In 1967, Mike Nichols directed the film, The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman. During the film, Ben, a recent college graduate, is moving back home to California. Upon his arrival, his parents throw him a welcome home party, where he gets to celebrate with all his family friends. One of those friends is Mrs. Robinson, the wife of Ben’s father’s business partner. Mrs. Robinson takes a liking to Ben, and the two begin a secret affair. During their relationship, Ben contemplates his life choices, and in the end, he decides to leave Mrs. Robinson to be in a relationship with her daughter Elaine. This film is an example of Hollywood renaissance films from the 1960’s and 70’s. Like other films from this era, the plot and characters can be analyzed through historical criticism to the issues occurring during the cold war and other conflicts of post war America.
Historical criticism is a crucial way to analyze the events in this film, because so much of the emotion and …show more content…
There are many other moments in The Graduate, where we can see the childish nature of a main character. At the beginning of the film, everyone at the party is asking Ben what he plans on doing with his life now that he has graduated. He ultimately gives them no real response, other than what he was doing now, like going upstairs, or moving to talk to someone else. Another scene that shows his childish behaviors, would be at the end of the film, where instead of moving on with his life, he tries to track down Elaine, who is already engaged. In the concluding moments of the film, Ben makes it to the church in time to prevent Elaine from getting married, and fights off her family including his previous mistress, Mrs. Robinson. The childish and uncouth behavior of Ben is typical for the type of characters portrayed in Hollywood films during the
Historical criticism is a crucial way to analyze the events in this film, because so much of the emotion and …show more content…
There are many other moments in The Graduate, where we can see the childish nature of a main character. At the beginning of the film, everyone at the party is asking Ben what he plans on doing with his life now that he has graduated. He ultimately gives them no real response, other than what he was doing now, like going upstairs, or moving to talk to someone else. Another scene that shows his childish behaviors, would be at the end of the film, where instead of moving on with his life, he tries to track down Elaine, who is already engaged. In the concluding moments of the film, Ben makes it to the church in time to prevent Elaine from getting married, and fights off her family including his previous mistress, Mrs. Robinson. The childish and uncouth behavior of Ben is typical for the type of characters portrayed in Hollywood films during the