From plastic, to suburbia, to masculinity, to entrapment, this article, written by Robert Beuka for the Journal of Popular Film and Television., discusses the essential issues raised by The Graduate. The title of the article comes from an important line in the movie in which a family friend of the Braddock's, Mr. McGuire, has only one suggestion for Ben in terms of his future..."plastics." This idea of plastic is mirrored in the suburban life that Ben returns to after graduating from college. Blocks and blocks of individual houses with small cars and rectangular pools structure the suburbia that seems impossible to escape.  As an insecure and confused 20 year old, he is looking for any excuse to break out of the entrapment. Water is a symbol of escape from the American Dream that will inevitably be pushed on him. He jumps into the pool to drown out the voices of his parents and their friends and stares at them through the cloudy water, blurring their hopes for him.

Mrs. Robinson provided a perfect opportunity to escape from the bland environment of dinner parties and trivial conversations he is forced to engage in. As much as he wants to resist her sexuality, she provides a new and more interesting frontier for him to experiment with. She also represents a reversal of traditional roles. In the suburban culture, the man is supposed to be the master. He is supposed to come home from work and find the meatloaf waiting on the table. However, in Ben's relationship with Mrs. Robinson, he often finds himself being the submissive one. By trying to resist her sexuality, he attempts to prove his masculinity.  

Another important point made in this essay is that Ben Braddock's character bridged the gap between the suburbia culture that ruled much of the 50s and the counterculture that emerged in the late 60s. He tries to rebel against the uniformity and conformity of the past, while he cant quite grasp the liberal and relaxed atmosphere of the near future. He eventually finds himself trapped somewhere between these two, his internal controversy still not resolved.

~ "Americans in that era faced many controversial issues from civil rights, the Vietnam War ,nuclear arms, and the environment to drug use, sexual freedom, and nonconformity" Hoffman once cleverly commented. ~