Mike Nichols's Film The Graduate

Family relationships and society play fundamental roles in how a child grows and makes their own choices. How they are seen and treated by society can influence how the child acts. From how they are raised, to what values and morals they are taught will determine the child’s reactions to obstacles that come up in life. I will be discussing some major events in the book that stood out to me as to why two men who basically grew up on the same block, ended up on very different paths.

In addition to independence and purpose, much of the writing shows the want for escapism to be a reason that people are drawn to the McCandless story. In the wild, people are at liberty to live simply and candidly. Walden writes that in the woods, people live deliberately with purpose, while in society people live “meanly, like ants”, and their lives are “frittered away by detail.” Getting the escape from the superfluous tasks in society to live simply is craved by many. Storsley is one of the many who went on the same journey McCandless went on to get to the bus McCandless lived out of. He desires to go out into the wild, and get away from society (Saverin). However, Storsley only takes respites from civilization because he clings to society; nevertheless, he still wants the escape that McCandless got. In Into the Wild, Roman “identifies” with McCandless’s needs to get away from society (185). McCandless’s feelings were completely natural and are felt by most adolescents. People understand the longing to escape the torturous routine of society.

James Braddock Always Remained A Positive Attitude Towards His Life, When The Kids Were Sent Away He Had Still Thought Positively By Saying I Need X Amount Of Dollars To Get Them Back. No Matter Braddock’s Situation He Was Always On The Positive Side Of Things, And In The End It Worked Out Well For Him.

Sometimes there are things in life we have to learn, wheather is by someone we don 't know or things we have to see for ourselves. The movie, Scent of a woman played a big part in the example of growing up, and becoming a man. There was a blind man by the name of Lieutenant Frank Slade, and a high schooler named Charlie. What seemed like a short weekend job to earn some extra money, became a moment that could change Charlie 's way of life forever, and the Lieutenant was just the persson for him to experience this with.

Every year, there are thousands of college students that are pushed to attend college, in the sole hope that they will be able to make a respectable living. More than half of these students will not end up completing their 4-year degree. Many students are starting to take a hard look at why they are going to pursue a college degree, to determine if a degree is really their best option. College education is changing for the better, with technical and vocational skills giving less academically inclined students an option. Another reason why students should consider other options is the cost; university boards have been some of the most corrupt and wasteful spenders in the last decade and this will only change with less demand. Finally, the strenuous process of admissions has been continuously overlooked and underestimated by thousands of future students. A traditional 4-year education, that caters to the industry of university, is no longer required to be successful in the job market, and traditional admissions can become an anachronism.

Spike Lee’s film, School Daze, demonstrated problematic scenery from the very beginning. With scenes ranging from the dehumanization of gender to prominent racial discrimination and the objectification women, School Daze gives a negative connotation to greek life in college.

The film, Confessions of a Sociopath, was made by the critically acclaimed director Joe Gibbons. Joe Gibbons is famous for his experimental films, and this film is perhaps his best project to date. The film is an hour long and takes the viewer through real life events that have occurred in Joe’s life. In the film, Gibbons acts as a fictional version of himself where he finds a room full of footage from his life with events that he can no longer recall. The film describes his earlier film experiments, his descent into constructive behavior and his bottoming out on drugs and alcohol. It is intriguing to see a side of a well-known film maker that no one would have thought existed. The film is also greatly intriguing because it is not made in the traditional professional way. The viewer is taken through a series of events that seem normal and completely unscripted. It is also clear that most of the events in the film were shot without the assistance of professional cameramen and directors save for Gibbons himself.

"The Graduate" is a great film, with Dustin Hoffman, playing Benjamin (Ben) Braddock, the epitome of the confused and isolated young adult male. Ben is confused about where his life is heading, he fumbles for an answer whenever one of his parents' friends asks him "what are you going to do next?" He stares mournfully into his fish tank, perhaps likening himself to the fish dwelling within it. He is trapped in this glass cube. This movie is for anyone who’s ever wondered what he or she are going to do with their future. Not a classic love story, “The Graduate” is a coming of age film. You can see that by the different types of love portrayed

Christopher McCandless grew up in a broken home,his parents always faught. Besides that fact he still made it to collage and even graduated. After collage he considered going on to harvard and becoming a lawyer. He stayed for a little while the wrote to his sister saying “He was divorcing his parents”. He then started to live his life according to quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. He then ventured to the wild to be self reliant, non conformity, and, live deliberately.

Films communicate cultural messages. The 1960s were a time of social rebellion and dissonance, as a younger generation coming of age in a time of war and unrest came to call into question the mores of their parents and authority figures. The Graduate portrays relationships, coming of age, expectations, moral dilemmas, values, and sexuality and among many other issues that were relevant in the 1960’s. The main character, Benjamin, is the pride of his wealthy Southern California suburbanite parents and they expect nothing but the best from their beloved son.

The Graduate is a 1967 film directed by Mike Nichols who won an Oscar for his direction.  This hit of the 60's focuses on the development and the maturing of the ultra-naïve college graduate Benjamin Braddock.  This movie is about "just one word...Plastics."  Mr. McQuire sums up this entire movie when he tells Ben that there is "a great future in plastics."  In this film the relationships, except the one between Ben and Elaine, are like plastic because they are not real, they are molded, and they are artificial. 

She looks forward to moving away like others in her town. She admits she will not be missed at her job and at nineteen, without the former protection of her older brothers, she is beginning to feel "herself in danger of her father's violence.” This danger she sees is taken away when she meets her suitor, the sailor, Frank who promises her a better life away from these hardships she has faced.

"Mrs. Robinson, you are trying to seduce me," says Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman). The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols in 1967 is an influential satire/comedy film about a recent East Coast college graduated who finds himself alienated and aimless in the changing, social and sexual general public of the 1960s, and questioning the values of society. The theme of the film is of an innocent and confused youth who is exploited, mis-directed, seduced (literally and figuratively) and betrayed by a corrupt, self-indulgent, and discredited older generation (that finds stability in “plastics”) that I found to be quite clear and understanding, while also capturing the real spirit of the times and allows America's youth to perceive onscreen

Dustin Hoffman’s performance in the movie The Graduate directed by Mike Nichols resulted in an expressive power that made me forget that he is acting. The actor achieved this effect by transparency, emotionality, and wholeness and unity while acting in the movie. In this role, Hoffman plays a college graduate who has returned home for summer. While back home, he is unable to relate with his parents and he is unsure with his future. During the first scenes, Hoffman already portrays his character naturally by his facial expressions, movement and gestures as his character uncomfortably engages with his parent’s friends and neighbors during his welcome home party. Furthermore, Hoffman conveys his character’s thought process. In fact, when Hoffman

Mike Nichols' 1967 film The Graduate entertained American audiences with its stark portrayal of seduction, betrayal, and inter-generational conflict, ultimately winning Nichols the Academy Award for Best Director. The film seemed to speak to the political and social events of the era, and its message of youthful escape from the dictates of the old guard resonated with a generation of young people growing up in the midst of "The Greatest Generation's" stunning failure to live up to the ideas that supposedly defined their generation. However, a close look at the film's plot alongside the mis-en-scene of dramatic final scene reveals that far from offering a message of rebellion or escape, The Graduate just reinforces conservative ideology by celebrating the concept of marriage and chastity. Ultimately, The Graduate turns out to be nothing more than a slickly produced piece of conservative propaganda, using the themes of the 1960s' emerging sub-cultures in order to mask its own destructive message.