Literally, Ben is carried forward by the conveyor belt figuratively, he is driven by the society’s images of success. Thus, the meaning of this scene becomes clear. Later, the audience learns that he had just ended a high school career filled with scholarships and leadership positions – achievements celebrated by values of conformism. While the unified, linear white bricks’ pattern is a symbol of uniformity, Ben’s body language indicates his indifferent and aimless mentality. It first appears in the beginning scene, in which Ben stands on a moving conveyor belt with a white wall in the background, eyes blank and body motionless. The song “The Sound of Silence” is used in two scenes that portray Ben’s spiritual emptiness. “The Sound of Silence” and Benjamin Braddock’s Inner Turmoil I will first analyze the way in which the songs’ lyrics compliment and annotate the portrayal of characters, and then discuss how such intertextuality reflects the director’s opinion on counterculture. In this essay, I will explore on the connection between the movie’s plot and three Simon & Garfunkel’s songs in the soundtrack: “The Sound of Silence”, “Mrs Robinson”, and “Scarborough Fair / Canticle”. He encourages mutual understanding between generations and undermines counterculture’s significance as a social movement. Nichol regards counterculture as a reflection of teenage rebellion that all generations experience. However, an analysis of the movie’s soundtrack exposes Nichol’s own perspective on counterculture. Because Ben eventually elopes with Elaine at the end of the movie, it is easy to conclude that Nichol grants victory to the youngsters, thus praising values of counterculture. As a Bildungsroman in this special period of time, The Graduate models the combat between two generations through the portrayal of its groundbreaking love triangle: Ben, a recent high-school graduate Mrs Robinson, a middle-aged woman and Elaine Robinson, Mrs Robinson’s teenage daughter. What makes counterculture distinct in all American social movements is that for the first time in history, age, rather than religion, class or race, becomes the dividing line between the politically and culturally opposing sides. In 1966, the duo released two other albums, Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, both of which included songs that were later used as the soundtrack of The Graduate. However, after their music producer dubbed The Sound of Silence with an electrical band and released it once again, the song became a great hit, eventually making the whole album popular and reaching a million copies’ sale. The album initially failed to gain an impressive success in the market. In 1964, they recorded their first acoustic rock album, Wednesday Morning: 3 AM, which included a single titled The Sound of Silence. Simon was the composer of most of the duo’s works. The movie’s soundtrack features many songs by “Simon & Garfunkel”, a folk-rock duo formed by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Mike Nichol’s The Graduate (1967) is a bildungsroman that illustrates the transition from teenage years to adulthood of the protagonist, Benjamin Braddock. Finally, the counterculture was mainly supported by the teenage generation, who came up with the slogan “don’t trust people over 30”. Third, the rise of individualism caused an emergence of sexual liberation and experimentation as a movement against the traditional family model. Second, in response to the rise of uniformity, counterculture rejected conformism and encouraged individuals to break the shackles of society’s expectations. First, advocates for counterculture rejected capitalism, for they believed that western corporates used Cold War politics to expand their markets worldwide and gain a larger profit. The counterculture was largely a response to the Cold War’s effects on the American society, and there were four core beliefs. The term Counterculture refers to a set of movements, ideal, and practices that emerged in the American culture between the 1960s and the 1970s. Counterculture & The Graduate and Its Soundtrack by “Simon & Garfunkel”
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