"The Graduate" uses the following keywords to express youth: confusion, impulsiveness, mistakes, fanaticism, and courage. Director Ning Hao said that youth has nothing to do with age, but youth means change. One day when he no longer wants to change, it means he is old. Benjamin in The Graduate is constantly changing. Youth is like a sailing ship without a course, and he doesn't know where he will be taken. Youth is rebellious, incomprehensible, and eager to understand. Benjamin has everything, a wealthy family, excellent studies, and he just graduated, and he seems to have a clear road in front of him. But he was bewildered. The warm friends of his parents also made him confused and unable to communicate. So when Mrs. Robinson came to tease him, he ducked and finally took the bait. But Mrs. Robinson had no interest in him as a person and didn't want to communicate with him other than to sleep with him. Because youth means many possibilities, Benjamin knows he has chosen the wrong path, but he still enjoys it. Maybe it's because both of them are empty. The great rebellion in the eyes of the world will one day be exposed in broad daylight. When Ben fell in love with Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine, and the two young men could communicate happily and feel loved without any obstacles, the world swung the big stick at them. It's an irony. Mrs. Robinson and her daughter, who is the one who deserves everyone's blessing, isn't it obvious at a glance? I think the reason why this film has become a classic is probably after Benjamin's efforts to get Elaine. Youth is always unavoidable to make mistakes. Some people are beaten and never recover. Some people understand their true heart and move forward bravely. The latter are the people who have lost their youth, and the most envious of those young people. That is, young people have the courage to embrace change, accept change, and change. Benjamin wants to change this bad hand. If at the beginning of the film, he was a young man who was confused about the future, now he has a new goal, which is to marry Elaine. After this, we see what kind of energy youth can burst out. Approaching again and again, changing a little bit, and finally robbing the bride, it made people sweat for him. As a result, reality admits defeat to youth, and the film has a happy ending. The courage to admit mistakes and the courage to pursue true love is what Benjamin admires. It is not so much the pursuit of true love, or the process of finding yourself. Through this, identify who I am, what I seek, and where my future should lead. So for Benjamin, the pursuit of Elaine, for him, is more than a love, but a life-saving straw that saves himself from confusion. It is an inexplicable redemption for a young man who is confused about the future, ignorant of his own needs, and who he is. And with this redemption, the road ahead will be clearer. Youth is confused, and youth is most afraid of confusion. Youth has countless energies waiting to be released, but I don't know where to release it. The 1967 film will naturally remind people of the student movement that almost swept the world in 1968. Perhaps this film is the advance notice of the student movement. That youthful energy is rushing east and west, looking for a path and waiting to spurt. It was a time of idealism and innocence against everything in search of oneself. That was the tide of the times.
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