How do the formal, cinematic innovations of The Graduate relate to a sense of wider cultural change? Holly Whitby – AM-337 The Graduate (1967) has long been considered one of the most influential and revolutionary films to come from the 1960s. The film was hailed a “milestone in American movie history” 269 and sold over eighty million tickets, with many audience members choosing to see it multiple times. 270 The decade witnesses some of the most disturbing and radical changes of the twentieth century, including student protests, the Vietnam War, development of the New Left and the assassinations of some of the most prominent men in politics and civil rights. Hollywood itself underwent some dramatic alterations which allowed young directors to put their stamp on the industry. In an attempt to synthesise the events of the 1960s, the films which the era produced provided a starker commentary on the political and social state of the country than had been possible previously. This analysis will prove that, while some of the cinematic and thematic devices Mike Nichols includes in his creation did pave the way for future ground-breaking works, the social and political commentary which The Graduate provides has been overstated. Steven Spielberg regarded The Graduate as a “visual watershed” 271 which introduced New Hollywood to the American public and ultimately changed the way film was directed, produced, and viewed. Prior to this, Classical 269 Bert Cardullo, Film Analysis: A Casebook (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2015), 114. 270 Peter Kramer, The New Hollywood: From Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars (London: Wallflower, 2005), 7. 271 J.W. Whitehead, Mike Nichols and the Cinema of Transformation (North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2014), 38.
112
Made with FlippingBook HTML5