The Graduate Cinematic AnalysisIsadora GermainRedThe Graduate follows the life of Benjamin Braddock as he struggles with being newly graduated from college and still not knowing what to do for the rest of his life. When at a party celebrating his graduation,he is led to his middle-aged neighbor's house, Ms. Robinson, whose husband is out. She tries to seduce him, and after a few days he gives into her grip. Their affair soon becomes daily and the guilt eats away at Benjamin. Ms. Robinson warns Benjamin not to ask out her daughter, Elaine, after what they did together. But after his parents set him and Elaine up on a date he quickly falls for her. In her anger, Ms. Robinson tells both her husband and Elaine about her unique relationship with Benjamin. Both Elaine and Mr. Robinson are furious. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson arrange for a divorce. While Elaine is at school in Berkley, Benjamin follows his heart and drives there to tell her his feelings for her and ask her to marry him. When he finds her she is currently involved with another man. Elaine storms into Benjamin's room at night and after they fight they agree that they might get married. When Mrs. Robinson hears she quickly makes arrangements for Elaine to marry the man she was dating in Berkley. Benjamin rushes to the wedding, showing up right after the ceremony finishes. He shouts Elaine's name in the spur of the moment, and she decides he is the one she wants to be with. They run out of the church together.

The Graduate was filmed around the time when the Women's Rights Movement was prominent in the U.S. The film was released just four years after the book, The Feminine Mystique, was written by Betty Friedan. This book, "drew attention to the massive unhappiness of women trying to fit a media-idealized 'happy suburban housewife' image" (Napikoski). Ms. Robinson represented these women, she was unsatisfied with her life with her husband. She told Ben of how her and her husband slept in different rooms. Divorce were increasing rapidly around the time this movie was set. The reason for separation between Mr. and Mrs. Robinson was shared with many other married couples around this time.

The filmmakers for The Graduate used various cinematic techniques to show the audience the complex emotions Benjamin was experiencing. The film opens with an extreme close up on his face. A pull back shot is then used to reveal that Benjamin is on a plane, flying back home from college. The camera continues to zoom out showing the immense amount of people on the flight and gives the audience a sense of the unimportance Benjamin was feeling during this scene. A tracking shot is used for various scenes where Benjamin is driving in his car. It allows the camera to follow the face-paced car as if you were in a car next to it. These shots also succeeded in giving the audience the same thrill that Benjamin was experiencing during his fast car drives. The cinematic technique of compression is used in the final scene of the graduate. Benjamin is running to Elaine's wedding to try and stop it. To give the audience a sense of how long this moment seems to be taking him, the filmmakers used a very long lens and filmed the scene from far away then closed up on his figure. This gave the effect of compressing the image, making his strides appear to be shorter than they actually were.