Graduate School

Once again I stayed up way too late because the best movies always air sometime between 12-2am. Last night I watched the Graduate again. I pick up on things each time I watch the film. This last viewing really highlighted the detached nature of Benjamin (yes..this is an obvious theme). So lost and wanting, he latches onto the only other he has recently come into contact with that actually portrays emotion (Elaine breaks down at the strip club during their first date). This then becomes his fixation, especially when the establishment tells him he cannot have her; it becomes his blind objective so much so that he becomes a very creepy stalker. The final "triumphant" sequence of events is superb...exhaltation with obtaining his goal from the church...then darker contemplation by both as they sit on the back of the bus and "sounds of silence" begins. It is almost as if they both are regretting the previous events. In the end, Benjamin ends up with exactly what he was avoiding in the beginning...Elaine. Remember, before his trist with Mrs. Robinson, both sets of parents want to fix them up. In the end, he realizes that his fervor to avoid the status quo has taken him full circle to where he would have been if he would have acquiesced to the establishment.