Does It Really End?

Many classic pieces of literature are comedies. One such piece is The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols. Although it is not a typical romantic comedy, there is indeed romance, and a central character whose fortune eventually rises.

The central character in question is Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate who, from the beginning of the movie, is very uncomfortable with being a recent college graduate. His parents and their friends constantly celebrate his academic successes, but he is unaffected by them, and knows that they have little significance in the adult world he has been thrust into. Despite his academic success, he can not seem to find contentment. He begins a purely sexual relationship with an older woman, a friend of his family, and goes on to date her daughter at his parents’ request. He falls in love with the daughter, and, obviously, things get complicated.

Overall, the movie has many insights into the phase of life that Benjamin is in. It humorously illustrates all the awkward and fumbled interactions between him and “real-world” adults. It poignantly explores the sense of pointlessness that comes with post-college realizations: that having a career or relationship is not an end-all be-all when it comes to happiness, and that many things are glorified when we anticipate them, but are not actually meaningful when we finally experience them.

In the end, Benjamin elopes with the daughter, against his and her parents’ wills, right before she marries another man. In the last scene, they sit together in the back of a bus, her in a wedding dress, both of them smiling and giggling at the impulsivity of their decisions. This ending is what makes The Graduate a comedy, and is what leaves the audience with a warm, satisfied feeling. However, it is only effective as a snapshot into the lives of the characters. It is easy for the audience to assume that this last-scene-giddiness lasts the characters the rest of their fictional lives, but that is highly unlikely. The problem with comedic endings is that, in a non-fictional life, such endings are only happy moments that pass and evolve. The rest of the movie is filled with tension, anguish, and conflict, as is a fair portion of many people’s lives. In reality, happy endings are not endings, but brief respites from unrelenting absurdity. Who knows when Benjamin will develop the same post-graduation ennui in his post-marriage life?