I mean I watched " the graduate " lots of time , I didn't find anything to cry about in this movie !!
shareYeah it's the final scene where the couple get second thoughts and start to believe that their parents were right after all. :)
shareBecause the truth in life is that there is no such thing as a perfect and happy ending. Those moments of bliss are great but are fleeting.
Anyone here mentions Hotel California dies before the first line clears his lips.
The two characters in the film are going off at the end, and initially seem excited, but then there's that doubtful look in each of their faces, especially the woman's, where you can see that the thought 'this is a mistake' is beginning to enter her thoughts.
Summer identifies with it, she's been enjoying her time with Tom, but it clicks right then that something is off, this is a mistake, it isn't fun any more, she doesn't feel the connection, just like the characters in the end of the Graduate clearly don't either.
This is why following this point, it's when she breaks up with him. She knows that it isn't going anywhere, she can't make herself love Tom. She admits to him that when she met her husband she knew, it was just something she couldn't find herself feeling for Tom, and while she still cared about Tom, she couldn't love him in the way she fell for the husband.
Interesting movie, but I felt terrible for Tom. But these things do happen, and at least it seems he finds a happy ending somewhat.
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We've become a race of peeping toms.
It shows the difference between the two of them. Tom saw it as a big romantic gesture winning out in the end, while Summer realised that the two lovers immediately have second thoughts. In that moment she realises in her relationship with Tom, she's comfortable but not happy. Seeing the movie likely caused her to realise she had to break up with him for both their sakes.
...bad news for you : you're even less sensitive than Summer is! Ecccccccchhh! 0_o
...jokes aside, the director simply wanted to show that Summer DID have a sensitive side "after all". Disregard all the above answers as preposterous :p
(...and as for crying over "Graduate" : it IS an emotional film, and might bring tears to eyes in the conclusion of it, mainly as a means of tension releaving. That, plus they can be considered "tears of joy" as well)
Memory is a wonderful thing if you don't have to deal with the pastshare
...bad news for you : you're even less sensitive than Summer is! Ecccccccchhh! 0_o
...jokes aside, the director simply wanted to show that Summer DID have a sensitive side "after all". Disregard all the above answers as preposterous :p
(...and as for crying over "Graduate" : it IS an emotional film, and might bring tears to eyes in the conclusion of it, mainly as a means of tension releaving. That, plus they can be considered "tears of joy" as well)
...before disagreeing with somebody, it would be fit to fully understand their points, though : the "tears of joy" weren't referring to "Summer's" case.
"Summer" simply "got emotional" there. Or that's at least what the director wanted to present us with.
Secondly, "the narrator" didn't speak of the ENDING of "The Graduate". He spoke of the film as a whole. Which film's ending is not up for..."interpretations" : has NO "sad message" to convey. We're simply presented with moments of awkwardness, in the sense of "okay, we did it - we eloped. NOW WHAT COMES NEXT...?". The young couple obviously feel for each other. There's no indication whatsoever that something is "wrong" about them and we cannot speculate (under the absence of sufficient data) that "they smell something sad coming". What the ending wanted to tell the audience was "romance is noble and fine - yet then comes real life and better be prepared for it if you don't want to end up like your miserable ancestors. IT'S ENTIRELY UP TO GOD-DAMN YOU".
[Much of what is going in "500 days with..." as well : Tom is starting afresh, and it's up to him to make the right choices along the way. There's not "fairytale" ending here EITHER - all there is is the chance to make choices - ones that WILL define the quality of what comes up next. Much as there is no SADNESS, "in the lingering final shot".]
So don't misinterpret a brilliant film ending by projecting on it WHATEVER that can come to mind, like say "ok, we can get married now - BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ALIENS THAT THEY'LL ABDUCT OUR KIDS IN THE FUTURE?". See what I mean I hope.
Memory is a wonderful thing if you don't have to deal with the pastshare
the "tears of joy" weren't referring to "Summer's" case.My mistake. You were arguing that The Graduate can inspire tears of joy or relief in people, so I just assumed that you thought Summer's tears were of that nature.
"Summer" simply "got emotional" there. Or that's at least what the director wanted to present us with.Yes, but isn't it safe to say that that emotion was specifically sadness? We know that, afterwards, Summer doesn't just laugh off the fact that she was crying -- in fact, she dismisses Tom's concern with a sullen and self-deprecating, "I'm just being stupid" -- and it would also seem that the two of them break up just a few hours after seeing the film.
[The ending of 'The Graduate'] is not up for..."interpretations". [....] We're simply presented with moments of awkwardness, in the sense of [...] NOW WHAT COMES NEXT...?"The ending of The Graduate is ambiguous. Whether someone thinks the ending is happy or sad depends on his or her own idea of what will come next for the two characters.
There's no indication whatsoever that something is "wrong" about them and we cannot speculate (under the absence of sufficient data) that "they smell something sad coming".We know that both characters are quite impulsive and we know that they don't know each other all that well. I don't think it's unfair to imagine their relationship ending sadly.
Man : to think/feel/envision that the ending of "The Graduate" engulfs the slightest hint of "sadness", you'd either have to have suicidal tendencies or at least be Swedish.
Memory is a wonderful thing if you don't have to deal with the pastshare
I agree with you that Summer is probably secretly suicidal and Swedish.
shareI haven't seen the whole of The Graduate but I've seen the last ten minutes or so... I wonder how you interpret their expressions in that last bus scene?
Personally I see no ambiguity... to me those are expressions of regret or concern.
As the narrator of “(500) Days of Summer” states that Tom had a total misinterpretation of “The Graduate.” Tom thinks that “The Graduate” has a happy ending, but it doesn’t. Look at the facial expressions of Ben and Elaine along with them being separated symbolically by the bus windows.
Summer sees the film and cries because she knows the true meaning of it, and realizes that is the relationship that she is in with Tom. There isn’t mutual love, only unrequited love. Tom sees Summer as his manic pixie dream girl, and thinks that they are both in love with each other and will live happily ever after. Summer realizes what is happening, and that she has to break things off with Tom because she saw it as a causal/friends with benefits relationship, and he saw it as something more. Summer is NOT the stereotypical manic pixie dream girl. Summer's life didn't revolve around Tom's life. The screen writers did a role reversal. Tom was the stereotypical female in their relationship and Summer was the stereotypical unfeeling man. Remember Summer breaks it off with him at the diner, and states that their relationship is like “Sid and Nancy,” but that she is Sid, the man who stabs Nancy the female?
Tom thought that sex, and hanging out meant that they were a couple in love because you don’t go to IKEA or sleep with someone that you aren’t in love with right?
Tom thought that sex, and hanging out meant that they were a couple in love because you don’t go to IKEA or sleep with someone that you aren’t in love with right?
I don't know, you tell me. Sounds to me like what people who are in love do together.
It's called friends with benefits, and Tom wasn't on the same page as Summer, just like he didn't get the ending of "The Graduate."