The Graduate is one of the most highly celebrated films of the 1960’s. In the film, Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate, is trying to figure out his life. He has no idea of what he wants and just stares at inanimate objects all day. Benjamin is seduced by Mrs. Robinson, the mother of one a friend who he happens to like. This relationship turns into a full-on affair and sucks everything out of Benjamin. When Elaine, the daughter of Mrs. Robinson comes back into town, Benjamin falls in love with her. Once she gets wind of the affair she cuts all ties with Benjamin, who pursues he an eventually convinces her to marry him.
Simon and Garfunkel’s song The Sound of Silence, made famous by The Graduate and heard a couple times in the film, is a perfect example of our society. Towards the end of the song there is a line that goes, “And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made. And the sign flashed out its warning in the words that it was forming. And the sign said, ‘The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.’” This is a clear demonstration of our consumerism society. We are comforted by all the flashing signs telling us to buy and what to buy. Our reality is portrayed as corrupt by bowing down and praying to false idols. The Sound of Silence is known for being in The Graduate, as well as The Graduate is famous for playing The Sound of Silence. We see humans as pleasure-seeking robots, who have no regard for consequences. Evil can stem from the most innocent of places, like Benjamin before the affair. Elaine forgave Benjamin in the end and married, so we see that redemption and forgiveness can come to those who don’t deserve it. Life in the empire is portrayed as care free. Benjamin sneaks around his parent’s backs, Mr. Robinson’s back, and Elaine’s back to attain a life that will be no use to him in the long run. The Kingdom of God is shown when Benjamin is forgiven by Elaine. Just like God had no reason to redeem us, Elaine had no reason to redeem Benjamin.
Does The Sound of Silence truly fit with this movie?
Can we view Elaine as kind of a Messiah figure?
Both "The Graduate" and "The Sound of Silence" would probably each be worth a post on their own. While there's certainly some great interplay between the two, there's really too much in either to quickly distill.
ReplyDeleteSimon and Garfunkel's song is a great piece of modern poetry decrying shallow and meaningless culture. And the film perfectly depicts someone in the midst of the postmodern disquiet Walsh and Keesmaat describe in Colossians Remixed.