The View of Women in "The Graduate"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Mike Nichols' 1967 film, "The Graduate" and the problematic view of women, particularly Mrs. Robinson and her daughter Elaine, in the film. It shows how the female characters function more as plot devices than as individuals with their own desires and needs and discusses how this illustrates how postwar America frustrated greater female ambitions.

From the Paper:

"Interestingly, Mrs. Robinson's emotional journey is not showcased very much, either. Mrs. Robinson is evidently not happy, and she spends an entire summer with Benjamin, but when the affair is discovered, she does not protect him. The film suggests without much sympathy he is just as corrupt as her husband, and her passive anger, boredom, and frustration bred into her, in her suburban environment, is not altered. It is difficult to imagine a female protagonist in an equally serious, well-written, and ambitious film of today being similarly reduced to a plot device of initiating a man into a sexual relationship, without some discussion of what she has given up over the course of her life."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ebert, Roger. "The Graduate." The Chicago Sun-Times. 1997. 8 Apr 2008. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19970328/REVIEWS/703280304/1023
• "The Graduate." Directed by Mike Nichols. 1967

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