The Graduate; Rendezous at the Taft Hotel

A detailed Summary of The Graduate; Rendezous at the Taft Hotel

When this assignment was given, I'm sure that many of my fellow students nearly panicked when given the task of finding a movie with many of the technical elements that our Film Arts class had covered so far this semester. I for one, found this task to be enjoyable and my subject for this assignment is a great coming of age film directed by Mike Nichol's called The Graduate. The Graduate was made in 1967 and starred a young Dustin Hoffman along with Anne Bancroft and Kathryn Ross (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). This particular film discusses many of the key aspects of the first five chapters of our textbook and I will show you, the reader of this paper, how Mike Nichols incorporated these technical aspects of good film making into this fabulous movie, The Graduate.

As was stated in the introduction, The Graduate is a story about a young man named Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) that is coming of age in the late 1960's but doesn't seem to have a clue what he will do with his life. He comes from a fairly wealthy family in an affluent neighborhood. Benjamin has just graduated from college and is in a rut, so to speak, because he is expected to automatically be a man and a responsible adult all of the sudden. This is a challenge

that Benjamin isn't quite fond of. After a graduation party at his parents home, Mrs. Robinson (her husband is Benjamin's fathers business partner) asks Benjamin to give her ride home where she then seduces the bewildered young man. Benjamin refuses the advances at first but later on he accepts the seduction and begins an affair with the older Mrs. Robinson. During the affair, Mrs. Robinson reveals the unhappiness in her life. As the spark in the affair begins to wear out, Elaine Robinson (Mrs. Robinson's daughter and h!

Proximal patterns do not play a great role in this scene but the two occasions that they do appear, they are relevant to the scenario. An example of intimate distance (skin contact to eighteen inches away) is noticed when Benjamin kisses Mrs. Robinson for the first time. They are about four to six inches apart and Benjamin plants a kiss on the somewhat surprised Mrs. Robinson. What is funny about this proximal pattern is how the intimate distance is anything but intimate. Benjamin is very nervous it appears while Mrs. Robinson might be feeling a little nervous as well. Moments later, Benjamin is talking about how his family would disapprove of this activity. He and Mrs. Robinson are at a personal distance at this point (eighteen inches to 4 ft. away). This is noted because Benjamin is talking to Mrs. Robinson about the fact that his parents and her family are friends and acquaintances and that this meeting just isn't right. This distance shows that Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson !

This film is a fictional portrayal of a recent college graduate and the film is made in America, which leads to my explanation of why this film is in the classicism category but could easily be labeled with a formalist tag as well due to its profound ideology. I feel that it would be unfair for The Graduate to be put into the classicism category. Jean Claude Van Damme and Pauly Shore films are classicism because of their American production and their content but in no way can be in the same category as this film. The Graduate cannot be put in this category because the concepts of this film greatly out-way any of the ideology that goes into making 95% of all American films.

While watching Benjamin in the hotel room with Mrs. Robinson, I could feel his anxiety. Hoffman did such a wonderful job of making Benjamin a believable character and making the viewers feel what he was feeling at this time of uneasiness. This wasn't my favorite scene in the movie but it was the best scene as far as covering the technical aspects of the textbook. I have been in situations like Benjamin's (not exactly like Benjamin's... you know what I mean!) where one doesn't know exactly what the future holds and the uncertainty of it. I can relate to his bumbling behavior at times and his " I don't give a damn" attitude at the end of the film. I found this project to be challenging and enjoyable at the same time, which is what makes learning a fun thing to do. I liked The Graduate the first time saw it in the early 90's and I have a new respect for it now that I have examined it more thoroughly and took note of what the directo

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Approximate Word count = 2102
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Movies