The Graduate (1967)
The Graduate is a Romance/Drama film, it tells you a story about a young man who have just graduated from his study, Benjamin.
As after he was graduated he felt confused, left without any sense of direction to go, he doesn’t know what to do next after he finally graduated. Not only that, he often felt like he is “empty”, soul-less, he often felt like he was just this show-monkey that his parents uses to entertain themselves and their friends (by bragging about what Benjamin can do).
Now i believe the whole idea of the film itself is about the journey of Benjamin, trying to be “less-empty”, and fill the void in his soul right after his graduation.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Now his journey started, after he get in an entanglement with Mrs. Robinson (The Wife of Ben’s parents’ business partner), one night he was driving Mrs. Robinson home, and it was the start of the affair of Ben and Mrs. Robinson.
He felt great! He got the thrill of the affair, to do something that is “forbidden” or wrong are the perfect medicine for an unhappy young man, but after a while, the spark faded.
He came back to where we started, an unhappy, soul-less young man with no sense of direction, no fulfilment. Then things got complicated as Ben’s Parents and Mrs. Robinson’s husband started to match Ben with Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine as they were in the same age.
And just like that, Ben falls in love, with the daughter of a woman that he’s having an affair with. But this time, it’s different, it doesn’t feel like just a spark, like the one he’s having with Mrs. Robinson, it’s more like an eternal flame, he knows that he’s in love with Elaine.
Ben went through a lot, in order to go for his one true love, challenge after challenges are thrown right at him, but he kept on going for her, even after his affair with Mrs. Robinson was known by everyone, and Elaine was forced to marry another man, he kept on going. It’s love, it’s the answer of his unhappiness and his “empty-ness”, of course as a young man he’s going to chase her no matter what.
Until the last scene of the film arrived, Ben succeeded on stopping Elaine Wedding, took Elaine with him, and go inside a bus to run with her. They laughed, looked so happy and relieved, but only for a while, then the smile is gone, the silence is so loud in this scene, Ben got the biggest slap on the face on his life, as even when he have got the woman the he love, he’s still the same young man that don’t know what to do, or where he’s going, still unfulfilled.
What I Could Take from The Graduate
Is that you can’t rely on anything or anyone in order to fulfil and fill the void in yourself, whether it is something fun or exciting that you are doing, or being with the person that you loves and loves you, the struggle of making yourself happy is an internal struggle, it never depends on external sources.
There goes a saying “True Happiness Comes from Within”, I don’t remember where have i heard this, but i know just like all of you, we have heard it somewhere. I know this might sound cheesy, but I really believe that you have to love yourself and be happy with yourself first, before relying to external sources for your happiness and fulfilment
