The War

Many of us have seen The Graduate. We remember the soldier in the beginning in the fish tank, weapon pointed directly at Benjamin's head. We remember the parallel later when his parents give him the diving gear and he's in the pool. There's the staunch black background when he's around the authority figures (the landlord, Mrs. Robinson). There's the white contrasts when he's in the Robinsons' house, when he's with Elaine. It's all there -- the hidden discussions of the Vietnam War -- thinly veiled underneath the landlord making sure that Benjamin isn't "one of those agitators."

The War in and of itself isn't specifically mentioned. Mr. McGuire mentions his one word: "plastics" to Benjamin. That is a very important line for a number of reasons. The one I'll emphasize here is this: a lot of plastics manufacturers were contractors for the United States, making napalm, other plastic explosives for the war effort. If Benjamin got into plastics, he's technically a defense contractor and therefore wouldn't be able to go to war.

It's really all over The Graduate. Plastered onto the walls, encrypted in the sentences that the characters speak. Does Benjamin drift? Does he get into the life with Elaine? Does he follow the "orders" of Mrs. Robinson? The choices are there, and the foundation is laid. The rest is left to the viewers to figure it out.

Slightly less subtle, however, is I Heart Huckabee's. Vivian Jaffe mentions "the big September thing" like it's nothing. Tommy (Mark Wahlburg) is very adamant about the use of petroleum and the problems that it causes. He's obviously dealing with a lot of the aftermath of 9-11, and the idea is that these people, these wallowing souls can't seem to find the information they want out of life. "Why do people only ask themselves deep questions when something really bad happens?" That's exactly what he's doing. These are people who are searching for easy answers. These are people who are doing exactly what they look down upon. They are hypocrites. And they can't help it.

Watch Huckabee's more closely. There is the unified infinity of everything. How are the terrorists connected to us? How are we the destroyers as well as they are? What is this movie trying to say? There are so many layers to what they are saying. There are no easy answers, but here are some of them spoonfed to you. What do you believe?

The point of this post, however, is not solely to analyze film. It is to discuss the layers of each situation that we seem to forget about, that seem to go untouched upon. These films -- the ones that deal with aftermath and reaction rather than specific events (see: United 93, World Trade Center, Platoon) are the ones that actually provoke our analysis of the situation. What are the levels of this that we're missing? What parts of the Vietnam War didn't we see as it was happening? What factors that contributed to 9-11 could have been helped, avoided, worked through. There is no inevitability -- nothing HAS to happen. There are ways that would make things work out better, and things that would make matters worse. Film is a reflection, often, of the steps that are taken to make matters worse through the simple use of "the good guys." The problem is, when you hate everyone in a film, you don't know who to believe -- and that's just as useful a tool for filmmakers.

Determine where your allegiances lie when you watch a movie. Figure out what your ideas are while you see it for the first time. Then, when it's over, think about how it meshed or clashed with your ideas, and why. Then, before too much time has passed, watch the movie again. See where it takes you this time, with your notions firmly in place. I guarantee, whether you agree with it or not, you'll notice something new.