals, Benjamin “seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical remark,” which, of course, only helped to push the other animals away from him (5). Being as dismal as he was, he “alone among the animals on the farm never laughed,” and “would say that he saw nothing to laugh at” if asked (5). The
This quote is used as a means to characterize Benjamin, and to discuss that After Benjamin is taken from his home with Felia, and exposed to white people for the first time, he expierences racial issues on a new level. The theme of race is reoccurring throughout the novel, and significant in the development of Benjamin
One more scene in the film which sets up the fundamental character is one of the last scenes: Benjamin settles on
For the first time in his life Benjamin did not have that same foolish smile on his face, and his people had no wish to see him. Benjamin was ashamed of what he had done, but he was more ashamed of the fact that he had hurt his people. The three friends walked around the city for at least an hour, but seeing that the walk was having no affect on Benjamin Morgana and Amora took him back to the palace. Having no other place to go and wanting to make sure that Benjamin was going to be ok Amora immediately accepted the king's offer. The next six years of Benjamin's life only grew worse wherever he went people would throw things at him, spit on him, and curse at him. Benjamin promised himself that he would never allow the evil to gain control of him, but three days after his eighteenth birthday that would all change. The prince was finally beginning to smile again so he invited Morgana and Amora to go on a walk with him. As they were walking Benjamin noticed that a group of men were following them so he lead his friends down an alleyway not knowing it was a dead
During Benjamin’s childhood in elementary school, he was the only colored kid in his class which led to him being bullied by the other kids. He kept failing his classes and telling his mother he was just dumb, that he had no imagination. But his mother never gave up on Benjamin and his brother she kept encouraging them to study harder that they had the potential to become something great in the future. So they did, they studied, read books, wrote reports, and even learned about art, they both started to improve in school. When Benjamin was in high school he also started to get bullied and started to look at himself differently. Thinking he wasn’t better than the others, that he need to have nice clothes in other to be liked by others and even asking his mother
In Michael Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the connections between people and memories become the focal point of a very unique romance. Through the use of new technology, the possibility of erasing memories makes painful relationships disappear like they never happened. The tale of Joel and Clementine allows the audience to rethink and question the process they undergo as beneficial or destructive. Though the process might be helpful in eliminating the pain caused from another person, four key scenes show how the lessons learned through relationship experiences are important.
The war approaching Benjamin and his family so he choose to use weapons to protect his family. He also brings together
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a rarity because normal Hollywood/story adaptations lack well developed variations of the story in their respective ways. They both are designed to force the reader or movie goer to self- reflect on their own life experiences. Benjamin Button's life was an incredible account of events and relationships that were discovered, created, built and lost throughout his life-span. However, while he accomplished so much he was unable to live a life in the normal development pattern, but it allowed him and the reader/movie goer to view life from a different perspective.