Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967) centers on a coming-of-age story in a contemporary context used to satirize aspects of modern life and to highlight the conflict between generations that marked the late 1960s. The changes that come over the central character can be seen as a vision of the creation of a revolutionary, though a revolutionary without a clear cause to support and one who in the end has no idea what to do next. The film was highly influential: "The Graduate dealt explicitly with American middle-class sexual mores and spawned a series of youth-oriented films about sex, protest, and the generation gap" (Man 33).

The film can be divided into sections according to the way the plot unfolds. Brackman states: "The tensions of the first third of the movie -- ending with Benjamin's phone call to Mrs. Robinson -- arise from the question: What is Benjamin going to do with...
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