We talked a lot last week about the role of women in Hitchcock’s films and so on, but in our discussion of “The Graduate” we didn’t touch on the topic nearly as much. In fact, I think the relationship between Ben and Elaine is very interesting. It was mentioned in class that “The Graduate” is a romantic comedy; I won’t argue with the comedy part, but I can’t say I found anything about this film romantic. After all, what really happens in their relationship? First Ben takes Elaine to a strip club, making her visibly upset, and then he reveals that he had been having sex with her mother. Then he stalks her all the way to her school and continues to stalk her even after she leaves school. You could say that he is doing the right thing because she says she loves him in her letter, but all I kept thinking was why. Why would Elaine like Ben at all if that was the impression she got of him?

At first I thought this was a classic case of the beautiful, smart girl inexplicably falling in love with the sad, broody male protagonist. They even made Elaine’s fiance an obvious asshole to make Ben seem like a better alternative (he’s really not). And yet, the more I thought about it the more I realized that Elaine does have something to gain from Ben. That is, rebellion. The two do have a conversation after leaving the strip club after all, and they seem to have similar thoughts about their futures (though again, I don’t think having a chat over some French fries exactly balances out the fact that he had sex with her mother). Both of them want to get out from underneath their parents’ thumbs, and hooking up is one way of doing that. It’s notable to me that Elaine only starts calling back to Ben when she looks at her parents’ and fiance’s angry reactions. She goes with him to piss off her family, and maybe she doesn’t even like him so much as she likes the idea of him. And maybe Ben’s feelings for Elaine are the same.

This idea coupled with the film’s final scene paint a pretty bleak picture for the end of the movie. But frankly, I prefer this interpretation to the idea that Elaine and Ben genuinely love each other. Their relationship is way too rushed and full of too many complications that can’t be realistically looked past. And frankly, Ben is a creep.