Bookends

The film The Graduate talks about Benjamin Braddock, who has just finished college and is back at his parents' house. He's trying to avoid the one question everyone keeps asking: What does he want to do with his life? An unexpected change comes up when he is seduced by Mrs. Robinson, a bored housewife and friend of his parents. But what begins as a fun rendezvous turns complicated when Benjamin falls for the one woman Mrs. Robinson demanded he stay away from, her daughter, Elaine. The main theme expressed in the movie is the coming of age. It focuses on the growth of a protagonist from youth to adulthood and the obstacles he goes through. These problems and feelings are conveyed to the audience through the use of cinematic techniques. Because most of the film focuses on Ben’s perspective, the way he thinks is explored in depth. From the opening shot, Ben is deep in thought. He spends most of his time thinking over his situation. Whether he’s floating in his pool, or trying to figure out exactly how to get past the suspicious hotel clerk, Ben puts a lot of thought into everything he does. In order for the audience to care about this character the audience must be able to feel what the character feels and be actively engaged in his decisions. This is achieved largely through the careful shot selections and framing of the camera. One will see that the cinematography is rich with symbolism and is often placed in the point of view of the protagonist causing the audience to…

Journal Review 1: “The Graduate” “The Graduate” is a film directed by Mike Nichols starring a young Dustin Hoffman. The movie follows Dustin Hoffman’s character Ben Braddock who is a recent college graduate who has yet to find his way in the world after school. After being given different choices and recommendations for his life after college from his parents and friends Ben becomes noticeably stressed. This stress is portrayed throughout the movie using darker lighting in some of the more…

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…

Benjamin Braddock is a successful young man who graduates college from the East Coast and is now back home in Los Angeles with no idea what his future holds for him. In the film The Graduate, Ben is back home with a college degree and no clue where to go next. Ben seems to be bothered by something in his life. When questioned about it by his dad, he says that he is worried about his future. This is typical for a young man who is fresh out of college. In my research I found that the sequence when…

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,…

The Graduate is a film centered around Benjamin during his first summer after earning his degree at college. He spends his time lounging in his parents pool, unsure of who he is and what he wants to do, much like Neil in Goodbye, Columbus. Both characters feel isolated, lonely, and trapped, eventually falling for women who feel their lives are dull and boring. Goodbye, Columbus and The Graduate are similar stories with similar themes; the difference is in how they are presented. While the former…

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by the American writer Francis Scat Fitzgerald, first published in 1925. It is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman, and it is one of the greatest literary documents dating back to the 1920s Roaring Twenties, a pivotal period that marked a turning point in Americans' lives, morally, materially and socially (Shen, 2012). This classic American novel is one of the finest pieces of American literature. It is such because F. Scott Fitzgerald has…

I really enjoy your analysis of the language George uses when describing Evadne and how you explain how her descriptors are on a binary of either "fruit-like" or "animalistic.” These bookends of characterization illustrate Evadne’s strong intellect and sense of sexuality in a negative and threatening way, while still allowing the reader to conclude that George builds up these prejudices in his own mind. It is also prevalent that these two binaries symbolize negative connotations not only about…

fact that the animatronic shark experience several technical issues while in the water. This technical issue however influenced the horror in the movie by making it fast paced and at times, unexpected. During a scene when the shark attacks the boat, one of the supporting characters, Quint, gets eaten (Movieclips, “Quint Gets Devoured”). Through calculations, it was determined that from the shot that the shark appears, until the scene ends with Quint being dragged under the water in the sharks…

(486). In Heart of Darkness, this inherent, magnetic force of evil that corrupts Kurtz is triggered by greed; in Apocalypse Now, it is brought upon by the destructiveness of war. Coppola intended his film to reflect Conrad’s interpretation of evil as an irresistible force that is hidden deep within the human soul. Many of Coppola’s artistic choices reflect those of Conrad’s, giving Apocalypse Now a similar ambience to Heart of Darkness. According to English Professor Linda Cahir, although the…