Most movie fans are familiar with The Graduate, the movie that I suppose made Dustin Hoffman into the major star he is/was. I saw it in the theater when it was first released and remember being taken with it, but until now I had not read the 1963 novel by Charles Webb that is the basis of that film.
To the best of my recollection, the movie pretty closely follows the plot of Webb's novel, but my impression of the main characters as portrayed in the novel is very different from the one I got from the movie. The movie version of "Ben" came across to me as a still-innocent and somewhat naive recent college graduate who never stands a chance against the older woman who seduces him. "Elaine," the older woman's daughter came across in the film version as an impetuous young woman who finally recognized the spark that existed between her and Ben. Because I was just a little bit younger than the two characters, I found it easy to identify with them and enjoy the premise of the movie.
But the novel strikes me completely differently. I find "Ben" to be an almost-dangerous sociopath in the book, and "Elaine" a fool who can be easily swayed on major life decisions by whatever the last person she speaks to about them thinks. The two are a terrible mix, and between them they manage to harm numerous side characters along the way, including their own parents. Oddly enough, I remember rooting for Ben during the entire movie - but rooted for Mr. & Mrs. Robinson during most of the novel. Mrs. Robinson was clearly the instigator in all that followed, but she did her best to control the dumpster fire she created. Ben, on the other hand, was a walking can of gasoline.
Webb's writing is very conversational and does a great job of illustrating just how deeply psychotic Ben is, and how passive Elaine is. It's an easy read, if you're interested - and now I'm curious enough to watch the movie again to see if I react to it the same way.
I never thought of reading this one but now I'm curious.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to hear your take on it.
DeleteWhile I've been aware of the movie (though I've never seen it), I didn't know it was first a book. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteI knew it first as a movie, but I do remember that the book was reprinted as a movie tie-in, so I've always been aware there were both. What I really do wonder about is how the book first got Hollywood's attention with these characters.
DeleteDidn't care for Ben in the film or really anyone in the film but I loved Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy which really showed his range as an actor. Recently I read Breakfast at Tiffany's and was suprised how different the Holly Golightly in the book is from Audrey Hepburn's portrayal. Hepburn gave the character a whimsical charm that was very appealing. The Holly in the book is alot tougher.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Hoffman's Midnight Cowboy performance. That's the one that made me a fan; saw very little to like about or be impressed about him in The Graduate. My wife made the same comment about the Holly Golightly character in Tiffany as you when I asked her what she remembered about Ben in The Graduate.
DeleteHmm. It sounds like the movie characters are better! Seems intentional by the screenwriter & director perhaps to make them better ... Both Ben and Elaine are a bit complex in the movie ...Ben starts innocent if I recall ... then he gets more cocky as it goes on ... and perhaps Elaine starts very assured and then shrinks a bit as things start to slip from her control? It's an interesting film.
ReplyDeleteYour take on the movie characters is about right, I think. In the book, Ben is a little naive and nervous at the beginning even though he's already in sociopath mode. But as soon as he decides to go ahead with the affair, he becomes the aggressor and never bothers to think about the potential for great harm he's creating in multiple lives. He even treats Elaine that way despite proclaiming his love for her...and his decision to marry her before he finds out if she will even see him again.
DeleteElaine, on the other hand, came across to me as an insecure air-head who could be talked into anything almost from the first time we see her in the novel. Just a very strange character.
I had no idea that The Graduate was based on a book. And from what you have told me, I probably would not like the book. But if I ever see the book anywhere, I will try it out.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the book at all before the movie came out, but it was publicized a lot as a movie tie-in after that. I wonder how Hollywood ever "discovered" it, actually, because the book itself is just not all that impressive.
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