The Graduate Film Themes

The Graduate (1967) is the pioneer for the modern Hollywood film, which is cooperated by the director Mike Nichols, the composer Paul Simon and Dave Grusin. It has developed new conventions for presenting song in film, conventions that ‘build upon traditions established by the “classical” Hollywood musicals of the studio era’ (Berliner, 2002). The American popular rural folk in 1950s created the old classical song "the Sound of Silence", and it aids The Graduate (1967) to achieve a magnificence in the film industry. The perfect combination of acoustic guitar and voice contributes the melodious tunes to a slightly sentimental atmosphere.
The six functions of film music conduced to the relationship between the film and soundtrack, which refers to the significance of the Sound of Silence to The Graduate (1967). The theme music "the Sound of Silence" appears several times in the film, which express the indispensable role to the film. In addition to highlighting the theme, expressing emotions, shaping the …show more content…
The witty and humorous music, at this time - for instance, they want to find a hotel to drink, but found that kind of hotel, fades in. The audience at the time conceived, with a faint prediction that a tragedy is about to happen. Even at the end, the story ends with a happy ending, what the music creates is a sad emotion, which is enough to make the audience feel the tragedy ingredients. The new conventions, which we will explore, all in some way respond to the demise of the classical Hollywood musical, especially to ‘the loss of the convention that characters could “burst into song” without realistic motivation’(Berliner, 2002). The relation between recent approaches to presenting song and the history of songs in movies determines the ways in which Hollywood initially developed the conventions for incorporating songs into narrative