At first, Ben gave me the feeling that he was like some boys I knew, but then I thought about myself. Ben is not a classical man, he belongs to the modern age, and his confusion is the confusion of modern people. This may be the consequence of industrial civilization, where people are far away from the self-sufficient small farmer life, and at the same time they are far away from the most simple understanding of life. The question that Ben asked at the beginning was not the first question that people in agricultural civilization thought about. He told his father that he was troubled by the future, and his father asked him what do you want to do in the future? Ben said, I want to be different.
Different, different from what?
This question is a potential premise in Ben's confusion, that is, when Ben graduated from college, his understanding of the future was that his future might be with someone else, or with past people, such as his parents and their friends , lived the same life. This may be incomprehensible in an agricultural civilization: how could your life be the same as someone else's life? The way of heaven is impermanent, and farming is naturally impermanent. It is common for farmers to have no harvest. However, because the situation is unpredictable, the fate is different. How can two people be exactly the same?
However, industrial civilization does give this confusion room to grow. Industrial industry, with tools as the industry. People who work with tools all their lives do not consider the way of heaven, but the rationality of tools. This is probably understood by anyone who has read a little modern writing, especially in our place. When it comes to reason, the tragedy of antinomy as its scientific name appears. The fate of reason is that it will finally question, not answer. Therefore, the characteristic of industrial civilization is that we no longer become clear, everything seems ambiguous, do or not do. Therefore, Ben said that he felt that he was fighting against the rules of the game. These rules of the game were reflected in his world as his parents, the Robinsons, etc., and in his view, these people are not the game rules. Just someone "played by the rules of the game".
So Ben's ambiguity in his bewildering impasse is broken by Mrs. Robinson's seduction. Mrs. Robinson has had enough experience in this lesson of life to see through Ben's confusion and use it to escape her own despair. Mrs. Robinson knew that the virgin in front of her was the only new territory in her world that she could conquer. This was a temptation for herself first and foremost. Isn't such a fresh pleasure behind the blessing of eternal youth? hope.
So she commanded Ben with the unmistakable dominion of her voice, knowing that pre-emption was the only way forward at a time like this. To create a very powerful voice in Ben's chaotic heart, he could easily bind the young man's hands and feet. As it turned out, Ben complied with everything Mrs. Robinson asked. Because he didn't have time to find the reason to rebel against her.
Until he met Elain. Elain is Mrs. Robinson's daughter, and she is the same age as Ben, so she is not like Mrs. Robinson who can't communicate with Ben at all. On the contrary, she and Ben hit it off and have a lot of inner thoughts. Rather, she and Ben are in the same place, called Youth.
At the end of the story, Ben chased up and down, and finally caught Elain. However, sitting on the bus away from the church, Elain's expression was mixed. At first she was laughing, then she looked at Ben with a worried look. It was inevitable, after all, how could she possibly forget that Ben had once committed adultery with her mother? Although for Ben, he finally got what he wanted through his superhuman will, but for Elain, she just changed from one pit to another. In the end, Elain replied "it's not for me" when facing her mother's sentence "It's too late", maybe she didn't get into marriage because of pregnancy like her mother, but she couldn't get rid of marrying a Ben The fate of a man who committed adultery with his mother. Because for women, the initiative is in the hands of the suitor, just like those slices of bread that jumped out of the oven with great humor, as long as Ben makes a decision, this is not just half-baked bread.
So the graduate story is brutal for women and romantic for men.
I especially like some of the details in this movie, which are very ironic and humorous. Although, speaking of that era, people are apprehensive, and Lolita who watched Kubrick two days ago seems to be connected to that era. However, good movies may be precisely because of their eternity. And so is this movie. The name graduate is somehow not just a reference to a modern university, it is also a metaphor for education. Obviously, Ben is in a different state of graduation when he graduates from college than at the end of the film. To be precise, he has not graduated from the course of life at the beginning of the film. Ironically, our university does not have the ability to educate students for graduation beyond its mission and beyond its vision.
I also like this understatement of the films of that era. This may be the director's skill, in short, I admire. The subtle charm is that it is very close to your inner soul, so the shock and touch are bigger and far-reaching.
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