This excerpt gives a very detailed and relevant account of the 1960s counterculture. The author discusses this new culture in three major categories: music, sex, and politics. All three of these things can very closely be tied to The Graduate.

Rock and roll culture really took off in the 1960s. The Beatles first came to America in 1964 and generated the passionate young fans that fueled the entire rock and roll industry. Perhaps it was because of the free and individual nature that the bands stood for, but the followings were huge, and were only getting huger. Songs like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" would make children feel rebellious without ever even trying LSD. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle provided the entire soundtrack for The Graduate, which not only made Ben Braddock seem like he was a youngster that fit in with the times, but also drew many young audiences to the film.

The second important facet of the counterculture was the sexual revolution. It started in 1949 with the publication of the Kinsey report by Alfred Kinsey. His studies, although later proven somewhat false, revealed that heterosexual sex among married couples was no longer the only sexual activity people were willing to admit to. Heterosexuality and polygamy were revealed, and were no longer considered outrageous. This more widely accepted sexual culture arrived because of many reasons, one of them medical. In the late 50s and 60s many medical advances were made allowing for the spread of the sexual revolution, including the introduction of antibiotics that might be able to cure sexually transmitted diseases, and the first birth control pill. The average age at which Americans lost their virginity began to decrease while the average number of sexual partners a person had in a lifetime increased. This sexual explicitness, especially with the ideas of adultery and seduction, was clearly exposed in 1967s The Graduate.

The last important thing that is quickly mentioned is the idea that youths were likely to cling to the ideals of democracy. In the 60s, liberalism captured the attention of many youths as their way of rebelling, and this is a third thing that is evident in the film. This short excerpt is a great succinct summary of the ways in which The Graduate was truly a reflection of its time.

This article, "Rock and Roll Soundtracks in the Production of Nostalgia", written by David Shumway for Cinema Journal, discusses a very important aspect of this movie: the soundtrack. It describes that in life, our auditory sense plays a huge role in evoking specific memories and emotions. Simon and Garfunkle's 1967 hit, Mrs. Robinson, does that for audiences that have ever seen The Graduate. Consisting only of songs by Simon and Garfunkle, a favorite of Mike Nichols, the soundtrack is one of the most memorable aspects of the masterpiece. Firstly, since the movie contains only the voice of Paul Simon, the songs are more substantial as the only non-diegetic aspect. In addition, the film, for the most part, has rather simple dialogues and uninteresting visuals, and often, audiences are taken inside the minds of the characters. The score in the background sets an appropriate tone for these scenes.

The fact that the music is that of Simon and Garfunkle, a popular duo at the time, reflects the youthfulness that Nichols is trying to evoke in Ben's character. The rock and roll plays into the counterculture that was so imminent at the time the film was released.

Although most of the Simon and Garfunkle songs had been released a few years before the movie, "Mrs. Robinson" was written specifically for the film. Nichols approached Paul Simon and begged him to write music for the score, but Simon said he was too busy. However, he quickly played him "Mrs. Robinson", which was originally "Mrs. Roosevelt" and was a song discussing times past. Nichols insisted that the name be changed so that it could be included in the score of his movie. Since the song was new and fit perfectly into the rock and roll genre that was quickly rising in 1967, audiences at the time were very likely to remember the new catchy tune and recall the wonderful and innovative film, The Graduate.