Creative

Jiaxin Chen
UID: 704171990
Theater 120A, Final Paper
12 / 07 / 2014
The Graduate
PART I:
The Graduate (1967), directed by Mike Nichols, is one of the most groundbreaking movies in the 1960s. Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross, through their objectives and obstacles, presentational and representational acting, and blocking and realization, make the plot exciting for the audience and help the audience understand the characters mindset.
To begin with, the objectives and obstacles for the actors in this movie are very clear, which helps the audiences understand exactly what is happening. For instance, at 00:11:00, Ben’s objective is to go home right after he dropped Mrs. Robinson off. He expressed this objective by constantly turning around and reaching for the door, and right after doing each task as Mrs. Robinson requests, he keeps asking Mrs. Robinson if he can leave. However, Mrs. Robinson doesn’t let him go, which makes it his obstacle at the moment. She keeps finding things for Ben to do, such as asking him to wait until her husband gets home, offering him a drink, showing him Elaine’s room, asking him to help unzip her dress and bring up the purse. Anne Bancroft’s acting choices really let audiences feel Ben’s obstacle as she managed to request a new task either right before or right at the moment that Ben wants to leave. Furthermore, in the last fifteen minutes of the movie, the main objective for Ben is to find Elaine and marry her; however, this process is difficult because of the obstacles getting in the way. When Ben breaks in to Robinson’s house, Mrs. Robinson calls the police and claims he breaks in. Then she told Ben that Elaine is getting married and doesn’t tell him the address, which later turns out to be the major obstacle. When overcoming this obstacle, Ben encounters many minor obstacles as well, such as try to fight time, not being able to find the phone number at the gas station, the car running out of gas and so on. In this...