Plastics!

It's a really stupid movie. If it was made in the 80's Andrew Mcarthy would have starred.

they knew it was funny, it was black humor and commentary on class, ennui, careerism, and the uncertainties of love. I think it's still amazingly powerful, disturbing and funny.

Murphy, Murphy, Murphy -- what in the WORLD are you talking about?

"The filmmakers are excited about symbolism; they chose 'water' as a symbol and throw it in as often as possible?" HUH? Excuse me? Symbolic? Of what, pray tell?

I think you are revealing more about your dim sense of appreciation than you are about the film -- which, yes Lord yes, was a COMEDY. What did you think it was? A deep foreboding Eugene O'Neill drama of lost youth? Snap out of it!

Oh Rodney, you sweet talker! I love it when you call me dim...

I'm so dim, I must have mistunderSTOOD when the film kept using water. I thought it was a symbol, but apparently it was just water.

The fish tank that is featured so prominently in Benjamin's room, well, that must have meant that ol' Ben just really liked fish. When Mrs. Robinson threw the car keys in it, she just had bad aim.

When Benjamin's parents bought him a diving suit, it was just a nice present. When he didn't want to come out wearing it, he was just embarrased at their generosity.

The scenes when Ben swam around in the suit were just a pleasant interlude of the underwater view. When he spent all day in the pool for weeks at a time, he just liked to swim. The fountain at Berkeley was just a fountain.

GOSH, I'm so glad you snapped me out of my underappreciation of the film. I was about to speculate on all the different metaphorical interpretations of water.

I was SO on the wrong track.

I think Murphy may have a point about the water, but Rodney is right about the movie. How's that for diplomatic?

Murphy -- You are quite unintentionally beginning to talk sense. You seem to think that because several scenes include a basic element that is fundamental to human survival, it must mean something. We can all list movies in which water, air, and fire all play commanding roles, but unless it is used in a specific way, it doesn't mean anything more than they are human beings who live on the same terrestrial ball we all share.

The pool in The Graduate is a kind of reference point for a certain well-to-do Southern California bourgeois lifestyle; but does the fish tank in the room really mean anything more than that he liked fish? No. The diving suit embarrassed him not because of his parent's generosity, but because he felt foolish wearing it, like a little child using the newest toy purchased by Mommy and Daddy. When he spent weeks in the pool, he was bored -- he was floating, you might say, between past and future. The fountain at Berkely was just a fountain; I'm sure it is still just a fountain.

You could -- if you wanted to peer deeply into the movie -- possibly see enclosures such as pool and tank as suggestive of entrapment, maybe, although I doubt it. In any case, it wouldn't be symbolism. A symbol signifies something else.

Hey Rodney:

You say..."In any case, it wouldn't be symbolism. A symbol signifies something else.", but what you fail to understand is that good symbolism is also masked around and parallel to 'non symbolic " reasoning and explanations for the same things that are being portrayed. That's the whole effect of symbolism. If symbolism just shouted out and represented itself as the thing it's trying to symbolize, it wouldn't be symbolism. Yes, the pool in the Graduate is symbolic, as is all the other uses of water throughout this film, but at the same time, the pool is still just a pool. People who are smart enough to see the symbolism will see it, and those who are more inclined to see things 'just as they are' will not see the symbolism. That's the way symbolism works. Get it? Obviously not.

murphy is right, we talked about this in film theory class. Rodney, you are wrong. you are a fucking idiot.

You gotta go with Rodney on this one. Murph, you seem very narrow minded with your refusal to look deeper into the movie. This flick is loaded with symbolism, and I agree, water is one of its biggest. Before casting off other people's views, why not consider them? No need to respond, your comments aren't worth it.

Um... You guys know what sarcasm is, right? Murphy was just being a jerk to Rodney (who no doubt deserved it.) As we all know, water was big symbolism. No surprise there. Rodney, I think this will help you out:

sym·bol·ism
n.
1. The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships.

So even if the pool is just a "reference point for a certain well-to-do Southern California bourgeois lifestyle" (even though it carries much, much more meaning) it would be a reference and significance which would, yes, make the pool symbolic.

I think Alex summed everything up pretty nicely.

"Personal attacks are not allowed. Please read our comment policy."

For some reason, all of you forgot the policy? As not one comment besides Nyx and Eric Olsen's have anything not dealing with personal accusations about "who's right".

Only modern television really shows everything in plain view (MTV types).

Movies were never supposed to show you everything that was intentional, and they add features that you aren't supposed to pick up right away. Some look past it, and some just don't even want to believe that the writers put that much thought into the movie (which is entirely not true).

Symbolism is most of the time up to the viewer to decide on "what is" and "what isn't".

I mean, look at symbolism in the Citizen Kane movie. Try to tell me you can figure out every single stitch of symbolism inside the movie. If you can, then we'll all consider you a plausible critic.