Reaching the Audience: Comedy Contrasts in 'The Graduate' and 'Groundhog Day' Matt Williams 12th Grade

In The Graduate and Groundhog Day, we get to see two similar, but slightly different ways for a comedy film to reach the audience. In The Graduate, the director does this by developing empathy for Ben. In turn, this makes the audience want to root for Ben. In Groundhog Day, the director does this by getting us to understand Phil and relate to him. The Graduate is a very creative and well-made film, one that speaks to the insecurities that everyone has in their lives no matter what their age is; Groundhog Day achieves some similar feats of contrast with a prickly and ironic character.

Although The Graduate goes down as a classic American comedy, there are only a few actual jokes in the film. This is because the film relies on Ben’s awkwardness for humor, and the director did a very good job at doing so. The film’s opening scene is a 2-minute tracking shot of Ben. Throughout this whole scene, Ben's face doesn’t change expressions once. This was the first sign the director gave us that something is not right with Ben. This scene wasn’t intended to be funny, nor was it. What this scene did do though is set the tone of the film, meaning show that Ben isn't your normal typical guy. Audiences everywhere tend to sympathize with people...