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“The Graduate,” the year’s best American comedy comes from the young spirit and vision British directors have cultivated in their films. Because it has a particular stance, it’s funny, not due to sight gags or tired punchlines. That is to say, it has a clear opposition towards something. Regardless of what Doris Day, or anyone for that matter, has to say, comedy is always subversive in nature.
Most Hollywood comedies have built-in assumptions that are not even cinematographically possible. One of the most ‘funny’ elements is that cinematic characters must respond to humorous situations like stage performers. This is where Jerry Luis and his mugging comes from. But in the new style of British directors, the audience is the butt of the joke, and the funny things that happen in the audience’s presence do not take place in the movie, but instead, they are the movie.
This theory stems from the assumption that the audience is already familiar with certain aspects of filmmaking and possesses a certain level of knowledge after watching hundreds of films. As a result, newcomers in the industry such as the British comedies “The Knack”, Morgan, Alfie, Tom Jones, A Hard Day Night, etc. are considered to be breaking the norm. What these films show is that the use of film itself is a part of the jokes. For instance, when something comical happens to the characters, the actors immediately become responsive. Instead, the movie reacts to what is shown next.
“What The Graduate deals with, and who Mike Nichols declares himself to be as a new important director”.
Nichols provides us with the perspective of a young college graduate (Dustin Hoffman) who moves back to an aggressively foolish upper-middle-class neighborhood in California. Ideally, he would like to lounge around for 3 upcoming months pondering about his future. You know Just think.
He is expected to take action, and his social circle has already boxed him into the Successful Young Upward Venturing Clean Cut All-American College Grad role. By the end of two weeks, Benjamin is so desperate that he decides to showcase a new scuba suit (a present from his overzealous father) by standing at the bottom of the family swimming pool. Alone at last.
Anne Bancroft is one of his parent’s contemporaries who tempts Benjamin into surrendering, which does so out of sheer helplessness. After that, he then subsequently falls in love with the daughter and sets off a series of events that end up with him kidnapping Miss Ross, who had just married a handsome Nordic fraternity boy. While jamming a cross into the church door to block pursuit, he escapes with his wife on a bus.
It is outrageous material but it works in ‘The Graduate’ because it is upfront and undiluted. We, as well as rising actress Anne Bancroft, play the roles we were born to fulfill. Dustin Hoffman is so excruciatingly painful, virtue-bound, and overly timid, so much, so that it has become difficult to not blame him for being to his extremes and perplexing most. Shawn Ross’s trickier role as Miss Ross’s glamorous, shrewish, and self-possessed amplified the seduction so it is no wonder most would deem it as unsurprising.
Ross, who recently entered the game, alongside ‘Games’, makes a character, who comes off so attractive she makes us realize what we all wondered about whilst portraying a better version of Ann-Margret.
Nichols covers his topic well. He doesn’t stop to check if we are grasping the concepts. For people who are less bright, he does not bother trying to explain. And he never makes apologies. His only flaw, in my opinion, is the use of slack, verbose Simon and Garfunkel songs and pretentious camera work that indicate the passage of time between important scenes. Other than this, “The Graduate” is a triumph. Benjamin’s searing sincerity coupled with his intense shame is captured so perfectly that we can barely decide if we should laugh or introspect.
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