society’s concerns over the constraints of materialism and consumerism. 281 These were reiterated by President Johnson in 1964 when he asserted that the older generation was “condemned to a soulless wealth.” 282 Mrs. Robinson plays a significant role in submerging Ben into the tank of suburban Californian life. The fish tank is a prism through which Ben views his life of isolation, people can look in and see him but he cannot escape. When Mrs. Robinson throws Ben’s car keys into the fish tank in his bedroom, she is plunging him into the same trapped life she is leading. When she threatens to tell Elaine about their affair, Mrs. Robinson unwittingly forces Ben to make a conscious decision to break the glass of his tank. This is a turning point in the film as Ben ultimately demonstrates where he belongs. Mrs. Robinson became the archetype for a promiscuous, sexually devious female and audiences viewed her as a “bitter and pitiful” woman who preyed on young Ben and attempted to lure him away from Elaine, his true love. 283 The film’s casting of female roles creates problems for the women’s rights movement which was attempting to redefine limitations of women in the 1960s. The early years of the decade saw wide availability of the contraceptive pill 284 and President Kennedy made women’s rights an important part of his New 281 J.W. Whitehead, Appraising the Graduate: The Mike Nichols Classic and its Impact in Hollywood (North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2011), 39. 282 Lyndon B. Johnson, “Great Society” (speech, University of Michigan, Michigan, 22 nd May, 1964), The Washington Post < https://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/lyndon-b- johnsons-great-society-speech/2014/05/16/39289be8-dd3e-11e3- a837-8835df6c12c4_video.html> [Accessed 10/12/2016] 283 Cardullo, Film Analysis, 114. 284 Alan M. Rees, Consumer Health USA (Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1997), 119.
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