Cultural Climax and Peak Materialism
The Graduate is an interesting analysis into the end of the American zenith, the final decade before its gradual dissolution. The 50s and 60s are ubiquitously regarded as the civilizational peak of the country, yet this film paints a very different picture. Despite lauded freedom, the film is presented in a claustrophobic, suffocating manner, with the bureaucratic undertones making the audience feel as though Benjamin is not as free as one may think. He is being limited by the success-driven mindset that permeated American culture, carrying the remnants of the Protestant work ethic as he leaves behind the decade of conservatism and enters the period of liberal sensibilities.
Benjamin, being presented as one of the early baby boomers (born likely around 1945), is the first to experience the transition from post-war America (peak materialism), into a more socialist entity (idealism). The contrast here is seen throughout the film where Benjamin's composure, neat appearance, and clean car throughout the course of the film become sullied and dirty. This is the shedding of materialism that was seen in hippie culture. Benjamin and Elaine are the counter-culture. They are programmed by traditional shibboleths, and experience a constant cognitive dissonance when the old world is at an impasse with the new world (e.g., Mrs. Robinson, a symbol of the Silent Generation, and her infidelity). Benjamin's sweat throughout the film reaffirms the idea that he is uncomfortable with the world around him.
The black and white of the families is indicative of the post-war American idealism. They exist within the confines of this structure, while Benjamin is at odds, because that period is over. Despite his entry into this new world of liberal beliefs, the visual aesthetic presented with the vastness of the landscapes serve as a reflection of the emptiness in Benjamin's soul. His options are opening, but they lead to nowhere, much like the old world. This is again reaffirmed in the end, when after Benjamin and Elaine sit down on the bus, their smiles turn to emotionless expressions, as they realize that despite doing what they "felt", they're still vacuous.
The conclusion is simple; as Benjamin and Elaine leave the old world of traditional institutions, built up standards, conformity, and appearance (materialism), and enter the world of feelings, ideals, liberalism (idealism), they're still existing in a spiritually vacuous world. They have no purpose beyond the fulfillment of their base pleasures. Where the Silent Generation found those pleasures in material excess (50s and 60s and its elevation of materialism as the highest goals in life), the Baby-Boomers sought to seek contentment through beliefs and ideals. In the end they were both wrong, because any mode of thinking revolving around personal contentment stiffens spirituality and, as a result, dilutes moral imperatives.
America, here, is presented as spiritually empty, focused only on success and the rat-race as a means of hedonistic supply. Benjamin and Elaine dislike this ideology, and inevitably decide to embrace a more laissez-faire attitude, which is ultimately just as morally bankrupt.