Film History: The Graduate

This week we watch one of my favorite films The Graduate and we talked about the film as well as the impact the film had socially and on films afterwards. Director Mike Nichols introduced some major innovations in the film that we discussed and the story itself and characters are distinct and memorable.  In our paper we'll discuss these aspects along with the film's unique ending so in a two-page typed paper answer the following three questions:

After deconstructing the film, what is the film really about (aka what it the theme) and how does it hold up over time as the movie is now over 40 years old.

How did the innovations in the use of sound, music, and editing help support the overall film?

The end of the film leaves the audience up in the air in some sense based on what you know and how you feel about the characters of Ben and Elaine, what do you think became of them after the film's conclusion (use evidence from the film to support your theory).

Also just a FYI Mike Nichols will be doing a Times Talk this Monday May 7, 2012 which will be webcast if you're interested!