Directed by Mike Nichols in 1967 The
Graduate starts out weirdly awkward but becomes very alive and revives
itself but at the end of the movie when it becomes a story about passionate
young love the launches out from a very peculiar state of affairs. The
one feature that stuck with me throughout the movie and the way it was
manipulated was sound. The majority of the emotions I felt or was manipulated
into feeling was due to the choice in music (Simon and the Garfunkel) and
management of it.
Use of sound
features in creating sound perspective throughout the movie were very
successful in helping feel and understand what Ben Brandon was feeling at
times. I especially identified with Ben in the scene where his parent pressure
him to show off the scuba suite they have bought for him. We begin with his
father publicizing Ben’s birthday and showing him off. As his father tries to
urge him to come out we see the use of diegetic sound used in a very creative
way. Although we can see Ben’s father urging him to come out we can’t see Ben
on screen but hear his voice as he tries to explain his reluctance. By doing
this we as audience can relate to Ben and understand his humiliation and
discomfort. We are further let into Ben’s world as he steps out and the camera
angle switches to POV followed by the exclusion of the ambient sound (in
this scene it would be all the screaming and shouting coming from his parents
and guests). We also clearly hear Ben's breathing gear as he inhales and
exhales. The conjunction of all these features help us dive into Ben’s
uncomfortable and helpless emotional state of mind.
My favorite
feature of the way sound was used in the movie was the music used in sequence
with certain scenes. Two parts of the movie that best exemplify this are, the
pursuit scene all the way up to the church and the constant theme using
two parts of the music by Simon and the Garfunkel. During the pursuit
scene the sounds are fast paced and loud through the entire pursuit
sequence. The sound of Ben’s car is especially focused on and we notice this
when he runs out of gas and clearly hear his car come to a sputtering stop. The
music also winds down at this exact same moment. We get the feeling that all
hope is lost as well as frustration seeing how the gas station had ironically
asked him if he needed gas. The fast paced jumble begins once more when Ben
decides to hoof it but comes to a dead stop once he arrives at the church.
We get a sense of the magnitude this situation hold because there almost no
sound, we can’t help but get on the edge of our seats as an audience. The
selective use of the song Ms. Robinson also plays a major role
through the movie, expressing Ben’s feelings, whether he is in a relaxed state
of mind enjoying himself or angry and unhappy. In scenes were Ben is in a
positive state of mind we hear the pleasing and chorus of the song where as in
other situations we sometimes only hear an instrumental that is slow paced and
dreary.
Overall I was
Surprised with full turn this movie made at the end. It was still awkward at
times but mostly in a funny way. That fact that it made me feel unbearable
awkward tell me what a superb movies it is. The fact that I was forced to feel
those emotions o strongly says something about this movie!
