Visual Elements In Mike Nichols's Film The Graduate

The Graduate was an innovative film during its time because it spoke to the younger generation. The film was made during a time where family oriented films were going out of style and films that were more explicit were gaining success. Benjamin Braddock is an alienated character which is similar to what a lot of young middle class Americans were experiencing. Due to the fact that Benjamin’s story is for the younger generation of the time the scene were Benjamin gets caught with Ms. Robinson is one that is visually striking because it shows how the younger generation is trying to figure life out with their overbearing parents and expectations. Mike Nichols uses visual elements to explore how American values were being challenged by the younger …show more content…
The cinematography during this scene is especially representative of the emotions that the characters are experiencing. As Benjamin is trying to confess to Elaine about who this older woman was that he was sleeping with Mrs. Robinson goes into focus while Elaine goes out of focus, and just as Elaine realizes who the older women is she comes back into focus which represents her clarity of the situation. The camera in this scene represents the lateralization of Elaine’s clarity. Nichols also uses this scene to portray dramatic irony because the viewers of the film know that Benjamin is having an affair with Elaine’s mom, but Elaine does not. The viewers experience the exact length of time it takes Elaine to realize who this older woman is. When the camera zooms out of Elaine it is more of a human/hand held zoom which represents how Benjamin and Elaine’s relationship was more real unlike Mrs. Robinson and Benjamins. At the end of the scene when Ms. Robinson says bye to Benjamin the zoom is mechanical which represents the mechanical style of their relationship, meaning it was all sex and no emotion, and this is exactly what Mrs. Robinson told her husband. The mise-en-scene of the scene that Nichols chose also gives an insight to the characters. Elaine’s room is all white and the shirt she is trying to put on before Benjamin bursts in is also white. The color white represents how