The Graduate

The Graduate Literary Elements

Director

Mike Nichols

Leading Actors/Actresses

Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft

Supporting Actors/Actresses

Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Buck Henry, Elizabeth Wilson, Murray Hamilton, Brian Avery, Norman Fell

Genre

Comedy/Drama

Language

English

Awards

Won the Academy Award for Best Director; Nominated for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, and Adapted Screenplay

Date of Release

December 22, 1967

Producer

Lawrence Turman

Setting and Context

Los Angeles, CA; Berkeley, Santa Barbara

Narrator and Point of View

An omniscient narrator, but exclusively focused on the protagonist Benjamin Braddock's POV

Tone and Mood

Darkly comic, witty, absurd, dramatic

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist: Benjamin Braddock; Antagonist: Mrs. Robinson

Major Conflict

The major conflict occurs when Benjamin begins an affair with his parents' friend, Mrs. Robinson, and soon after falls in love with her daughter, whom Mrs. Robinson has forbidden him from dating.

Climax

The climax occurs when Ben disrupts Elaine's wedding to Carl in Santa Barbara and they run away together, escaping the disapproving protestations of the Robinsons and the congregation.

Foreshadowing

When Benjamin sinks to the bottom of the pool in his scuba suit, this foreshadows the ways in which he will feel "drowned" and submerged by his complicated circumstances later in the film.

Understatement

When Benjamin tells his father he is drifting, he understates the complicated scenario he finds himself in.

Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques

The Graduate is touted as making innovative and creative use of cinematography, often telling the story through perspective shifts, close shots, and zooming.

Allusions

Paradox

Mrs. Robinson's seduction of Benjamin is often paradoxical, as she behaves in startlingly provocative ways, but makes Benjamin feel foolish when he questions her behavior, insisting that it is all his idea.

A paradoxical situation also occurs when Mrs. Robinson forbids Benjamin to date Elaine, but his parents encourage him to ask her out.

Parallelism

Benjamin's submersion in the pool in the scuba suit is paralleled later when he submerges himself again in the mask, after being pressured to ask Elaine out.

Mrs. Robinson and her daughter are parallels for one another. They both have relationships with Benjamin, but where Mrs. Robinson is worldly and sexual, Elaine is innocent and romantic.

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