The film The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols is a story that focuses singly on the journey of one character, Benjamin Braddock. The Graduate begins with a close up on Benjamin’s face. This immediately establishes the main character. The shot then zooms out to reveal that he is on an airplane surrounded by bored, sleeping, expressionless people, and he blends right in. The following shot is Ben standing expressionless on a moving walkway. His facial expression is almost robotic, the shot lasts for over a minute allowing for a careful observation of our protagonist. The audience interprets that our protagonist is in a daze. He seems lost or out of place, seems unhappy and out of his element. This starts the audience thinking critically about who Benjamin Braddock is. Not only does this slow pace allow the audience time to think about the protagonist but also with the help of Simon and Garfunkel’s relaxing score the audience is put in a somewhat sedated state of mind that matches that of Benjamin causing a shared feeling with Ben. Next, is a shot of his bag going down the baggage claim. It passes a sign that says “Do they match?”. This symbolic sign introduces the major theme in this movie. The movie is about Benjamin feeling as if he does not fit in with the superficial world that he lives in. The rest of the story will be about his journey trying to find where he fits, finding where he feels comfortable, finding his match, just like finding his bag.
No comments:
Post a Comment