How this scene emphasises Ben as taking the initiative compared to Elaine and how this initiative is important for Ben’s character development in the film as a whole. The film The Graduate is a comedy-drama about Ben, a recent graduate with no well-defined goal in life, who is seduced by his parents' friend, Mrs. Robinson, and then proceeds to fall in love with her daughter, Elaine. There is a scene where Ben tries to sabotage his first date with Elaine by driving incautiously ignoring her and forcing her to tears, but he finds himself falling in love with her. The characters' behaviors, the sound and the setting are used to represent a turning point in the film and drive the plot forward by emphasizing Ben's development of initiative. The …show more content…
Ben keeps reinforcing his initiative that the settings provide the advantages for him as he could drive to anywhere he likes and he is more familiar with the environment (the strip club) than Elaine. Therefore, he is more comfortable and confident when gets along with Elaine whereas she feels uncomfortable when they enters that club, a dialogue she said "Where is the car?" shows the helplessness of her, thereby emphasizing the distinct sentiments between them like the first encounter of Ben and Mrs. Robinson at Mrs. Robinson's house. This scene shows a new side of Ben while the mise-en-scene elements are both introducing how he starts to take the initiative from his peer, Elaine. Moreover, it not only drives the plot forward, but also in particular indicates a turning point in the film's broader plot. The first half of the film is that Mrs. Robinson is holding the power which contrasts to this scene. Ben is nervous or even in a panic when they are having an abnormal relationship. However, the bad date scene implies a turning point that makes Ben become a more powerful character which has initiative in the second part of the