The Graduate

One of the major reasons modern romantic dramas where the guy and the girl don’t end up together are so devastating is because of the precedent set by The Graduate. We all want to experience a love so strong that it makes us abandon all reason pointing towards a safe and boring life and run headfirst into the unsure and exciting. We expect Mia and Sebastian of La La Land and Nora and Hae Sung of Past Lives to ditch their spouses and jump into the arms of their true loves like Ben and Elaine. So when that doesn’t happen in these post-The Graduate films, our hopes are dashed and our hearts are shattered. Any film with that degree of influence is commendable in my book.

Another thing that keeps this film so talked-about is how likable Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock is. He’s an awkward, disillusioned, and confused young adult with no romantic experience. And when he is thrust into a relationship with the considerably older Mrs. Robinson, he navigates the experience poorly with angry outbursts and a general misunderstanding of how to handle the situation. Yet all the while, we are endeared to the character because of how innocent these ineptitudes are. There was a time in all of our lives where we were just as tactful with the loves of our youth. Benjamin’s awkwardness comes across as relatable and adorable.

Yet despite all the praise this film has received, I remained unconvinced by the central love story between Ben Braddock and Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine Robinson. The switch in the middle of the film from forbidden affair with the mother to precarious courting of the daughter felt quite jarring. While supposed to root for Elaine and Ben’s romance, I experienced no sense of attachment to the couple as we spent very little time with both of them. It is in this way, the shorter runtime hindered the film. As there were two female romantic interests we spent time with, a depth of feeling for the ultimate love story was lost.

This was a major fault of the film for me. A romantic drama/coming-of-age film feels somewhat lackluster when the main romance doesn't elicit much emotion. And even the ending, which as discussed above impacted so many rom-coms and dramas afterward, felt unearned. Perhaps I’m being too harsh and am letting differences in rapidity of marriage between the 1960s and 2020s get in the way of my appreciation of the film, but truth be told, this was a major drawback in my viewing experience. This film mixed a bit of good and a bit of bad, but ultimately I’m not too upset about the cultural impact it has had throughout the years.