April 13, 1999

Announcements:

Lecture Notes:

I.  Dr. Spock and the Culture of Permissiveness

• After the war, America looked at child raising practices differently
• Pre WWII:
• Depression era, no child labor laws
• Children were raised like little adults and were forced to help their parents achieve economic stability
• Post WWII:
• People had more disposable income
• Children could have an extended childhood
• A new culture of permissiveness came about:  parents indulged their kids so they could enjoy their childhood
• Increased college enrollment
• Federal agencies were formed to advise parents on child raising
• Gave rise to a culture of therapeutic child raising
• Example:  In On the Waterfront, Father Beri was the agent of Terry's reform
• This new rise of culture was paralleled by declining movie audiences
• B filmmakers discovered a youth audience and made exploitation films which turned out to be very profitable
• Example:  Rebel Without a Cause
• Government leaders, like Spiro Agnew, opposed Spock's beliefs saying that children were becoming spoiled "rebels" and that they didn't respect their entry into adulthood

II.  The Alienated College Grad of the 60s:  The Graduate (1967)

• The film caricatures the counter-culture movement in a very narrow context
• An upper middle class man has all the material objects he needs, but he doesn't know what he wants out of life
• For Ben's 21st birthday, his parents give him scuba gear
• When he jumps in the pool, it suggests a feeling of drowning or claustrophobia
• At his graduation party, one man suggests that Ben go into the plastics industry
• Emphasizes the plasticity of his parents' existence
• The film was influenced by several experimental techniques which violate the film's invisibility
• Jump cuts
• Long takes with a hand-held camera

• Montage compresses or expands time
• One scenes starts with Ben in his bedroom at his parents' house and cuts to him in his adulterous affair in a hotel room
• The viewer is not sure how much time has really elapsed
• Use of music in film:
• Provides generational sense of identity:  film directed toward one specific audience
• Avoids the politics of the counter-culture

• The film avoids addressing the issues of Vietnam War, and race riots which were occurring at the time the movie was made
• There is a lack of closure at the end of the movie

III.  The Youth Market and the Demise of the Production Code

• In the '60's, the first generation of movie moguls began retiring
• Their vision of how movies should be no longer meshed with the way movies were currently being made and sold
• Younger filmmakers stepped in and were willing to make cheap movies, which was very attractive to Hollywood
• The Production Code was replaced by the ratings system
• Culture was changing and issues needed to be addressed in a more mature fashion
• The Supreme Court struck down the Production Code because local towns were unable to censor what films came into their town

IV.  Sex, Violence, and the Ratings System:  Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

• With the ratings system, issues were very explicitly addressed
• Bonnie and Clyde was directed by Arthur Penn

• The lack of beginning tracking shot throws the viewers off
• This style pays homage to Citizen Kane and Orson Welles
• At the beginning, Faye Dunaway seems to be trapped behind the bars of her bed which suggests how she is confined in such a small town

MOVIE:  THE GRADUATE

    Ben Braddock..................................................Dustin Hoffman
    Mrs. Robinson..................................................Anne Bancroft

    At Ben Braddock's college graduation party, he tells his dad that he is worried about his future.  One of his dad's friends tells him that he could have a great future in the plastics industry.  He goes upstairs to get away from everyone.  Mrs. Robinson, a friend of the family, comes into his room and asks him if it is a girl that is upsetting him.  She then asks him to drive her home and he does.  At her house, she invites him to come in and fixes him a drink.  He tells her that she must be trying to seduce him, but immediately regrets saying it.
 
    They go up to her daughter, Elaine's room.  She asks him to unzip her dress and she takes it off right in front of him.  He runs downstairs once he hears Mr. Robinson pull up to the house.  He has a drink with Mr. Robinson, who tells him to have a good time while he still can.

    One day Ben calls Mrs. Robinson from the Taft Hotel to invite her for a drink.  When she gets there, she tells him to go get them a room.  In the room, she begins to undress but Ben freaks out.  Mrs. Robinson tells him that it must be his first time and that he is probably inadequate.  He is obviously offended and ends up sleeping with her to prove her wrong.  They continue meeting at the hotel for some time.

    Ben's mother questions him about what he's been doing at night.  He says he just drives around.  One night with Mrs. Robinson, he tells her that they need to actually have a conversation before they hop in bed.  She tells Ben that she and her husband sleep in different beds at night.  She had to marry him because she got pregnant.  Ben starts joking that he is going to take Elaine out.  She tells Ben never to do that, that he is not good enough for Elaine.  He tells Mrs. Robinson that she is a sick, disgusting, alcoholic.  She apologizes, saying she meant that he and Elaine wouldn't be good together.  She also makes him promise to never take Elaine out.

    Ben's parents suggest that he go out with Elaine.  They say if he doesn't ask her out, they'll have to invite all of the Robinson's over.  He decides to take Elaine out on one date which does not make Mrs. Robinson very happy.  He takes Elaine to a strip club on their date.  She starts crying and runs out.  He apologizes and kisses her outside the club.  She suggests that they go to the Taft Hotel for a drink.  When they get there, all the employees of the hotel are saying hello to him so he leaves.  Ben tells Elaine that he really likes her.  She asks him if he is having an affair with someone.  He tells her that he did, but it's over.

    The next day, he goes to pick up Elaine to go for a drive.  Mrs. Robinson jumps in the car and says she'll tell Elaine everything if he doesn't stop seeing her.  He runs into the house to tell Elaine about the affair before her mom can.  Elaine flips out and tells him to leave.

    One day, Ben tells his parents he is going to marry Elaine.  They are very excited until he tells them he hasn't asked her yet and she really doesn't like him.

    He goes to Berkeley, where Elaine goes to college, and gets an apartment there.  He follows her onto the bus one day.  She is on her way to meet her boyfriend, Carl, at the zoo.  Later that day, she barges into his apartment to ask him why he came to Berkeley.  She accuses him of raping her mother.  He tries to explain, but she starts screaming.  She tells him not to leave until he has a "definite plan."

    Elaine goes back to Ben's apartment in the middle of the night and asks him to kiss her.  He does and then he asks her to marry him.  She says she might; she'll have to think about it.  She already told Carl that she might marry him.

    Ben walks into his apartment one day and Mr. Robinson is there waiting for him.  He asks Ben why he did what he did.  Ben tells him he doesn't love his wife, he really loves Elaine.  Mr. Robinson tells him he'll put him behind bars if he marries Elaine.  Ben tries to go see Elaine, but he finds out that she has left school.  Her roommate gave him a note from Elaine explaining that things weren't going to work out.

    He goes to Carl's school and his fraternity brothers tell him that Carl went off in the middle of the night to get married.  Eventually, Ben finds the church where the wedding is.  He gets there just as it is ending and starts screaming Elaine's name and banging on a window.  She screams Ben's name back and runs out of the church with him.  They jump on a bus and ride off into ???.