Blog Post #1
After watching The Graduate, Easy Rider, and M*A*S*H*, one thing that stood out to me was how different these movies felt from the more traditional Hollywood movies that came before them. All three films were released within only a few years of each other, and each one reflects some of the uncertainty and frustration that was happening in American culture during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although the movies are extremely different in their stories and styles, they all seem to question the idea that traditional American institutions and expectations should automatically be trusted. The characters are disconnected from the world around them. The filmmakers use unconventional storytelling, editing, music, and humor to show that disconnect.
I think The Graduate shows this in the most personal way. Benjamin has done basically everything that was expected of him. He went to college, graduated, and returned home to parents who are proud of him. However, he seems completely lost about what he is supposed to do next. One of the things I liked about the movie was how the filmmaking helps us understand Benjamin even when he does not say very much. The framing constantly makes him seem trapped or uncomfortable. Adults are always surrounding him, asking questions about his future and telling him what he should do. The famous pool scenes are a good example because the water almost separates Benjamin from everyone else. He is physically present at home, but emotionally he seems somewhere completely different. Simon and Garfunkel's music also gives the movie a reflective and almost lonely feeling. By the end, Benjamin and Elaine seem to reject what everyone expects from them, but even their escape is not presented as a perfect happy ending. After initially smiling on the bus, their expressions slowly change. That ambiguity made the ending much more interesting because it raises the question of whether escaping society's expectations actually solved anything.
Easy Rider takes many of the same ideas but approaches them in a much different way. Wyatt and Billy are literally traveling across America instead of being trapped in one suburban environment. On the surface, they seem completely free. They have motorcycles, money, and no normal jobs or responsibilities. However, the film gradually shows that their version of freedom does not fit into the society surrounding them. The movie also feels much less controlled than The Graduate. The editing can be strange, scenes sometimes feel disconnected, and the film does not always explain exactly what is happening. At first, I honestly found this frustrating and confusing, but after discussing the movie, I think that style fits its message. The fragmented editing and open-road cinematography make the audience experience some of the uncertainty that the characters are experiencing. The movie presents the American landscape as beautiful and open while showing that the people living within it are not always accepting of people who are different.
Then there is M*A*S*H*, which takes the distrust of institutions in a completely different direction through dark comedy. The doctors are surrounded by war, injury, military authority, religion, and rules, but they rarely treat any of those institutions with much respect. Instead, Hawkeye and the other characters constantly make jokes and refuse to behave the way they are expected to. The contrast between comedy and the graphic surgery scenes was especially interesting to me. One moment the characters are casually joking around, and the next they are operating on someone covered in blood. That tonal contrast makes the humor feel like a coping mechanism rather than the movie simply making fun of war.
One scene that especially stood out to me was the staged “Last Supper” before the planned suicide. I actually noticed the visual comparison to Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper while watching the movie, before going through the lecture slides, so I was glad to see that comparison confirmed afterward. It is a good example of how the film uses composition and parody to question institutions that are normally treated seriously. Throughout the movie, military authority, religion, masculinity, and even medicine become subjects of satire.
Together, these three movies helped me understand why this period of American filmmaking feels so different. The Graduate focuses on dissatisfaction with conventional adulthood, Easy Rider explores freedom and the limits of the counterculture, and M*A*S*H* uses satire to challenge authority and institutions. None of the movies gives the audience a simple solution. In fact, all three have moments that feel unresolved or uncomfortable. I think that is part of what makes them effective examples of New Hollywood filmmaking. Instead of presenting a clear hero, conflict, and resolution, they reflect a period when many Americans were questioning whether the systems and values they had inherited were actually working.
