“One word - plastics.”“Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me.”
How iconic those quotes have become.And The Graduate is an iconic film.And it has all the hallmarks of a traditional romance, but I have it in a pro-single camp.
The protagonist, Benjamin Braddock, is a recent college graduate, who, like many early 20somethings, just doesn’t know what to do with his life now that he’s escaped from that collegiate cocoon.One night, his parents’ friends, the Robinsons come over for a dinner party, during which Mr. Robinson suggests the exciting world of plastics.
Benjamin escorts Mrs. Robinson home, and it’s clear she’s a woman in need of affection, beyond just sex. He acts as I might have acted at that age, hemming and hawing before finally succumbing to that temptation.And he carries on that affair for a good while.In the meantime, he falls for Miss Robinson, Elaine.
At first, I thought the pro-single part came from that send-up of the traditional ending, where Benjamin hustles Elaine from the church, they get on a bus, and their smiles begin to fade.It’s as if the filmmakers are asking, now what? Are they really going to live happily ever after?Given that our lovers seem predisposed to impulsive thinking (Elaine’s marrying another guy almost on a whim), I’m not so sure.
I would love to know more about the backstory of the Robinsons’ marriage.It’s revealed they sleep in separate beds, and that they only married because Mrs. Robinson became pregnant.After Mr. Robinson finds out about the affair, they divorce, and he blames Benjamin.My take: the affair was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.Not that I would condone cheating, but the marriage was headed in that direction.
There’s also that moment in the romance when the two lovers have broken up.At this “all is lost” place, Benjamin declares to his parents he’s going to marry Elaine, which feels like a send-up of that trope where the protagonist has to make a grand gesture to win their lover back.In this case, he does, but that ending gives a twisted feel.
The Graduate was a product of its time, the late 1960s.Benjamin and Elaine’s sprint from the church symbolized a rebellion to the youth of that time period.It feels dated now, but the pro-single message (along with those Simon and Garfunkel tunes) is timeless.